Beech and Conifer Community Interactions in Moawhango Ecological Region, North-Island, New Zealand
Relict forests within tussock grassland and abundant subsoil charcoal indicate that prior to Polynesian conflagrations, conifer forests dominated by kaikawaka covered the upper montane plateaux in Moawhango Ecological Region. Much forest remains in peripheral districts where the plateaux border the encircling Kaimanawa, Kaweka and Ruahine greywacke uplands; in these districts, beech forest of the ranges extends on to plateaux surfaces as a narrow, variable-width strip intermixed with conifer forest.