is this area under any kind of threat?
Yes, the lowland areas are quite highly populated and therefore urban development, agriculture and forestry are a major threat to natural habitats there.
North Island Volcanic Plateau
The lowland areas are quite highly populated and therefore urban development, agriculture and forestry are a major threat to natural habitats there. 
where is cobalt located on the periodic table UNANSWERABLE is it a metal? It is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27 how is it extracted? Like nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal what role it plays as a biological agent? It is essential to the metabolism of all animals and how it affects the animal? In the early 20th century, cattle suffered from what was termed "bush sickness", it  was discovered that the volcanic soils lacked the cobalt salts essential for the cattle food chain and in general does it also affects the health of human beings? Yes, chronic cobalt ingestion has caused serious health problems at doses far less than the lethal dose. the disease that the cattle suffered from; did it happen around any particular region? Yes, North Island Volcanic Plateau of New Zealand
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North Island Volcanic Plateau [SEP] Threats and preservation
The lowland areas are quite highly populated and therefore urban development, agriculture and forestry are a major threat to natural habitats there. One block of lowland forest remains in and around Whanganui National Park and large areas of the uplands are protected either by Maori tradition or in national parks of which Te Urewera is the largest. The four North Island national parks, which surround the plateau, are Te Urewera, Whanganui, Egmont and New Zealand's first national park, the World Heritage listed Tongariro National Park. Introduced species and livestock grazing are now major threats to some endemic species. Rats, cats and stoats prey on native reptiles and birds (including the kokako, blue duck and brown kiwi), while imported plants such as old man's beard, banana passionfruit and gorse can take over from indigenous species.