The Keeble's Bush Connection Tucked away in the middle of Massey University's Keeble's Farm on the road to Linton, is a little patch of private land containing Keeble's Bush. Travellers can see the Bush from the road and many farmers, visiting Keeble's woolshed, have probably spotted it and wondered what it was about. When Charles Keeble died in 1971 he bequeathed his farmland to the then Education Department, and his much-loved patch of bush to a trust to maintain it in perpetuity. Now called (though not by him!) the C.T. Keeble Memorial Forest Trust, the 17 hectares are widely considered to be the best remnant of lowland podocarp forest in the Manawatu. Keeble reserved it for scientific purposes only, and so while it is frequently used by Massey researchers, it is not open to the public (though folk can visit it on request or on Forest and Bird work parties). Mr Michael Greenwood has looked after the bush since Keeble's death, identifying its biodiversity, caring for its flora, and endlessly removing weeds and pests. In the late 1970s he oversaw the removal of the top-heavy macrocarpa and pine shelter-belt and replanted the cleared area with natives in some of the very earliest restoration work in New Zealand. His efforts so impressed Keeble's Farm management that they offered to Michael the use of a very steep unfarmable scarp near the Kahuterawa River for further planting. That area (not visible from the road) now has a native vegetation cover up to 8m tall. Subsequently the Trust (by then official) was offered the use of the intervening boggy paddock containing the Maungatungaroa Stream, and the "Link" has been successfully planted so a canopy is forming over the riparian zone. These two areas of about 5 ha greatly improve the ecological resilience of the original bush remnant. Keeble's Trust greatly appreciates the efforts of Massey University and its Agricultural Services section in promoting the well-being of the Bush, and their tolerance to the (very rare) unfastened gate. And the relationship is not one-sided. The farm staff enjoy the presence of the bush, and its sights, smells and sounds amongst all the farm paddocks, even if occasionally they are driven nearly mad by Trust requests that they retrieve missing stock! And the farm track too crosses a flat corner of Trust land, thereby greatly improving farm functions. Many small remnants of native vegetation persist today on agricultural land, and are assuming increasing importance as New Zealand's biodiversity declines and human impacts increase. Keeble's is a living example of a partnership, rewarding on both sides, to improve our environment. Jill Rapson: email - G.Rapson@massey.ac.nz Secretary, C.T. Keeble Memorial Forest Trust Plant Ecologist, Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University

Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey touring Keeble's Bush in March with Massey Agriculture Staff and Trust Board members. From left: Steve Maharey, Dave Bull, David Bateman, and Byron Taylor (Farms Manager).

Overview across the farm track to the planted margin of Keeble's Bush and interior tall "emergent" podocarps, mostly kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), below the upper terrace of Keeble's farm.