By WAYNE THOMPSON and PHILIP ENGLISH
Ten years ago, parts of Rangitoto looked like a war zone as possums and wallabies ravaged the world's largest forest of pohutukawa.
Today, the pohutukawa - New Zealand's Christmas tree - are blooming again, and the island is splashed with crimson.
The $1 million possum and wallaby eradication programme by the Department of Conservation and Project Crimson that started with helicopter poison drops in 1990 took seven years to complete.
When the project started, the island had about 14,000 possums and 10,000 wallabies.
By midway through 1997, no possums and only three wallabies were left.
DoC Auckland programme manager Jim Henry was back on the island yesterday after being photographed there in 1990 amid pohutukawa killed by possums.
"It was really dying in 1990," he says. "It was grey, and there was very little regeneration underneath.
"Now the pohutukawa canopy has thickened and is looking a better green."
Mr Henry said that in the worst possum years, pohutukawa honey production on the island was down to about seven or eight kilograms a hive.
Now it was 60kg or 70kg a hive.
One drawback to the wallaby cull had been an increase in weeds.
"The weeds haven't been browsed. We get rid of one problem and I guess we get another one - increased weeds. But we are working on the weeds."
Meanwhile, Aucklander Ted Wilson, who conducts guided walks of the city's notable stands of pohutukawa trees, believes pohutukawa are flowering about a fortnight later than last year, possibly because of a cooler November.
Last year, some trees were ablaze in crimson flower by November 1 - a fortnight ahead of normal.
Those who say early blooms are supposed to herald a hot summer were not disappointed last year.
But yesterday, neither Mr Wilson nor forest health expert Dave Bartrum was prepared to give an opinion on whether a late blooming means more wet days this holiday season.
Dr Bartrum, a Northland resident, said he thought the Bay of Islands flowers had blossomed at the same time as last year.
He said the pohutukawa of Auckland and Northland were looking good, especially those planted on selected sites.
Project Crimson director Debbie Teale says the pohutukawa species has enjoyed an amazing turnaround in condition and numbers over the past 10 years.
Ten years ago, scientist Gordon Hosking surveyed pohutukawa in the upper North Island.
He found the tree stock damaged and debilitated and 90 per cent of the original area of pohutukawa lost, much of it to the ravages of possums and damage to roots by humans.
But his recent assessment found a great improvement in tree regeneration because of possum control, protective fences and new plantings.
Crimson bloom wins battle on Rangitoto
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