Neil Barr
Neil Barr was founder of the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association.
Born in 1908, he lived much of his life farming a property at Kaukapakapa near the Kaipara Harbour. In 1938, Neil started to plant farm shelterbelts and wood lots to protect his stock and grow timber he could use. As he became more interested in this he developed a vision for
New Zealand to have a complimentary mix of farming and forestry land use. Therefore, from June 1950, he lead the establishment of what became in 1958, the NZ Farm Forestry Association.
Neil then spent much of his life working with other like minded farm foresters to research, promote, educate and encourage tree growing by small growers. Neil Barr died in January 1996, leaving both ‘a legend’ and ‘a legacy’ that is well described in the February
1996 issue of the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association’s magazine,’ Tree Grower’.
Neil had a passion for growing eucalypts and was particularly interested in those species that can produce naturally durable timbers. He successfully planted a wide range of eucalypts and identified the stringybarks (E. pilularis, E. muelleriana and E. globoidea) as having significant
potential for New Zealand conditions. In his final years he wrote ‘Growing Eucalypt Trees for Timber milling on New Zealand Farms’. This is an excellent and informative book for all eucalypt growers.
Copies of this book can be purchased for $20 plus postage by contacting the New Zealand Dryland Forests Initiative.
|
