Community
Conservation Fund
National Policy Statement for Freshwater
Management
Afforestation Grant Scheme
The Billion Tree Campaign and Global Forests
Australias
hardwood woodchips
Victorian
eucalypt plantation scheme
Native
Forest Biodiversity Workshop
Primary
Sector Water Partnership Leadership Document
Wake-up
call with shrinking N.Z. forest figures
Imported
tropical timber
Will
we continue to see a strong growth in FSC importance in the U.S?
Steel
vs timber
Bioenergy
options for New Zealand
President
Patrick Milne patrick@cypress.co.nz
-Nelson
-Marlborough
-North Canterbury
-Central canterbury
-West Coast
Vice President
Denis Hocking jdhocking@xtra.co.nz
-Waitomo
-Taupo & Districts
-Hawkes Bay
-Taranaki
Newsletter editor
Dean Satchell
dsatch@gmail.com
National Executive
John Dermer dermer@inspire.net.nz
-Middle districts
-Tararua
-Wairarapa
-Wellington
Ian Jackson ijacko@xtra.co.nz
-Ashburton
-South Canterbury
-North Otago
-Sthn High Country (north)
Neil Cullen cullen@farmside.co.nz
-Mid Otago
-South Otago
-Southland
-Men of Trees
-Sthn High Country (south)
Dean Satchell dsatch@gmail.com
-Far North
-Mid North
-Lower North
-South Auckland |
Notices
Nominations
due by 1st November:
Michael Hay
Memorial Award
-Awarded to a younger member of NZFFA who is planting or establishing
trees. Download
nomination form
Husqvarna Farm
Forester of the Year Awards
- Awards for both North and South Islands. Download
nomination form
Branches: If you
want to change the amount of your branch levies, you have to advise
National Office by 1 November.
Gisborne Conference:
Remits have to be submitted
to National Office by 1 November.
Community Conservation Fund
If you haven´t already
heard - the Community Conservation fund was established
this year and the first round is currently OPEN.
It will fund established community groups to undertake restoration
projects on public
land and aims to improve and maintain the condition of rare and
threatened native
areas. Your group does not necessarily need to have a legal structure
to qualify.
Priorities for restoration work include: wetlands, river streams and
banks, dune lands,
urban waterways and forest remnants.
Public Lands include:
- Department of
Conservation lands (reserve, national park, coastal and dune lands)
- Land Information
New Zealand lands (river, some lake beds and river/stream banks)
- Territorial
Authorities lands (reserves, Council land)
- NZ Transport Agency
and Rail lands
- Crown land covered
by the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act.
For more info see http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/summary.aspx?id=71632
Applications close 3pm Wednesday 5 November 2008
National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management
Management
of fresh water is a matter of national
significance, and is relevant to achieving the purpose of the RMA. This
proposed policy statement will require careful review by land and
forest owners as it could result in forested lands again being
relegated to the role of providing environmental services (in this case
high quality water), in order to offset the impacts of more intensive
land uses.
Potential implications of this proposed policy statement may include
even less flexibility to change land use from forestry and a further
reduction in attractiveness of planting land in trees as the perception
is increasingly that change from forestry will be restricted by
regulators and a corresponding reduction in forest land values.
The purpose of the proposed National
Policy Statement for Freshwater Management
is to help guide decision-making on freshwater management under the
Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) at national, regional and district
levels.
Submissions close at 5pm on 23 January 2009. Submission forms can be
found here.
Afforestation
Grant Scheme
The Afforestation Grant Scheme's (AGS) first
public tender round has granted nine recipients a total of $927,000 to
plant new forests; and further applications are being called for by MAF.
MAF hopes to further increase new plantings in 2009 and a second public
tender pool round is currently open for applications. The tender round
closes on 31 October.
Under the AGS, half of the funding is available to the general public
via the public tender pool and the other half is allocated to Regional
Councils under a separate pool round. A contract is currently being
signed with Regional Councils for their pool and announcements are
expected to be made soon.
The AGS is an alternative to other sustainable forestry legislation and
policies such as the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (NZETS) Forestry, the
Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI), the East Coast Forestry
Project and the Sustainable Land Management (Hill Country Erosion)
Programme.
For further information on the AGS or to download an AGS Public Tender
Form see: http://www.maf.govt.nz/climatechange/forestry/initiatives/ags/
(From NZIF Newsletter 2008/37)
The
billion tree campaign and global forests
The Billion Tree Campaign has, in just 18
months, encouraged the planting of two billion trees, double its
original target and resulted in tree planting in over 150 countries.
The campaign, led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World
Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), was launched in 2006 as a response to
global warming, water shortages and the loss of species.
Geographically, Africa has seen over half of all tree plantings.
Regional and national governments organized the most massive plantings,
with Ethiopia leading the count at 700 million, followed by Turkey (400
million), Mexico (250 million), and Kenya (100 million).
Meanwhile, FAO report that the world's net forest loss is 20,000
hectares per day. Between 1990 to 2005, the world lost 3 per cent of
its total forest area, an average decrease of some 0.2 per cent per
year, according to FAO's State of the World’s Forests 2007
report, published in March. Net forest loss is 7.3 million hectares per
year or 20,000 hectares per day, equivalent to an area twice the size
of Paris.
From 2000 to 2005, 57 countries reported an increase in forest area,
and 83 reported a decrease.
Global forest cover amounts to just under four billion hectares,
covering about 30 per cent of the world’s land area.
Ten countries account for 80 per cent of the world’s primary
forests, of which Indonesia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and Brazil saw
the highest losses in primary forest in the five years running from
2000 to 2005.
In Asia and the Pacific, net forest area increased in that same period,
reversing the downward trend of the preceding decades. The increase was
mainly in East Asia, where large investments in forest plantations in
China were high enough to offset high rates of deforestation in other
areas. The net loss of forest area actually accelerated in South-east
Asia between 2000 and 2005.
Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean are currently the two
regions with the highest losses. Africa, which accounts for about 16
per cent of the total global forest area, lost over 9 per cent of its
forests between 1990 and 2005. Latin America and the Caribbean, with
over 47 per cent of the world’s forests saw an increase in the
annual net loss between 2000 and 2005, from 0.46 percent to 0.51 per
cent.
Europe and North America showed net increases in forest area over the
reporting period.
Australias hardwood woodchips
Australia has become the world's largest exporter of wood chips,
shipping a record of over 6 million oven-dry metric tons (odmt) in
2007, with 2008 promising to be another strong year. Eucalyptus chip,
most of which is still from native forests, is by far the most common
species exported, accounting for approximately 70 percent of the total
exports in 2007. The remaining 30 percent is predominantly residual
chips from sawmills using plantation-based radiata pine.
Japan has been the major destination for Australian chips, with
occasional vessels going to South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and China.
Australian Eucalyptus chip export prices have more than doubled the
past six years and are currently US$167/odmt FOB vessel in Tasmania for
native species and about US$187/odmt for plantation wood chips.
For the first half of 2008, Australian export prices for softwood chips
to Japan ranged between US$147-151/odmt. These prices are 45 percent
higher than in late 2006, and almost a doubling since 2003.
For more information visit www.woodprices.com
Source:
RISI (Friday offcuts)
Victorian eucalypt plantation scheme
A
consortium of private Victorian companies has launched a new programme
to grow long-term eucalypt plantations on private property. Led by
Radial Timber, the plan involves forming joint ventures with land
owners to establish eucalypt plantations, initially in Gippsland and
then in other regions if the program is successful. Radial Plantations
will cover establishment and management costs and the farmer will earn
returns by being guaranteed a significant percentage of the income when
the plantation is harvested.
The four main species being targeted are spotted gum, yellow
stringybark, southern mahogany and sugar gum, durable
indigenous-to-Victoria eucalypt species that will provide good returns
on harvesting the saw-logs at between 25 and 35 years old. Further
details on the scheme can be found on www.radialwood.com.au
Source:
Friday Offcuts
Native Forest Biodiversity Workshop
This research project has been funded by
the Forest Health Research Collaborative.
Purpose of Workshops:
Forest Stewardship Council requires maintenance and enhancement of the
biodiversity of native forests or other native ecosystems. These half
day workshops will demonstrate ways in which the biodiversity of these
native ecosystems can be assessed. The focus will be on fungi and
insect herbivores which are also relevant for assessments of the health
of native forests.
The workshops will show different ways in which biodiversity
assessments can be made and seek feedback on which methods foresters
would prefer, so that these tools can be developed for when they are
needed.
The attached questionnaire will be completed at the end of the
workshops and used to report to the Collaborative on members
preferences.
Please don't hesitate to contact Dr Nicolas Martin if you
would like any further information.
Christchurch (Lincoln) (hosted by Crop & Food Research)
Friday 10 October 2008, from 1.00pm to 4.30 pm, though if there is lots
of discussion it may last until 5 pm.
Crop & Food
Research
Canterbury Agricultural & Science Centre
Gerald Street, Lincoln
Nr Christchurch
Phone: 0-3-325 6400
Please book attendance
asap and give number of people. Email: martinn@crop.cri.nz
Primary Sector Water Partnership Leadership Document
The Partnership group consists of Fonterra, Dairy NZ, the Foundation
for Arable Research, Horticulture NZ, Meat and Wool NZ, New Zealand
Forest Owners association and NZ Farm Forestry Association, Irrigation
New Zealand, Fertiliser Manufacturers Research Association and
Federated Farmers.
The document sets out a collective
action plan which has been endorsed by all the partners. There are also
some sector specific targets.
Partnership
chairman Hawke’s Bay farmer Hugh Ritchie says the document is
designed to establish a basis whereby the sector can engage with
regional councils and co-ordinate the efforts of the primary sector and
research organisations with the objective of improving the management
of freshwater in New Zealand.
The focus of the plan is to achieve real positive change in water use
and quality.
He says the Partnership has already talked to some regional councils
and more consultation is planned to ensure available financial and
people resources are directed towards where the greatest gains can be
made.
“The Partnership has also taken the step of engaging with
environmental and recreational organisations to explain what the group
is trying to achieve and to seek constructive feedback on what has been
proposed. We are also encouraging other primary sector organisations to
join the initiative.
“The various organisations in the partnership have been working
on this initiative for two years and this demonstrates that the primary
sector recognise the importance of carefully managing water resources
and how committed they are to dealing with the matter”, says Hugh
Ritchie.
Two of the key goals outlined in the document are about maintaining and
enhancing water quality from primary production land and the group
achieving demonstrable improvements in water use efficiency by the
primary sector within five years.
You can learn more about the Group and its work by looking at the
Primary Sector Water Partnership Leadership Document at: http://www.hortnz.co.nz/communications/pdfs/3737WaterPartnership2.pdf
Wake-up call with shrinking N.Z. forest figures
New Zealand forest owners say figures from the latest forestry census
should be a wake-up call for policy makers. The just released figures
show the plantation forest area in New Zealand decreased by about
12,000 hectares during 2007 - the third consecutive year the area of
forest has declined. At 2000 ha or less in 2007, new forest plantings
are the lowest recorded since 1950 - down from 10,600 ha in 2004, 6000
ha in 2005 and 5000 ha in 2006. Meanwhile, 14,000 ha were deforested in
2007, up from 12,900 ha in 2006.
NZ Forest Owners Association president Peter Berg says a shrinking
forest estate reflects poor market returns relative to dairying and a
policy environment that doesn't recognise the multiple benefits of
forestry to New Zealand, nor the needs of land owners making a
long-term investment. Mr Berg hopes the forest census figures will act
as a policy wake-up call. "We badly need some cogent strategies. Not
only is it important for environmental reasons, but forestry is also
our third biggest export industry and a major regional employer."
"The peak in plantings during the 1990s is now being followed by a
sustained trough that will create instability in the future unless
planting is encouraged now. The future wood supply for mills and added
value processors is being put at risk and those with careers in the
industry will be wondering about their prospects."
Source:
Friday
Offcuts – 1 August 2008
Imported tropical timber
Pledges by most New Zealand major furniture retail chains have been
made to stop importing outdoor kwila furniture. Big Save, Harvey
Norman, Briscoes, Farmers and The Warehouse have now all promised not
to import kwila furniture (although old stocks might be sold at some
stores next summer “season”). Nearly all New Zealand's
kwila imports, which are mostly in the form of decking timber and
outdoor furniture, come from rainforests in Papua New Guinea and
neighbouring Indonesian-run Papua. The World Bank has reported 70 to 80
percent of such logging is illegal and the New Zealand Government has
estimated up to 80 percent of illegally-sourced wood products sold in
New Zealand is kwila.
Meanwhile, almost one-fifth of wood imported into the European Union in
2006 came from illegal sources, with the UK being the second largest
importer. The UK imported 3.5 million cubic metres of illegal wood,
which included importing the biggest quantities of furniture, finished
wood
products, sawnwood and plywood of all EU states. says a report from
WWF. Only Finland brought in more illegal timber.
The European
Commission is expected to make a proposal to introduce an
EU law to guarantee that only legal wood is sold in the European
market. Traders may have to prove the origin and legality of wood and a
penalty could be introduced for any violation.
Back in our neck of the woods, under the motto ‘walking the
talk’, the Ministry for the Environment leads and manages the Govt3
programme for government agencies, based on sustainable
procurement and eco-verification. So why is Kiwi Rail, a government
owned enterprise, buying up 14,500 uncertified hardwood sleepers from
Peru? What kind of example is this for us?
Will
we continue to see a strong growth in FSC importance in the U.S?
The overall awareness and acceptance of FSC has increased dramatically
in the U.S. This is especially the case on the East Coast, which had
previously been slow to pick up FSC. More "pro dealers" (placemakers,
carters equivalents) are obtaining FSC-COC, and seeking FSC products.
Architects are now indicating a strong awareness at the consumer level
of green building/FSC. On the West Coast FSC is a prerequisite to
most business with pro dealers –with a 100% premium for FSC
– no FSC no business!
Steel vs timber
By
Andrew McEwen, NZIF President
- We need a source of
facts on wood including comparisons with competing products
(Note that the NZ Wood
site (www.nzwood.co.nz) has been
upgraded and has a huge amount of useful information on it);
- Wood is by far the
best in an earthquake & easy to repair when damaged. Whereas I
expect steel & concrete structures will be just expensive
write-offs. Steel will flex but not spring back & concrete will
shatter and / or collapse.
- How resilient is a
steel frame in a "leaky building scenario". While undoubtedly the
galvanised surfaces will stand up well, it is the fixing points of the
members that involve penetrations through the galvanised layers. I
wonder if under the warm high humidity environment of a leaky wall
cavity, corrosion might not set in quite quickly at those points. The
problem with a steel frame is that all its strength arises from the
"stressed skin" concept that in turn relies on avoidance of any
deformation of the member profile. The avoidance of deformation depends
totally on the fixing points. If they do corrode ......?
- There appeared to
be anecdotal evidence after high winds in Coromandel and Auckland that
light steel framed buildings failed while neighbouring wooden ones
fared better i.e. wood retained strength under deformation and flexing
(as in a high wind) - perhaps steel remained more rigid initially but
then deformed under stress and then failed quickly.
- In British Columbia
there has been a long history of building from wood and also of leaky
condos (not houses) - but the leaks and wood are not directly
connected, it's the design and the flashings and the shoddy
construction that was the problem in BC - and in NZ. Steel houses will
also leak if they are not designed and built correctly. In British
Columbia , instead of bagging wood as being an inferior product, there
is a real push to use more wood
- My dad used to work
in the coal mines in Germany and he told me that they used wooden
framing to support the ceilings in mine shafts. Never steel. Why?
Because when the ceiling started to press down on the framing, the
miners would hear it, they said the wood was talking to them. Steel
just snaps in such a situation, no warning.
- The reason for
buildings rotting is not the framing material but the change in
cladding and design methods that started about 25years ago. Nor is it,
as often erroneously quoted the change away from Boron treatment of
framing. There are houses built of totally untreated Radiata pine built
just post war (about 1949) that are still perfectly sound.
Boron’s role is mostly against insect attack. The leaky homes
business is a symptom of the desire to have a Mediterranean style home
and ignoring the realities of New Zealand weather. We have wind driven
rain, quite a lot of it and an efficient building style should aim to
defeat this rain entering the structure. The lack of wide roof eaves,
decking abutting walls, cladding with fragile coating and building to
ground level with no air space is just asking for trouble in these
circumstances. Monolithic cladding placed without adequate provision
for breathing and provision for some movement is also plain stupid.
Sealing materials cannot take up the movement and fail.
- Steel is not a very
good performer in fire. Heating seriously decreases the strength
of steel which can then fail. A wooden frame member will char on the
surface and will retain its structural integrity far longer. Wooden
frames are also safer in earthquakes, when distorted the structure
resists total collapse far better than a steel structure.
- People with steel
framing are going to rue the day they specified it when they want to
hang a picture or carry out an alteration.
- Wood is a natural
insulator, steel is a rather efficient conductor of heat out of, and
into, the structure. The extra insulation required costs more and again
increases the emissions required in the building.
- Wooden buildings
can be altered far more easily than steel framed ones.
- Lil Ol NZ can grow
wood very very well & does not take anywhere near the same amount
of energy to convert from Log to Lumber as steel ore does.
- What about fire or
electrocution risk of steel's conductivity (vs that of wood)?
- The steel industry
distorts the facts and foresters world wide are very poor responders. I
have heard it claimed (but I have never seen the proof) that steel
framing has a much greater rate of thermal expansion and has poorer
sound insulation than wood and hence there are more creaks and noise in
a steel house. Add this to poorer thermal insulation and wood comes out
better. I don’t think the claim that 70% of new homes in the USA
are steel framed is correct.
One member rang Golden Homes and was told that they could have a
standard home with either steel or wooden framing, both equally
weather-tight, etc – but the timber home will cost $7,000 more! I
talked to another member about this and he suggested that there is less
than $7,000 worth of timber in a standard house – the difference
must be in the added labour etc in construction. If this is the case
then I hope that the wood products part of the sector is working hard
to overcome the discrepancy and find new ways to supply components to
builders.
I was also disturbed to see that most of the NZ Wood letter that was
printed by the Sunday Star Times extolled the climate change virtues of
wood compared with steel. The average home buyer will not worry too
much about that if a steel framed house is $7,000 cheaper than the
climate friendly one. What is really needed is to close that cost
gap and then we might get some traction by adding on the climate change
benefits at no extra cost.
[Footnote: If you are interested in embedded CO2, and other
recent findings on the benefits of wood in buildings, get hold of the
latest NZ Geographic (September October 2008) and look at the article
on page 24 about Andy Buchanan’s work at the University of
Canterbury.]
Source: NZIF newsletter
Bioenergy options for New Zealand
There are
two new reports which can be found here on
the Scion website.
Technologies exist for converting woody-biomass to a range of transport
fuels (i.e. fossil petrol, diesel and jet fuel replacements). It is
theoretically possible for New Zealand to be self-sufficient in
transport fuel produced from sustainably managed forests. To meet the
petrol and diesel fuel demand in 2040 (6.3 billion litres) would
require 2.5 to 2.8 million ha of land - this is 34% of the available
medium to low quality grazing land. The total liquid fuel demand,
including jet fuel and fuel oil for air and sea transport, is expected
to be around 8.1 billion litres. It would require approx. 3.7 million
ha, or 42% of low to medium quality grazing
land, to produce this volume of fuel from forests.
Technologies exist for converting biomass to liquid and gaseous
transport fuels, or biofuels. Biofuels are considered one of the most
rapidly deployable ways of reducing our reliance on fossil transport
fuels. This assumption drives the focus on transport fuels in this
report. Transport fuel production from purpose-grown forest provides
significant greenhouse gas benefits (60-90% reduction) compared to
fossil petrol and diesel and has an energy return on energy investment
of approximately 4:1.
Forest residues to ethanol via enzymatic conversion mean significant
GHG reductions (~80%) and is currently only 30% more costly than petrol.
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