jamie wrote:They are old swamp wood Richard. I would think its all kaihikatea (spelling?). The trunks are well gone, all lifted out of the ground over the past 80 or so years of being farmed. As the peat has shrunk the stumps have moved closer to the surface so hence we need to pull them out
I should also add that in the last ten years we have seen a massive drop in the peat. Much faster than we ever had and it's because of these droughts. Peat is like a sponge and needs to stay wet. When it drys out it shrinks.
Be some lovely timber in the stumps.
And with the peat, because its drying out a lot it would be breaking down and releasing carbon which would account for the shrinkage.
Yea you got it Richard. It's all quite rotten now. In the past we have been able to use a lot for fire wood. But this is all breaking down rotten since it has dried out so much recently.
2nd driest October was 2015
Driest December was 2015
2016 was 3rd driest March, very close to record.
2016 was 2nd driest April, again very close to record.
El Nino is on the way out..by the end of May it should be done and dusted,,,but the atmosphere might take a while to catch up with the oceans
then it could very well swiing to a La Nina
which could result in some good northerly rain systems and lows in the tasman from June onwards?
who knows...lol
