Naughty Maoris

At www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/12/14/3092679.html … apparently, scientists have found evidence that 40 per cent of the canopy forest in the South Island of New Zealand was incinerated around 800 years ago – and the blame is being put on the Maoris as they were unable to climb trees and pick fruit, we are told, but for some reason they are said to have preferred to dig up the rhizomes of bracken fern as they contained starch. The trees disappeared and the ferns grew in their place, as happens even here in the UK when forest is hacked down. It is a major problem in some places, such as Wales. However, ABC, like the BBC in the UK, is rabidly AGW orientated. This may explain why no other explanation for a landscape fire was proffered – but in their favour they do mention tree rings that were consulted by the researchers who were looking specifically for evidence of warming or drought.