Farm Forestry New ZealandNewsletter 83, July 2015
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 New Zealand Farm Forestry Association |
NZFFA P.O. Box 10349 The Terrace Wellington 6143 www.nzffa.org.nz
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| July 2015 No. 83 | |||||
Primary Industries associate minister Jo Goodhew visits Whanganui forests National Environmental Standard for plantation forestry will simplify consents Trees, soil and you - last chance to have your say Improvements sought for PFSI scheme Dothistroma Pine Needle Blight - Spraying programme 2015 FFR Steepland Harvesting Programme Stakeholder feedback Sought for FSC
President
Executive
Angus Gordon angusg@xtra.co.nz
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Notices
From: Bob Stewart Agrofor@msn.com Fire services review on rural fire funding - NZFFA response >> (Thanks to Don Wallace for preparing this). Freshwater Management Consultation Workshop 8 July 2015, NZFFA Report >> (Thanks to Bruce Bulloch and Don Wallace for participating and preparing this) Latest headlines
Diverse Forests, Emerging Opportunities Growing Confidence in Forestry’s Future (GCFF) Research Programme update: Identifying the forest productivity gap, improved management of soil resources and efforts to study water quality in forested areas are a few of the topics in the latest newsletter (Issue 3) from the programme. Events
For more information on these events they are posted on the website >>
BlogsSome Water myths - Chris Perley >> Members can set up their own blogs on the NZFFA website. Contact Dean. Primary Industries associate minister Jo Goodhew visits Whanganui forests8 July 2015 Damage from late-June's flooding is still being felt by forest owners north of Whanganui. Associate Minister for Primary Industries Jo Goodhew visited Grennoch and McNabb Forests, north-east of Whanganui to meet with owners and forestry experts.She said seeing the flood and rain's fallout had affirmed her belief in the importance of fighting erosion. "They took me to a number of different areas and also pointed out what is quite-obvious erosion in places that are actually in pasture... and loss of tree stock. "We are very much in the stage of trying to get handle on what the damage is." She said most of the tree stock lost during the bad weather was younger, less than five years old. "There is concern about getting road access. I was on one forestry block where some of the trees could not be taken off the block because they can't get on State Highway 4 to the mill where they will be used."Instead, owners were putting efforts into clearing their own roads and dealing with the stock they could get to. "We've had some information from the Forest Owners Association... they've made an estimate of a loss of $1.6 million." Under one of the Government's sustainable forestry programmes, landowners are able to receive carbon units by creating permanent forest through the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative. The Ministry of Primary Industries also provides an afforestation grants scheme. Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy unveiled $8.8m in funding for councils across New Zealand to prevent erosion. Horizons Regional Council received the lion's share, with $4.7m to fight erosion and promote tree planting. National Environmental Standard for plantation forestry will simplify consentsA draft National Environmental Standard (NES) for Plantation Forestry has been cleared by Cabinet and is open for public consultation. Further details can be found on the MPI website www.mpi.govt.nz/nes-pf. “The current system for environmental regulation of forestry is complex and confusing with thousands of different rules across New Zealand’s 78 councils. This proposed standard will simplify the rules and save the forestry industry millions in compliance costs while ensuring environmental issues like wilding pines, protecting spawning fish and erosion are better managed,” the Environment Minister says.
The proposal includes a draft set of rules for each of eight core forestry activities: The standard will make forestry a permitted activity on all land of low erosion risk. On land of high erosion risk, resource consents will be needed to ensure that erosion from roading and harvesting is minimised. Growers will also be required to take responsibility for any wilding conifer spread across boundaries. MPI is holding public meetings and hui to provide information, answer questions and seek feedback on the proposal. The public meetings will focus on the NES-PF, while the hui will provide an opportunity to discuss the NES-PF as well as wider government forestry initiatives. If you plan to attend, email NES-PFConsultation@mpi.govt.nz.
MPI are also seeking feedback, and if you want to make a submission see:
Trees, soil and you - last chance to have your sayThe survey released by Scion to capture current industry opinion regarding the value of soil data to forest owners and managers, will be closing shortly. Assessing and managing the impact of soil properties on forest productivity and sustainability is a major component of the GCFF research programme. To help make this research as relevant as possible to the forestry industry, we would like you to tell us if you are currently collecting soil-based information, and how you use any soil data you might have to assist in the management of your forests. We’re also interested in gauging which areas of soil research are considered to be best understood, particularly by the people involved in the New Zealand forestry sector. If you’ve already answered the questions, many thanks for your help; if not, please take the time to give it a go. The survey should only take a few minutes to complete, and all responses are anonymous. There are no wrong answers – it’s all about your thoughts and opinions on the value of soil to the New Zealand forestry sector. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N8X5NPR Improvements sought for Permanent Forest Sink Initiative scheme
A review to increase uptake for the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative is underway and the government is seeking feedback from industry on the proposed changes, says Associate Primary Industries Minister Jo Goodhew. Dothistroma Pine Needle Blight - Spraying programme 2015The attached article explains the aims of the Dothistroma Control Committee (DCC) in coordinating the annual aerial spraying programme in order to control Dothistroma 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. 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.
Don Hammond Secretary FFR Steepland Harvesting ProgrammePlease see attached the approved 2015/16 Annual Plan for the FFR Steepland Harvesting Programme, commencing 1 July 2015. I look forward to a productive final year of our Programme as our harvesting innovations move closer to and into the commercialisation stage. The programme vision is for low cost steep country forest harvesting operations in New Zealand carried out in safer and better working conditions by a well-trained, highly motivated workforce using sophisticated technology. This is encapsulated in the vision statement: “no worker on the slope, no hand on the chainsaw”.
Keith Raymond Stakeholder feedback Sought for FSCFeedback is sought before 21st August on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Derogation for the Continued Use of Specific Herbicides. and Pesticides in FSC Certified Plantations in NZ. Download the stakeholder letter here >>
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