Farm Forestry New ZealandNewsletter 63 September 2013
Newsletter 63 September 2013
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NZFFA P.O. Box 10349 The Terrace Wellington 6143 www.nzffa.org.nz
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| September 2013 No. 63 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Draft sustainable forest management standard Opinion piece - Forestry harvesting safety Potential of Genomics for Combatting Foliar Diseases Belgian agroforestry visitors MBIE Bid Results Announced Wood Smart Seminar - Auckland
President Ian Jackson ijacko@xtra.co.nz -Ashburton -South Canterbury -North Otago -Sthn High Country (north) Vice President Dean Satchell dsatch@gmail.com -Far North -Mid North Newsletter editor Dean Satchell dsatch@gmail.com National Executive Angus Gordon angusg@xtra.co.nz -Taupo & Districts -Middle Districts -Taranaki -Hawkes Bay Neil Cullen cullen@farmside.co.nz -Mid Otago -South Otago -Southland -Men of Trees -Sthn High Country (south) Hamish Levack hlevack@xtra.co.nz -Gisborne East Coast -Wairarapa -Wellington Patrick Milne patrick@cypress.co.nz -West Coast -Central Canterbury -North Canterbury -Marlborough -Nelson Peter Berg thebergs@ihug.co.nz -Lower North -Waitomo -Waikato -Bay of Plenty
The members area of the NZFFA website can be accessed by using your email address and password to log in. Your email address MUST be the address you have provided to NZFFA for your subscription (which happens to be the one this newsletter was sent to...). If you don't have a password or can't remember it, you can get one very easily. Just follow the instructions here. Any problems logging in then email me. Dean Satchell |
Notices Nominations for Farm Forestry Awards Nominations for Farm Forestry Awards are now open. Actually they are always open, which is a reaction to branches saying we call for nominations when they are not holding meetings. Thus nominations can be submitted to National office at any time, but if they are not received by 1 November (to allow time for judging) they are not eligible for presentation at the ensuing Conference (usually held the following April). Nominations received after 1 November are held over for judging for a subsequent Conference. Note that nominations are submitted by branches, and so if you know of a worthy recipient, contact your branch officers. Nomination forms are available on the NZFFA website or may be requested from National Office. Husqvarna Farm Forester of the Year North Island and South Island Our two prestigious awards for farm forestry achievement. Prizes are a Husqvarna chainsaw and custody of the engraved plaque for a year. Recipients must be present at Conference. Judging criteria include personal effort in tree planting and results, service to community, depth and spread of knowledge, and service to NZFFA. NZ Landcare Trust Award for Innovation in Sustainable Farm Forestry Awarded by NZ Landcare Trust for innovation as in the title. Prize is $2,000. Usually awarded to a recipient residing in the same island as the Conference is being held (to facilitate the recipient being able to attend to receive the prize). Michael Hay Award Awarded by the Michael Hay Trust to a younger farm forester who is actively planting trees. Prize is $5,000 to be spent on further plantings. The award is judged by an independent panel and the initial assessment is on a desktop basis – hence descriptive documentation and photographs are important. Notice to branch officers re. Branch Levies: Because we are changing systems in the office before generating subscription renewal notices for 2014, any branch that wants to change the amount of its levies must advise National Office by 1 October 2013." Draft sustainable forest management standard Standards New Zealand has released a draft standard, DZ 4708 Sustainable forest management for public comment. This draft is a development of the Australian Standard for forest management, AS4708:2013 which has just been published. DZ 4708 has been drafted by a project committee of Standards New Zealand comprising representatives of forestry, wood processing and environmental interest groups including the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association. One of the aims of the standard will be to establish a forest certification regime that is recognised in Australia and other export destinations that signifies the legality of timber, and therefore compliance with importing legislation such as the Australian Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012. You now have an opportunity to comment on the draft. This can be done by following this link; http://shop.standards.co.nz/default.htm?action=viewDraft&mod=drafts&draftId=DZ4708 The draft covers a range of issues such as certification requirements, forest health, carbon, biodiversity, cultural values and economic and social benefits which you may have a view on. The closing date for comments is 22 October 2013. Opinion piece - Forestry harvesting safety There has been plenty in the news about forestry lately and most of it not good. The run of fatalities in logging has continued and now stands at 7 for the year. Last week a Northland breaker-out was hit by a tree and has lost a leg below the knee. Some of the media beat up has been driven by union interests trying to gain leverage in the industry but we can’t deny that there is a problem. Just like the carnage created by quad bikes on farms there is a temptation to run around like headless chooks and create a lot of meaningless regulation that doesn’t address the true issue. As landowners we have a responsibility under the Health and Safety in Employment Act. It is not enough to leave everything to your harvest manager or contractor; there are a number of things you can do. The main thing is to address the issue with your harvest manager or contractor. You will determine their attitude very quickly. Be aware that just because it is written down does not mean that it is happening down the hill. A shiny health and safety policy is no assurance of the policy being followed. There are 3 critical indicators of a logging operation that is addressing the safety problem. The first is a "safety culture". This simply means that everyone in the operation is focussed on safety. This is often demonstrated by indicators 2 and 3 which are a drug free operation and full personal protective equipment. The larger forest owners now have drug and alcohol programs in place in their forests which includes random testing. While this is good the net result is to shepherd drug using loggers into areas where there are less controls such as farmer owned woodlots. What has to happen is that these people are encouraged into industries where they are less likely to kill themselves or others such as teaching or union organising. Work with your harvest manager or contractor to determine if the crew chosen for your operation has a safety culture. A simple test is to announce on Thursday that there will be a random drug test on Friday. The absence or presence of crew members on Friday will save the cost of the test! Peter Davies-Colley, Mid North branch president (top) Forest Science Seminar - Potential of Genomics for Combatting Foliar Diseases Wednesday, 4 September 2013, either online via live streaming or at Scion, Rotorua (Rimu Room) 12pm - 1pm Phil Wilcox. This presentation is a repeat of Phil's talk at the 2013 FOA Foliar Disease Workshop and explains the mystery of '-omics' in simple words. The presentation will also provide an update on the radiata pine genome sequence project currently being undertaken at Scion. Over the last decade the costs of genomic and other 'omic' technologies have decreased to a point where they are now becoming a common component of research at Scion. In the area of host pathogen interaction genome-wide information has the potential for a much greater level of understanding of the actual mechanisms by which hosts and pathogens interact. In the shorter term, DNA-based tools arising from modern genomic technologies could provide the basis for a faster and more effective utilisation of host resistance/tolerance to diseases of radiata pine and other species. To attend in person, please enter Scion through the main reception. For remote attendance via live streaming please let Katrin Webb know if you are intending on logging in. For login, follow instructions below. Cheers The FSSS crew - Christian Walter, Bob Shula, Tim Barnard and Katrin Webb SCOPIA setup instructions: At the time of the meeting, please follow the access method described below. Any issues, ring Katrin on 021648640 (will be at seminar directly and is point of contact). 1. Install Scopia - go to http://sds.karen.net.nz/scopia?client 2. The "Join Meeting" Window will appear a. Enter your name b. Meeting ID is 65129 c. Click 'participate now' 3. You will be asked for a PIN number – this is 5423 Please note: This meeting will become available to join on the Bridge 10 mins prior to the start time. To test that your software and hardware are setup correctly beforehand, visit our KVCS Test Room at http://sds.karen.net.nz/scopia?ID=6222&autojoin (testroom – 6222) Belgian agroforestry visitors We are two students from Belgium and we come to New Zealand from December to February. We studied agronomy and particularly agroforestry. As New Zealand is one of the first country to practice modern agroforestry it is interesting for us to visit some farms there. We come to you to have some contacts in the country who could help us to visit some farms and to meet farmers that practice agroforestry.. Thank you very much in advance, Best regards, Alice Blaimont aliceblaimont@gmail.com (top) MBIE Bid Results Announced MBIE have just announced the results of the 2013 bidding round. Four forest growing bids were submitted by Scion into the funding process. Two of these bids were in the FFR space. One of these bids was successful and the other was not successful.
Overall, given the degree to which the government funding was oversubscribed in the bid round this is a good outcome with Government providing funding of $31 million to our industry over the next six years with a focus on forest productivity and value. It will be very disappointing for many of our Members who have an interest in other species that the Emerging Species programme has not been supported but the Government target of growing exports from other species to $200m per year by 2030 was a very tough target for forestry with its longer rotations. We are considering as a matter of urgency alternatives for funding ongoing research into other species of interest to forest owners. Russell Dale, FFR Wood Smart Seminar - Auckland Don't miss this event - Register Now!  Ellerslie
Event Centre
Tuesday, October 1, 2013 from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Stronger Buildings and Better Outcomes A message from NZ Wood & Timber Design Society As an industry sector with a major investment in supplying wood and wood products for domestic construction, the Wood Smart Construction Series demonstrates our commitment to the knowledge transfer that leads to stronger buildings and better outcomes. Wood Smart will provide property owners, asset managers, engineers, architects and quantity surveyors with the knowledge they need to confidently seek a wood first outcome for their commercial buildings. We believe that increasing the utilisation of engineered timber across commercial, civic and public buildings will optimise the value of these assets over time - from office blocks to warehouse or depot facilities - and will help build regional and national economies. Programme
 Ellerslie Event CentreGuineas 3 Room 80 Ascot Avenue Auckland, Auckland 1051 Register here (top)
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