Farm Forestry New ZealandNewsletter 113, October 2018
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 New Zealand Farm Forestry Association |
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| Newsletter 113, October 2018 | |||||
2018 NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards Winners Announced! Proposed biological control of Paropsis charybdis in New Zealand using Eadya daenerys MPI joins forces with forest industry on biosecurity readiness Tōtara project sets sights on sustainable timber Getting to the heart of coast redwood durability Using satellite photogrammetry for forest inventory PGF funding to help establish forestry school
President Executive
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NoticesNorth Island Farm Forester of the Year field day NZFFA Special Interest Group seminar EventsFor more information on these events, they are posted on the NZFFA website >>
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Market Report2018 NZ Wood Resene Timber Design Awards Winners Announced!NZ SPECIALTY TIMBER AWARD: Sponsored by NZ Farm Forestry Association For more awards click here >> Proposed biological control of Paropsis charybdis in New Zealand using Eadya daenerysThe application for release is with EPA. Watch a 5 minute video explaining the biological control programme. MPI joins forces with forest industry on biosecurity readinessThe Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the New Zealand Forest Owners Association are joining forces under the GIA (Government Industry Agreement) to improve forest biosecurity preparedness. The first jointly-funded initiative under this partnership will be a forest biosecurity surveillance programme designed to detect unwanted forest pests and pathogens in high-risk places. The association and MPI recently signed the Commercial Plantation Forestry Sector Operational Agreement for Readiness under the GIA. This agreement establishes a new way of working in partnership between the 2 organisations and will see a doubling of efforts to improve forest biosecurity readiness, says Andrew Spelman, MPI's acting director, biosecurity readiness. Tōtara project sets sights on sustainable timberIn Northland, $1 million dollars, partly funded by the Provincial Growth Fund, is being spent to investigate the feasibility of a tōtara timber industry. There’s little cause to dust off the anti-native tree logging placards of the 1970s though. The Tōtara Industry Steering Group, which is running the pilot project, is quick to point out it is not clear-felling trees or cutting down the few original tōtara left in New Zealand. The pilot is focused on selective felling of tōtara trees which have regenerated in abundance on Northland’s farms. Getting to the heart of coast redwood durabilityThe “Getting to the Heart of Coast Redwood Durability” Sustainable Farming Fund project was set up in 2015 to quantify the natural durability and variability of redwood heartwood throughout New Zealand. The current natural durability rating for New Zealand redwood is Class 3 – moderately durable with ground contact and a probable life expectancy of 5-15 years. One of the reasons for this rating is the high variability of durability between wood samples used for this rating. Understanding the sources of durability variation will help growers to remove or mitigate these sources, by, for example, choosing durable seedlots/clones. Using satellite photogrammetry for forest inventoryForest management has undergone a transformation in recent decades. Management regimes have shifted from treatments that were applied to entire forests, to precise programmes, that can be tailored to single tree and are based on detailed data attained by remote sensing. Of the remote sensing technologies available to forest managers, satellite-based photogrammetry (the use of multiple images to extract measurements such as height) is a relatively unexplored area with huge potential. PGF funding to help establish forestry schoolThe Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will provide just over NZ $300,000 to pilot a forestry training course as a solution to the growing forestry skills shortage, New Zealand’s Regional Economic Development and Forestry Minister Shane Jones announced in September. The full cost of the pilot is NZ$840,000, with the additional funding coming from the Eastland Community Trust, the Forest Growers Levy Trust and the Eastern Institute of Technology. “Forestry is a key sector in Tairāwhiti, but there simply aren’t enough skilled workers in the region to do the work,” Shane Jones said. “The ManaiaSAFE Forestry School pilot course funded through today’s announcement will reduce the current skills shortage by preparing individuals with the right skills needed to be successful and make forestry their career of choice. “The pilot will take eleven trainees through 20 weeks of training, with the goal of gaining permanent employment. It will also contribute nine new jobs to the local community through the running of the course. “Current forestry training often sees students move from the classroom to a full commercial logging crew, with practical learning done on the job in a high-pressure environment. This can lead to disengagement and potential health and safety risks”. “The ManaiaSAFE Forestry School pilot will bridge the gap between the classroom and commercial sites by delivering a specifically designed training programme within a controlled, commercial environment. “If successful, the pilot could also form the basis for similar training courses in other parts of the country where there are forestry skills shortages,” Shane Jones said. Source: Scoop
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