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38-578: Orokonui Ecosanctuary , called Te Korowai o Mihiwaka in Māori , is an ecological island wildlife reserve developed by the Otago Natural History Trust in the Orokonui Valley between Waitati and Pūrākaunui , New Zealand, 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the north of central Dunedin . The idea of a sanctuary near Dunedin was first discussed in 1982 by New Zealand cartoonist Burton Silver and

76-645: A few friends. The group made a proposal in July 1983 to convert a Dunedin fertiliser factory into a giant aviary . The proposal was later abandoned but inspired the formation in August 1983 of a charitable trust , the Otago Natural History Trust. Their initial proposal for a sanctuary at Orokonui lapsed and the group disbanded for a while until 1995, when the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary opened in Wellington . This gave

114-533: A high marginal product of labor realized through the increasing number of enslaved people. Plantings of the Pará rubber tree ( Hevea brasiliensis ) are usually called plantations. Oil palm agriculture rapidly expands across wet tropical regions and is usually developed at a plantation scale. Fruit orchards are sometimes considered to be plantations. These include tobacco , sugarcane , pineapple , bell pepper , and cotton , especially in historical usage. Before

152-508: A lack of natural regeneration. The tree species used in a plantation are also an important factor. Where non-native varieties or species are grown, few native faunas are adapted to exploit these, and further biodiversity loss occurs. However, even non-native tree species may serve as corridors for wildlife and act as a buffer for native forests, reducing edge effect . Once a plantation is established, managing it becomes an important environmental factor. The most critical aspect of management

190-507: A natural forest is cleared for a planted forest, then a reduction in biodiversity and loss of habitat will likely result. In some cases, their establishment may involve draining wetlands to replace mixed hardwoods that formerly predominated with pine species. If a plantation is established on abandoned agricultural land or highly degraded land, it can increase both habitat and biodiversity. A planted forest can be profitably established on lands that will not support agriculture or suffer from

228-630: A number of mostly Dunedin-based businesses and charities as sponsors . The major funders are a local gambling organisation and the Otago Regional Council . In December 2006 work started on building a 9 km (5.6 mi) long specialised pest-exclusion fence , to enclose 307 ha (760 acres) of regenerating forest. The 1.9-metre (6 ft 3 in) high fence is designed to keep out all introduced mammals such as cats , possums , rats , stoats , ferrets and even mice . It uses stainless steel mesh that continues down to form

266-686: A road that is likely to become part of the Southern Scenic Route , with relatively slow-moving traffic that will be able to see the visitor centre and stop to investigate", with road links to Port Chalmers , Waitati , Dunedin and State Highway 1 . The Orokonui Valley was once part of a school, Orakanui College. Later, after closure, the grounds were acquired by the Government as an "inebriates' home." They were subsequently cut-over and grazed, and partially planted in Eucalyptus regnans , one of which

304-447: A single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house , grow crops including cotton , cannabis , coffee , tea , cocoa , sugar cane , opium , sisal , oil seeds , oil palms , fruits, rubber trees and forest trees. Protectionist policies and natural comparative advantage have sometimes contributed to determining where plantations are located. In modern use,

342-428: A skirt at ground level that prevents animals from burrowing under it. On the top is a curved steel hood that prevents climbing animals like cats and possums from climbing over the top. Waterways are protected by screened culverts nicknamed " watergates ", while pedestrian access is by airlock style double gates. In February 2007, a donation of a further 57 ha (140 acres) from an adjacent landowner increased

380-649: A tool of environmental restoration . Sugar plantations were highly valued in the Caribbean by the British and French colonists in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the use of sugar in Europe rose during this period. Sugarcane is still an important crop in Cuba. Sugar plantations also arose in countries such as Barbados and Cuba because of the natural endowments that they had. These natural endowments included soil conducive to growing sugar and

418-558: Is New Zealand's tallest measured tree, the 82.25 metres (269.8 ft) "Frank Pepers Tree". The former school and rehab property was divided. The agricultural land was vested in Landcorp and the major part of the land was managed as the Orokonui Conservation Area by DOC . Ecological island In artificial ecological islands (also known as mainland islands ): The ultimate goal is to recreate an ecological microcosm of

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456-538: Is some evidence that forest health is improving. Other work involves planting of native seedlings raised at a nearby tree nursery and piling up rocks to create habitats for lizards . The trust plans to "bring back to the ecosanctuary native species that would have been there in times past" including kiwi , seabirds , kākāriki , South Island robin , South Island saddleback , kākā , native bats , tuatara and jewelled gecko . In July 2007, four South Island kākā arrived. Initially housed in an aviary, these were

494-420: Is the rotation period. Plantations harvested on more extended rotation periods (30 years or more) can provide similar benefits to a naturally regenerated forest managed for wood production on a similar rotation. This is especially true if native species are used. In the case of exotic species, the habitat can be improved significantly if the impact is mitigated by measures such as leaving blocks of native species in

532-627: The American Civil War . The mild temperate climate , plentiful rainfall, and fertile soils of the Southeastern United States allowed the flourishing of large plantations, where large numbers of enslaved Africans were held captive and forced to produce crops to create wealth for a white elite . When Newfoundland was colonized by England in 1610, the original colonists were called "planters", and their fishing rooms were known as "fishing plantations". These terms were used well into

570-767: The Roman Empire , which produced large quantities of grain, wine, and olive oil for export. Plantation agriculture proliferated with the increase in international trade and the development of a worldwide economy that followed the expansion of European colonialism . Tree plantations, in the United States often called tree farms , are established for the commercial production of timber or tree products such as palm oil , coffee , or rubber . Teak and bamboo plantations in India have given good results and an alternative crop solution to farmers of central India, where conventional farming

608-540: The Southern United States from the 17th into the 20th century. The complex included everything from the main residence down to the pens for livestock . Until the abolition of slavery , such plantations were generally self-sufficient settlements that relied on the forced labor of enslaved people. Plantations are an important aspect of the history of the Southern United States , particularly before

646-493: The company store . In Brazil, a sugarcane plantation was termed an engenho ("engine"), and the 17th-century English usage for organized colonial production was "factory." Such colonial social and economic structures are discussed at Plantation economy . Sugar workers on plantations in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean lived in company towns known as bateyes . Plantation complexes were common on agricultural plantations in

684-445: The absence of mammals, birds became dominant. Evolutionary processes resulted in a unique assemblage of plants and animals, and New Zealand became a land dominated by birds. Without competition from browsing mammals, birds evolved to occupy niches that mammals occupied elsewhere. Threatened by few predators , many birds had no need to fly and many species became flightless. Birds, reptiles , plants, insects , and bats, all evolved in

722-498: The absence of terrestrial mammals, and have little defence against alien species. With human colonisation came many accidental or deliberate introductions of mammals and birds. These wrought havoc with native species and many became extinct, many others were reduced in range and number, with some teetering on extinction. Traditionally pacific rats ( Rattus exulans ), Norway rats ( Rattus norveigucus ), ship rats ( Rattus rattus ) cats, ferrets, stoats, and weasels were all considered to be

760-455: The country as a whole as it was before human arrival. There is usually provision for controlled public access, and scientific study and research. The definition does not include land within a fence erected to: The concept of mainland islands was pioneered in New Zealand and arose mainly from the particular circumstances of that country's history. For millions of years New Zealand was part of

798-567: The first animals to be introduced to the Ecosanctuary. Pūkeko and paradise duck have self-introduced since enclosure and habitat works. Fifteen tuatara were moved from the University of Otago in March 2009, and 34 South Island saddleback were introduced to the sanctuary the following month. The Ecosanctuary is also home to a breeding pair of South Island takahē , Quammen and Paku. The promoters of

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836-491: The idea renewed impetus and a remaining trust member, Ralph Allen revived the proposal. The local Maori Runaka , Kati Huirapa of Puketeraki became supporters of the trust. The Ecosanctuary is in a north-facing valley comprising about 290 hectares (720 acres) of regenerating native forest. The trust gained the use of the 230 hectares (570 acres) Orokonui Conservation Area 20 km (12 mi) north of central Dunedin. The New Zealand Department of Conservation approved

874-539: The low wages typically paid to plantation workers are the basis of plantation profitability in some areas. In more recent times, overt slavery has been replaced by para-slavery or slavery-in-kind , including the sharecropping system , and even that has been severely reduced. At its most extreme, workers are in " debt bondage ": they must work to pay off a debt at such punitive interest rates that it may never be paid off. Others work unreasonably long hours and are paid subsistence wages that (in practice) may only be spent in

912-486: The main culprits in the decline of native species of New Zealand birds, reptiles and insects. More recent information adds hedgehogs and mice to the list. These species have been introduced for a variety of reasons and some inadvertently. The effect remains the same: they have all contributed to the decline of native animals. Possums and deer did the same for the forest. However, New Zealand also includes many offshore islands, some of which contained species rare or extinct on

950-450: The mainland because introduced pests could not reach them. Increasingly over the last hundred years, New Zealand's Department of Conservation together with many volunteers have developed and perfected world-first methods of clearing some of these islands of all introduced pests, and island restoration , creating safe havens for the reintroduction of at-risk species, thereby saving them from extinction. These islands are also used to expand

988-504: The mainland so that the public could have easier access and learn what New Zealand looked and sounded like before human colonisation. There are excellent projects where alien species numbers are kept down by various methods other than a pest-exclusion fence or the coastline, but these are not generally described as ecological islands. Projects that do meet the criteria, or are aiming to, include: Plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting

1026-450: The planned 7.2 km (4.5 mi) length of fence by 2 km (1.2 mi). The additional land was mainly pine plantation but considered to be of benefit as the trees when felled would give a good habitat for huhu grubs, an important food source for kākā . Earthworks for the fence were finished in May 2007. The fence was completed and the sanctuary officially "closed" on 3 July 2007 in

1064-579: The plantation or retaining corridors of natural forest. In Brazil, similar measures are required by government regulation. Plantation owners extensively used enslaved Africans to work on early plantations (such as tobacco, rice, cotton, hemp, and sugar plantations) in the American colonies and the United States, throughout the Caribbean, the Americas, and in European-occupied areas of Africa. In modern times,

1102-569: The presence of the Waitati Militia . Pest eradication commenced in August 2007 with shooting of goats and 800 possums by ground-based teams. This was immediately followed by the scattering from aircraft of bait poisoned with brodifacoum into the fenced area. The trust's consent application states that when the valley is free of pests, the health of the forest will improve, leading to an increase in seedlings, flowers, seeds, invertebrates and thus increased food supply to birds (p4). There

1140-494: The range of rare species so that an ecological disaster on one island would not result in the total extinction of a species. As many species rebound in numbers in the absence of predators the islands act as species reservoirs enabling the periodic removal of some to create breeding colonies on other cleared islands, or on the mainland itself. Following the example of what had been achieved on offshore islands, groups of New Zealanders decided to create artificial ecological islands on

1178-521: The rise of cotton in the American South, indigo and rice were also sometimes called plantation crops. Probably the most critical factor a plantation has on the local environment is the site where the plantation is established. In Brazil, coffee plantations would use slash-and-burn agriculture, tearing down rainforests and planting coffee trees that depleted the nutrients in soil. Once the soil had been sapped, growers would move on to another place. If

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1216-456: The sanctuary anticipate 25,000 visitors per year. Following considerable debate they chose a site at the top of the valley system for visitor facilities, for its potential to attract visitors, its access and perceived low costs and "benefits for management of both ecology and visitors". Here they built a NZD 1.9 million visitor and education centre which they label as being a "showpiece of environmentally sustainable design". The chosen site "is on

1254-526: The supercontinent Gondwanaland , which included Australia , Africa , and South America , and shared the same flora and fauna . About 70 million years ago New Zealand became separated, earlier than Australia, South America and Antarctica. About five million years later non-avian dinosaurs became globally extinct leaving the way open to mammals to dominate - except in New Zealand where there were no land mammals (only 3 species of bats and seals ). In

1292-454: The term usually refers only to large-scale estates. Before about 1860, it was the usual term for a farm of any size in the southern parts of British North America , with, as Noah Webster noted, "farm" becoming the usual term from about Maryland northward. The enslavement of people was the norm in Maryland and states southward. The plantations there were forced-labor farms. The term "plantation"

1330-526: The trust announced that the sanctuary might expand in future onto adjacent public land. A fundraising appeal was launched in November 2005. The trust ran two public fundraising campaigns in 2006-2007: the public were urged to donate their soon-to-be-withdrawn New Zealand 5-cent coins while a "sponsor a fencepost" campaign was run in conjunction with the Otago Daily Times newspaper. The trust also has

1368-588: The trust's use of the land and completed a heads of agreement and the Orokonui site was visited on 27 April 2006 by Chris Carter , the New Zealand Minister of Conservation. The trust purchased and added a further 67 hectares (170 acres) of adjacent land to the Conservation Area. The donation of 57 hectares (140 acres) from an adjacent landowner extended the proposed Ecosanctuary area by 20%. In May 2007,

1406-458: Was used in most British colonies but very rarely in the United Kingdom itself in this sense. There it was used mainly for tree plantations , areas artificially planted with trees, whether purely for commercial forestry , or partly for ornamental effect in gardens and parks, when it might also cover plantings of garden shrubs. Among the earliest examples of plantations were the latifundia of

1444-627: Was widespread. But due to the rising input costs of agriculture, many farmers have done teak and bamboo plantations, which require very little water (only during the first two years). Teak and bamboo have legal protection from theft. Bamboo, once planted, gives output for 50 years till flowering occurs. Teak requires 20 years to grow to full maturity and fetch returns. These may be established for watershed or soil protection. They are established for erosion control, landslide stabilization, and windbreaks. Such plantations are established to foster native species and promote forest regeneration on degraded lands as

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