issues and concerns. A further examination and analysis of the sample of print media materials revealed words and phrases pertaining to issues and concerns about the immediate physical environment, such as the unpredictable changes in the water level and height of the lake and some of its tributaries, water and soil quality in the area, and soil erosion. Words and phrases referring to various issues involving the living or biotic elements of the natural environment – for example, concerns around the need to eradicate various noxious weeds and animal pests, the introduction of plant and animal species, and the control and management of wildlife, game and fish – were also found in the sample.
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Words and phrases such as 'lake overflow', 'permanent lake outlet', 'insufficient drainage', 'flood damage', 'inundation of farms', 'water channels' and 'drainage of Lake Ellesmere' were frequently present in the local community newspapers published from the 1900s to the late 1950s. The presence of such words and phrases draws attention to some of the main environmental challenges local residents sought to address at the time, particularly in relation to the establishment of a viable agricultural and pastoral industry in the area.
Existing literature and research publications explain the nature of such environmental challenges. Holland and Mooney (2006, p. 39) for instance, suggested that, for at least two generations of colonial settlers in New Zealand, it was important and perhaps even a matter of survival for them "to recognise, then respond appropriately, to the forces of a novel, occasionally hazardous, physical environment". In and around the Lake Ellesmere - Te Waihora area, many decades after the arrival and passing of the first generation of European settlers, Singleton (2008) observed that inundation of properties and impassable boggy roads still continued to be significant challenges that local residents discussed and regularly faced. As agriculture was a major source of livelihood for many residents, flooding from rivers and streams feeding into the lake, and high lake levels, were always seen as an economic risk and a cause for worry and concern.
Between the 1940s and late 1960s, words and phrases such as 'soil preservation', 'stop banks', 'soil fertility' and 'drain cleaning' were also found, in addition to the other words and phrases already present in the community newspapers published in earlier years. Again, the importance of agriculture to local residents seemed evident in such words and phrases. Soil fertility and soil preservation, in particular, were mentioned in articles discussing the prospects for increased farm productivity. From the 1970s and onwards to the year 2000, words and phrases such as 'stabilising the level of Lake Ellesmere', 'sewage and drain problems' in some towns, 'water table', 'water quality', 'lake pollution' and 'lake management' were observed to have become more noticeably present in the local community newspapers. The changes in the presence and/or absence, across all the archive print media materials used in this study, of certain nature- and environment-related words and phrases associated with the management or control of various aspects of the physical environment suggest the complexity of local environmental issues that concerned community members over time. For example, the data showed that words and phrases specifically mentioning the challenge of a high lake level and the risks possible flooding posed to the survival and viability of land
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holdings and farms within close proximity to the lake were more commonly found in articles published during the first quarter of the twentieth century, but nonetheless continued to be found in archive issues published in later years, although less frequently. Views about the need to protect and preserve soil fertility while at the same time maximising the productivity of farms around the lake-flats area were a major focus of attention during the middle part of the century, along with continuing concerns, carried through from the early 1900s, over the threat of flooding from an uncontrolled water level at Lake Ellesmere - Te Waihora and from particular local rivers and streams such as the Selwyn / Waikirikiri. In local community newspapers published around the later years of the century, it was observed, from the presence of certain words and phrases, that while flooding and the prospect of farm damage still continued to be an issue of significance, as they were in the past, there were also discussions and debates about water resource use, lake pollution, and water quality in and around the Lake Ellesmere- Te Waihora catchment.
Words and phrases such as 'noxious weeds', 'nuisance pests', 'damage to farms and pastures' caused by pests and weeds, and 'regulations' for fishing in the lake, were observed to have been present in the majority of archive print media materials from the 1900s through to the year 2000. Between the 1900s and the 1950s, several words and phrases were found referring to the introduction or acclimatisation of 'non-native game birds' and other 'fish species' for recreational game-bird shooting, hunting, fishing and angling. Alongside acclimatisation- related words and phrases were references to the eradication of pests such as 'weasels', 'stoats', 'hares', 'rabbits', 'sparrows', 'small birds', 'vermin', 'white butterflies', 'insects' and 'wild bees', and the 'control of the wildlife population' around the lake. In the print media materials published during the second half of the twentieth century, words and phrases such as 'wildlife sanctuary', the 'preservation of the grey duck', 'over-exploitation of Ellesmere eels', 'decline of Ellesmere trout', and 'wetland resources' were found together with the continuing presence of words and phrases referring to the extermination of various pests and weeds. In several of the articles, the definition of 'wildlife' in the context of 'wildlife sanctuary' appeared to refer not only to native species of bird and fish but also to introduced game and fish species such as 'brown trout'.
The various words and phrases associated with living elements of the natural environment demonstrate the mixed views of the community, across time, regarding native and introduced plant and animal species around the lake. On the one hand, certain words and phrases indicated the view that it was necessary to exterminate ‘noxious plants’ and ‘animal pests’. On
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the other hand, there were also words and phrases which showed concern for the need to preserve the very same plants and animals. It may be argued that the distinction between plants and animals that were considered weeds and pests, and those that were not, was unclear and likely to be subject to negotiation. For example, the data showed that certain animal species, such as geese, were a subject of much contentious debate in the Lake Ellesmere - Te Waihora area during the latter part of the twentieth century. Geese were said to 'foul' grazing land and were seen as pests by a number of local farmers; but, equally, they were also seen as important wildlife resources by acclimatisation societies and game-bird shooters. Furthermore, in relation to other introduced species, the data showed words and phrases from early archive issues that indicated public enthusiasm for their potential benefits, as well as words and phrases from later archive issues that referred to them as pests or weeds. Examples of these include a number of plants such as gorse and broom, and animals such as stoats and opossum.
In more recent research and publications discussing various developments around the Lake Ellesmere - Te Waihora area, it was suggested by some authors that better agreement over local environmental issues appears to exist among current members of the community than there had been in the past. For example, Singleton (2008, p. 368) observed that in more recent times, there has been "more accord on the management of native species, game species, fisheries and wetlands, and a shared desire to improve water quality through better stream bank management, effluent disposal, and fertiliser application". The sample of archive print media materials show that this accord may be, fundamentally, an agreement regarding the need for acceptable resource use and control, rather than a consensus on the value of certain plants and animals or unanimity with regard to a specific management strategy for wildlife and natural resources.