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Forest Growers Research Conference presentations
National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry - Overview of the regulations
National Wilding Conifer Control Programme update
Scion Connections
President
Neil Cullen
cullen@farmside.co.nz
-North Otago
-Mid Otago
-South Otago
-Southland
-Sthn High Country (south)
Immediate Past President & Newsletter editor
Dean Satchell
dsatch@xtra.co.nz
-Far North
-Mid North
National Office
Natalie
admin@nzffa.org.nz
Phone: 04 4720432
Executive
Angus Gordon angusg@xtra.co.nz
-Taupo & Districts
-Middle Districts
-Hawkes Bay
-Gisborne East Coast
-Taranaki
Michael Orchard
orchards@xtra.co.nz
-West Coast
-Marlborough
-Nelson
Hamish Levack hlevack@xtra.co.nz
-Wairarapa
-Wellington
Patrick Milne patrick@cypress.co.nz
-North Canterbury
-Central Canterbury
-Ashburton
-South Canterbury
Peter Berg
thebergs@ihug.co.nz
-Lower North
-Waitomo
-Waikato
-Bay of Plenty
Don Wallace
don@wallace.gen.nz
-At large
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e-Newsletter
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Forest Growers Levy Trust 2018 Work programme
The FGLT 2018 Work Programme was considered and approved by the FGLT board this month. If you have any comments or suggestions please email admin@fglt.org.nz
For more information on these events, they are posted on the NZFFA website >>
Branch secretaries, please make sure you notify head office of any branch or action group events.
- Southland branch field day Our ever popular Christmas Trip is on again this year and is based in the Te Anau basin. When: Thursday 28th December 2017 Where: We will meet at 10 am…
- Middle Districts branch field day Whanganui’s Bushy Park conservation and reserve area. When: Tuesday 23rd January, 10.30 a.m. start Where: Gather at the Bushy Park car park. Turn right, north, off SH3 onto Rangitatau East Road at Kai…
- Waikato branch AGM and field day North Island Farm Forester of the year When: February 17th 2018, 10am Where: Dave and Sue Forsythe's farm, 23 Hinewai road, Waikato
- ForestWood 2018 Conference When: Wednesday 21 March 2018 Where: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington Website: www.forestwood.org.nz ForestWood 2018 is the 5th in the conference series, jointly hosted by Forest Owners…
- Fed Farmers Need to Flush in some new Thinking Chris Perley's Blog, November, 2017. If the speech summary of Federated Farmers President Katie Milne is anything to go by, the farming lobby group needs a bit of radical thinking. Ms Milne effectively laid down…
- Selective harvesting our indigenous forests Wink Sutton's Blog, November, 2017. Indigenous forests are living ecosystems. In untended indigenous forests the total standing volume usually only varies by a small amount. Although old trees die, fall over and rot on the…
- Durability performance and structural timber Dean Satchell's blog, November, 2017. Hazard class H1.2 is an indoor decay hazard, introduced in 2003 as a regulatory reaction to the leaky building syndrome. This standard applies to timber used for structural applications protected…
NZFFA members can set up their own blogs on the NZFFA website. Email Dean.
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Forest Growers Research Annual Conference, October 2017
- Forest Growers Levy Update
- Risk Management
- Red needle cast and other needle diseases of radiata pine
- Satellite monitoring of red needle cast (RNC)
- Myrtle rust
- Responding to new pest incursions in urban areas
- Log fumigation: update on research into alternatives to methyl bromide
- Licence to Operate
- Erosion sources and sediment pathways to streams associated with forest harvesting activities
- Effectiveness of riparian margins for trapping sediment in steepland plantations
- ErodeNZ: the story so far
- Stream recovery in harvested catchments following a major storm
- The fate of copper in waterways
- Material flows and end uses of harvested wood products produced from New Zealand log exports
- Small Forest Grower Research
- Eucalyptus nitens breeding
- Performance of naturally durable eucalypt posts in Marlborough vineyards
- The Forecaster Calculator V1
- Improving small plantation and woodlot inventory
- Nursery & Seedling Optimisation, Bio-Stimulants, & Foliar Fertilising
- Nursery and seedling optimisation
- Murray’s Nurseries: low input and innovative nursery management
- Bio-protection successes
- Biostimulants and foliar sprays
- Remote Sensing
- Industry applications of UAVs
- Summary of Remote Sensing projects at Scion
- Remote sensing adoption within the forest industry
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MFE has published these guidelines for growers, you can download them here »
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A pause for celebration
The National Wilding Conifer Control Programme has achieved some impressive progress over its first year and a half, and is continuing at pace. The high regard in which the Programme is widely held is a tribute to the efforts of everyone involved. While this is a busy time in the wilding conifer control calendar, it is good to pause briefly and reflect with satisfaction on how much we have collectively achieved in such a short time.
In our first year, the Programme has seen conifer spread successfully checked in some of New Zealand’s most iconic landscapes, conservation areas, high-country farms and important water catchments. Much of the 1.2 million ha treated in Year 1 was in the relatively early stages of being invaded, so this work was very much a ‘stich in time saves nine’.
Of the 14 areas covered by the Programme in Year 1, eight have now had most of their problematic seed sources removed and conifer spread halted. This has protected vast tracts of land, including High Country farmland and conservation land, in the Lewis, Cragieburn, Porter, Godley, Four Peaks, St Mary-Ida and Dunstan areas, as well as in the Kaimanawa area of the North Island. Follow-up control work in these areas is planned for three years’ time.
Programme update
Funding agreements with all 5 regions in the national wilding conifer programme have now been signed off, and control operations – both ground and aerial – are well underway in this 2017/18 season.
The work includes a continuation of control in the Molesworth, Hakatere, Kawerau, Remarkables, Northern Eyre and Five Rivers areas. It also includes another five areas, covering around 400,000 hectares of affected land in Canterbury, Otago and Southland, which have been added to this year’s Programme. These are:
- Tekapo West, Tekapo East,
- Ohau (McKenzie, Canterbury)
- Lammermoor (Otago)
See maps below for Management Units in Programme Year 1 (blue outline) and Year 2 (yellow outline):
‘Clearing House’ system developed for Operational Good Practice
Both the Operational and the Technical Advisory Group have now signed off on a national process for assessing, developing and agreeing on good practice in wilding pine control. The first good practice area which will be put through this system is Aerial Basal Bark Application of herbicide.
Data and Information
The new Wilding Conifer Information System (WCIS) was launched in July this year, and a series of training workshops have been held around the country to roll out the system - which will provide up to date information on the national situation and support improved planning and reporting for the Programme.
In January 2018, operational reporting across all Management Units will switch over to the new system. Two interns are currently engaged by LINZ to work with partners and help migrate existing data into the WCIS.
LINZ were recently recognised at this year’s Spatial Excellence Awards for the WCIS – picking up the top prize in the Environment and Sustainability Category. Congratulations, LINZ!
Developing a wilding conifer ID guide
The Programme needs a simple conifer ID guide to help field teams record the wilding conifer species present and their density. We’re aware of several groups already working on such a guide, and have begun to talk with these and others – towards developing a field guide for the Programme in the New Year.
Website
We’re in the process of redeveloping the wildingconifers website. Content has been drafted and passed by a website management team of representatives from MPI, DOC, LINZ, Regional Councils, Researchers, and NZWCMG. Their comments have been included and material is now being uploaded to a development site. We aim to have this available for partner and stakeholder feedback in January.
Public visibility
Highway and layby area signs will be in place near some visible control areas over summer (Molesworth Station, Arthur’s Pass, Mackenzie Country (Twizel/Mt Cook/Omarama), Alexandra, and Mid-Dome).
Backcountry huts will get some attention too – with DOC and helicopter operators distributing notices to huts that describe the work underway and what backcountry users can do (contact DOC) if they come across wilding conifers.
Land holder guidance on tree weeds and the ETS
We have developed some guidance to help land holders understand when they can clear tree weeds without incurring a financial liability under the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS). This four-page booklet (‘Managing tree weeds and the Emissions Trading Scheme’) is available here on the MPI website.
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Scion Connections
Sustainable wood for sustainable development
The use of sustainable wood in construction can help to achieve all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Scion is helping to realise the full potential of sustainably produced wood. Read more »
"A Billion Trees"
One of the challenges I was told I would face when I started at Scion was that despite being the third largest export revenue earner forestry was never talked about by government ministers. Well that has certainly changed, and I believe the time is right. Read more »
New ways to measure and value small forests
Our researchers are working on new ways to ensure the growers of small forests get access to some of the same benefits from remote sensing research that large forest growers have. Read more »
Growing from strength to strength - the Ngati Whare and Scion partnership
A lot has happened in the year since Ngati Whare opened their state of the art nursery in Minginui. Their progress is a great example of what can be achieved through partnership. Read more »
Radiata pine genome - draft assembly now completed
The first draft assembly of the radiata pine genome is complete, thanks to the work of the Scion genetics team in collaboration with Massey University. Read more »
Improving small woodlot & plantation inventories
Watch a drone/UAV flyover a small woodlot and see how the LiDAR data collection works. 1min 50sec. Watch now »
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Content
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| Disclaimer: Personal views expressed in this newsletter are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent those of the NZ Farm Forestry Association. |
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