The influence of pre-European fires in the Tiritea catchment, Northern Tararuas

[First paragraph...]
The deterioration of the plant cover of the city water catchment in the upper Tiritea Valley is causing some concern to the Palmerston North City Council. Many areas formerly in forest have been reduced to scrub, tussock and turf. Although most of the catchment has a "burnt-over" appearance there is no definite record of fires. The vegetation of the Tararuas has been described by Zotov (1938) and Zotov et al. (1938), but only passing reference has been made to the portion between the Mangahao River and the Manawatu Gorge.