Farm Forestry New Zealand

Letter to the Editor
 

NZ Institute of Forestry 2014 Conference, Napier, 6th – 9th July
 

Michael Hay Memorial Award
 

Final FFR members update, May 2014
 

Is wood quality still relevant in today's market?
 

New website launched to support new look forestry
 

Exciting new possibilities for eucalypts
 

Exciting new developments at the NZ Dryland Forests Initiative

Dothistroma pine Needle Blight

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 Office
Association Manager Glenn Tims
admin@nzffa.org.nz
Phone: 04 4720432
 

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
 

Events: Branch secretaries, please notify head office of any branch or action group events.
 

For more information on these events they are posted on the website >>
 

• Mid North Branch field day: Ron Lewis, Utakura, Okaihau, Saturday 28th June 10.30am.
   
• Wellington Branch joint event with the NZIF. Dr Peter Edwards on Swedish and EU forest policy. It will be held at the Forest Wood Centre, Level 9, 93 The Terrace, Wellington. 5pm for drinks. 5.30pm for presentation, on Wednesday 2nd July.
   
• NZIF 2014 Conference. This will be held at the War Memorial Conference Centre in Napier from Sunday 6th to Wednesday 9th July 2014. The theme is “Tackling Challenges and Delivering Value”. 
   
• Southland Branch event: IFS Growth Ltd in Conjunction with Invercargill City Forests Ltd and Southland District Council invite you to attend their People First Safety Programme. Presentations by Wiremu Edmonds and Dr Kyle McWilliams, Monday 14th July - Doors open 9am. Presentations 9.30, Civic Theatre, 88 Tay street, Invercargill
   
• Far North event: Mid-Winter Dinner. Whangaroa Sport Fishing Club, Friday, 25th July. Socialise from 6 pm in the bar, buffet meal at 7 pm. Guest Speaker – Russell Shaw, CEO, Top Energy “The earth’s heat and wood processing – a marriage made in Ngawha?”. Cost: $ 30 per person - bring your friends and relatives too!
   
• North Canterbury branch mid-winter dinner: July 25th, Hurunui Café and Bar: Drinks 6pm, dinner 6.30pm. Speaker: Lynley Hayes, Landcare Research ‘Beating  our  weeds  with  biological  control’. Cost $30.
   
• 2014-08-28 Mid Otago event: Miscanthus, Giant Grass. Michael Hurley-Miscanthus giganteus –giant grass talk, Thursday 28 August, 7.30 Outram Hall.
   
• Mid Otago event: Workshop on Pest Control: Inside and Outside the Fence. Where: Orokonui and Mopanui Forest. When: Saturday 11 October
   

I am impressed with the outline of the forest industry in Newsletter 71 and the requirements of the industry as described in the Industry Manifesto. I am not so impressed by the lack of information on the action that is going to establish them.

The current chaos in harvesting operations resulting from the sudden drop in log prices indicates that the organisation our forest industry is totally inadequate. The ETS fiasco and publicity attracted to logging fatalities adds severely to the woes of NZ forestry.

It is not surprising that there is a general lack of confidence in forestry.

I would like to know who is going to bring about the changes in N.Z. forestry that are required, as detailed in the Industry Manifesto.

John Mackintosh

NZ Institute of Forestry 2014 Conference, Napier, 6th – 9th July
 

Come visit the Bay and be part of the NZIF’s main event of the year. This year’s conference tackles some of forestry’s pressing challenges and the unrelenting requirement of delivering value.  Conference speakers will address the key themes of operating within the law, Hawke’s Bay land use challenges, shaping a better industry, harvest volumes and logistics, markets, and increasing the value of forests.

This year’s field trips should prove to be interesting to a diverse range of interests and provide an opportunity to see some of the unique things in the Bay. One will focus on industrial scale forestry and the other on environmental and niche markets.  How often do you get to visit one of NZ’s more impressive radiata trials, visit one of the world’s elite golf courses and surrounds and see their wildlife recovery program, see a studio of high end wooden artworks exported around the world, look at massive laminated beams being processed, and absorb the environmental, energy and production complexities at a large single site processing plant?

Please visit the NZIF Website for details on the Conference sponsors, programme and to Register online.  
 

Many of you will have seen Nick and Sheryl Pollock on Rural Delivery, June 7th. Nick and Sheryl Pollock have turned an erosion-prone Gisborne hill country property into a textbook case for wise land use.  They won the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association Michael Hay Memorial Award in 2012. The Michael Hay Memorial Award goes to a younger farm forester who is actively planting trees. The prize is $5,000 to be spent on further planting.   Nominations are put forward by branches and so give your local branch a nudge if you know of a worthy recepient.
 

Final FFR members update, May 2014
 

The final Future Forests Research members report can be accessed here:
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/232359/4fc7e95b30/1478520107/737f527e81/
 

Scion Research: Is wood quality still relevant in today's market?
 

Planting forests is a long term commitment. Choosing the right trees and management regime requires good site knowledge and a long term perspective about the future value of wood. It also requires a better understanding of what constitutes quality from a consumer’s perspective. ...read more
 

Scion Research: New website launched to support new look forestry
 

Scion has launched a new website to provide essential information for the six-year Growing Confidence in Forestry’s Future (GCFF) research programme. ...read more
 

Scion Research: Exciting new possibilities for eucalypts
 

Eucalypts are a promising commercial plantation species. With their strength, hardness and attractive appearance, and in some species, durability, they provide timber for a range of markets from furniture and outdoor uses, to fibre for high quality papers. ...read more
 

Exciting new developments at the NZ Dryland Forests Initiative
 

NZDFI have recently announce three exciting developments:

• New propagation facilities available to advance NZDFI breeding work
• A $50,000 donation to support research by the NZDFI
• Funding for up to four PhD scholarships to focus on NZDFI work

Together these developments represent a great boost for the NZDFI, already recognised as one of the most innovative and exciting developments in NZ forestry today. Read more>>
 

Dothistroma Pine Needle Blight

This article explains the aims of the Dothistroma Control Committee (DCC) in coordinating the annual aerial spraying programme in order to control Dothistroma pini in pine plantations. This disease affects pine plantations of all sizes, from woodlots to major forests, and can have a dramatic impact on tree health and growth rate, and thus value of the crop.

The DCC believes that there are many forest owners, including farmers with areas of their farms planted in pines, who may be unaware of the potential problems, and thus are also unaware of the work of the committee in controlling the disease.

Dothistroma pini is a needle blight that affects the health and growth of pine trees. Each spring and summer, affected forests around New Zealand are aerially sprayed with a copper fungicide to control the disease. More>>

Please consider the problem and contact the Committee so that, if necessary, your trees can be included in this summer’s spray programme. The DCC is a non-profit organisation, whose only function is to coordinate the annual spray programme for the control of Dothistroma. If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you would like a copy of the attachment sent to you via e-mail, please forward your e-mail address to don@hrml.co.nz.

Don Hammond
 

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