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The Conservation Of The Forest

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Introduction
The Waitutu Forest is located in Fiordland, New Zealand and is home to one of the finest native lowland forest spreads in New Zealand. This area was subject to lots of controversy during the 1970s to 1980s with many rallying for the conservation of the forest. This forest now has formal protection from logging and is conserved by the Department of Conservation. . The forest is a national treasure, not only being the largest area of land of unmodified lowland forest in the country but also home to a wide range of native and endangered wildlife, such as the South Island kaka and yellowhead/mohua. In order to protect the forests effectively and have an understanding of the health of the forest, conservationists need a sound understanding sapling growth and what the relationships between different variables are.

In this forest there are many types of trees that fall into three main categories, sub-canopy (small trees), broadleaf forest trees and podocarp forest trees. There are three main stages of the tree’s life cycle, seedling, sapling and adult stages. The most growth occurs in the seedling and sapling stages of life. In this study I will be focusing trees in the Waitutu Forest in the sapling stage of life. In this report, a tree is defined as a sapling when the trees are taller than 1.35 metres in height above the forest floor.

My purpose is to see whether there is any relationship between the height of saplings in the Waitutu Forest and the diameter at

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