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New Zealand Champion "Tane Mahuta" Kauri Agathis australis Waipoua National Forest Northern North Island, New Zealand Circumference = 540 inches (45 feet) Height = 169 feet Volume = 8,635 cubic feet Estimated Age = 2,100 years

Tane Mahuta is New Zealand's tallest Kauri Tree, growing in Waipoua Forest on the northern end of North Island. Its massive smooth, gray-white trunk rises 59 feet before a branch appears. The gigantic specimen is a remanent of the tremendous ancient subtropical rain forest that once grew there, a survivor of 200 years of intensive logging. By counting rings from felled trees of similar circumference, Tane Mahuta is believed to be 2,100 years old.

Not far away in Waipoua Forest is a tree with the broadest trunk, known by its Maori name: Te Matua Ngahere, or "Father of the Forest." Although shorter than Tane Mahuta, Te Matua Ngahere is much stouter—59 feet in girth—and free of branches for 33 feet from the ground. The tree's total height is 98 feet.

Identification & Culture

On the slopes of Tutamoe, above Kaihu, stood Kairaru. This awesome tree is over three times larger than Tane Mahuta—perhaps 15,997 cubic feet of timber—larger than today's greatest redwoods, and, in its day, the largest tree in the world. Tane Mahuta is guessed to be 2,100 years old, but likely Kairaru was over 4,000 years old when fire destroyed it in the 1880's.

The giant Kauri is a kind of primitive pine that belongs to the ancient Araucariaceae Family of trees that were prolific before dinosaurs and the Gondawana super-continent broke up. In far northern New Zealand swamps, kauri trees were discovered preserved under water that grew 30-50,000 years ago.

The Southern Kauri (Agathis australis) is found only in New Zealand's northern tropical rain forest, where they grow to immense size. They rival California's giant redwoods. Early settlers who saw their massive columns of smooth, white trunks, and elegant tracery of high canopy likened them to Gothic cathedrals. The largest individuals alive today are more than 2,000 years old.

Before Europeans arrived, Kauri Forest covered 4 million acres of New Zealand's North Island. When Captain Cook saw the forests in 1769, he wrote, "The banks of the river were completely clothed with the finest timber my eyes have ever seen..." His excitement attracted European timber men, who brought wholesale destruction to the ancient and majestic kauris. In 150 years, they shrunk to barely 18,420 acres.

Late in the 20th century, people began to appreciate Kauri Forests once more. Today, several refuges protect the remaining giants for posterity. In Waipoua Forest, visitors can walk among trees that have grown for 2,000 years to see the best-known gigantic specimen of all: Tane Mahuta—"The Lord of the Forest"—the tallest standing Kauri Tree.

Recently, seed from Tane Mahuta was gathered to propagate into a new generations to christen a new millennium dedicated to the reforestation of New Zealand. For news about Tane Mahuta's Millennium Forest, visit:

Giant Kauri to father a millennium forest.

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TERRA: The Earth Restoration and Reforestation Alliance — www.championtrees.org — updated 8/14/2003