Source: Department of Conservation
About Tāne Mahuta
Tāne Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) is New Zealand’s largest known living kauri tree.
It is thought the first encounter of the tree by Pākehā was in the 1920s, by contractors surveying the present SH12 through the forest. In 1928, Nicholas Yakas and other bushmen who were building the road also came across the big tree Tāne Mahuta.
According to Maori mythology Tāne is the son of Ranginui the sky father and Papatūānuku the earth mother. Tāne was the child that tore his parents’ embrace and once done set about clothing his mother in the forest we have here today. All living creatures of the forest are regarded as Tāne’s children.
Measurements:
- Trunk girth: 13.77 m
- Trunk height: 17.68 m
- Total height: 51.2 m
- Trunk volume: 244.5 m³
About kauri dieback
Kauri dieback can kill kauri of all ages. It’s a disease caused by a microscopic fungus-like organism, called Phytophthora agathidicida (PA). It lives in the soil and infects kauri roots, damaging the tissues that carry nutrients and water within the tree, effectively starving it to death.
There’s currently no proven cure or treatment, and nearly all infected kauri die. The disease is easily spread through soil movements, eg when soil is carried on dirty footwear, animals, equipment and vehicles. A pinhead size of soil is enough to spread the disease.
Even though a lot of infected kauri will show physical disease symptoms, a tree can still be infected and not show any symptoms of the disease at all.
Kauri dieback is threatening our kauri, our taonga. We can save our kauri forests with your help by containing the disease and stopping it spreading to other areas by keeping to tracks and boardwalk and using cleaning stations.
