Farm Forestry New Zealand

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Wilding conifer strategy meeting

Report on Land and Water Forum Plenary Session, 30 September 2015

Fire Services Review

Action Group Weekend

President
Dean Satchell dsatch@gmail.com
-Far North
-Mid North

Newsletter editor
Dean Satchell
dsatch@gmail.com

National Office
Association Manager Glenn Tims
glenn.tims@nzffa.org.nz
Phone: 04 4720432
 

Executive

Past President
Ian Jackson ijacko@xtra.co.nz
-Ashburton
-South Canterbury
-North Otago
-Sthn High Country (north)

Angus Gordon angusg@xtra.co.nz
-Taupo & Districts
-Middle Districts
-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

Peter Berg
thebergs@ihug.co.nz
-Lower North
-Waitomo
-Waikato
-Bay of Plenty

Don Wallace
don@wallace.gen.nz
-Taranaki
-Marlborough
-Nelson


 

Notices

NOTICE TO FOREST GROWERS LEVY PAYERS

Steve Wilton re-elected to Forest Levy board. More>>

Call for Nominations for Farm Forestry Awards
Nominations can be submitted to NZFFA National office at any time, but must be received by 1 November (to allow time for judging) to be eligible for presentation at the ensuing Conference (next = Hokitika in April 2016).  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 the importance of descriptive documentation and photographs in support of the nomination.

NZFFA Executive: Nominations are being called for two Representative-at-Large NZFFA Executive Members.  Current Reps-at-Large retiring by rotation in 2016 are Hamish Levack and Peter Berg.  They are eligible for re-nomination.  Nominations are submitted by branches and action groups, and so you should contact your branch or action group if you want to be involved.   The remaining four Executive Members who do not retire in 2016 are Island-Representative Members, ie. two represent the North Island and two represent the South Island.

Latest headlines

Forest owners welcome border levy
Forest owners are welcoming the planned introduction of the new clearance levy to help fund border biosecurity. Forest Owners Association Media release, 14 October 2015 “It is important that those who… more>>

Revitalising New Zealand communities through forest establishment
Using forest establishment to revitalise the environmental, social and economic health of small New Zealand communities. In 2012, Scion’s Forest Systems Team carried out an investigation into the factors causing… more>>

Understanding more about the New Zealand small block estate
Scion wants to get in touch with small block owners to improve the state of knowledge regarding the size, condition and future of the woodlots around New Zealand Scion has… more>>

The effect of nursery management on early forest productivity
How much of the initial performance of seedlings is determined by their state when leaving the nursery gate? Scion has established a new trial series to explore this issue, and… more>>

Events

For more information on these events, they are posted on the NZFFA website >>
Branch secretaries, please make sure you notify head office of any branch or action group events.

• Gisborne branch event: Join us for this unique Eastwoodhill fundraiser - Eastwoodhill garden fete, Rodney and Sarah Faulkners garden, 21 Riverside Road, Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th November 2015. 10am until 4pm, Entry fee: $5,
• Radiata pine – trials past and present in Wairarapa forests, Saturday 7th November, 9.00am - 4.00pm, Henley Lake/Men’s Shed carpark
• Canterbury small forest grower levy roadshow, 10th November, Sudima Hotel Christchurch, 1:00pm - 4:30pm
• Developing best practice for steepland forestry, 11-12 November 2015, Gisborne
• Bay of Plenty branch field day, Friday the 13th November 10am Wainui Road, between Ohope and Opotiki
• NZFFA Action Group Weekend, 14 & 15th November, Nelson.
• Central Canterbury branch field day, Thursday 19th November, Waiake forest, Banks Peninsula, 350 ha radiata half way through harvest, 10.15 am
• Waitomo branch field day, Ian & Heather Wilson's, 1pm Saturday 21 November, 188 Tahaia Road, Otorohanga. Deer, Sheep, Pines, Poplars and Sawmill. 
• Ashburton branch field day, Sunday, November 22, 10am Mark and Devon Slee’s Melrose dairy farm, 346 Maronan Ealing Road, south of Ashburton. Shelter in conjuncton with pivot irrigators.
• Mid-Otago event: Fire management in Canada - experiences from the front line, Thursday, 26 November 2015, 7.00 pm Outram Hall
• Otago Levy Roadshow, 2 December, Wains Hotel, 310 Princess Street, Dunedin.  Combined event with the Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association.  Forest Growers' Levy meeting commences at 3:00 p.m. and WPMA function follows from 5:00 p.m.  Growers can attend either or both sessions.
• Gisborne branch field day, Sunday 6th December, Ray and Grace Newmans, Otoko.
• Forest Genetics for Productivity Conference, "The Next Generation", 14-18 March 2016, Rotorua Energy Events Centre.

Blogs

The Trans-Pacific ‘Partnership’ and Our Environment
Chris Perley's Blog
This is an insightful blog from Hawkes Bay member Chris Perley, who presents a very different perspective to that which the united forest industry put together as a Woodco press release (and which NZFFA were not involved with producing).

Members can set up their own blogs on the NZFFA website. Email Dean.

Wilding conifer strategy meeting

I attended the Stakeholder Awareness Group meeting in October concerning the business case going to Govt for implementing the NZ Wilding Conifer Management Strategy 2015-2030.  It was held at the DOC offices on Moorhouse Ave, Ch/Ch.  There were nine present representing the major stakeholders - except for the forest industry. I was wearing the FFA and WELRA (upper Waimak wilding group) hat, and Sherman Smith, Maddy Thacker and Rebecca Hislop were there from MPI. There are two other groups meeting separately, Operational Advice and Technical.

Apparently, the 2015-16 funding bid to Govt (Treasury) for Strategy implementation was well received, but sent back for tweaking before reapplication.  MPI have to send in a new 'high level' business case by the end of this month (Oct), and will get a decision as to whether it will go further on Dec 4.  Consultants are working on improved mapping and a protocol for prioritisation of operational action.

Our job today was to list all the groups/agencies etc affected by wildings in terms of their relative power and influence, followed by listing the respective barriers they face in terms of carrying out effective wilding control and management.  Then we started to look at how these barriers could be broken down.

Although nothing is certain in the realms of significant funds for the likes of wilding control (Govt budgetry circumstances forever changing), the situation does look promising for a major funding contribution in 2016.
The next meeting is unlikely before the end of this year.

Nick Ledgard

Report on Land and Water Forum Plenary Session, 30 September 2015

The objective of this meeting was to approve the new report’s recommendations before they were sent over to the Ministers. Another meeting will be held at the end of October to approve the report itself.

The Land and Water Forum has been meeting over about 5 years and during that time has produced three reports.  The fourth report, now in an advanced stage of editing, is being produced in response to the government's request for advice on adopting a regime of managing freshwater within limits. Recommendation 1 calls for the recommendations not so far implemented from the Forums previous three Reports, to be implemented.

Further recommendations include:

• Government, regional and district councils, research agencies and stakeholders to work together to collect data and set up models that can be shared to reduce costs and identify opportunities where infrastructure can increase capacity and reduce over-allocation.
• Regional councils reporting annually on their performance and the government monitoring their performance.
• Discharges being managed by way of consents, or permitted activity rules if a council considers that is sufficient, but in either case performance must be monitored.
• Urban development should meet “water sensitive urban design” criteria.
• Trade wastes should be pre-treated before being discharged into municipal wastewater systems.
• Central and local government should invest in tools for the restoration and remediation of degraded urban streams.
• A system of caps and allowances should be developed for diffuse source discharges and, as far as possible, standardised nationally.
• Riparian setbacks should be included in Good Management Practice requirements, as developed by industries or councils.
• When designing plan objectives, councils must consider funding options for infrastructure that would increase economic value or reduce environmental impact.
• Authorisations to take water must specify expected reliability.
• When considering applications to renew consents, consenting authorities are required to give additional weight to sunk capital.
• When considering applications for new consents, the effect on existing consent holders should be taken into account.
• Once limits have been set, consent holders should be able to transfer water takes.  The government should provide models for councils on how the transfer system should work.
• Municipal water supplies should be metered unless this is unaffordable for a small community.

Livestock exclusion from waterways: the recommendations remain the same as tabled at the previous meeting of the Forum.

In regard to over-allocation, recommendations looked at various ways of cutting back consented volumes, but also providing a mechanism like an auction where consent holders who cannot handle a reduction in volume can buy back some of the headroom that has been freed up.  An auction-type mechanism could also provide funding for infrastructure development.  There was considerable feeling at the Forum that these specific mechanisms should be only in the text and the recommendations should only be principles.  Creating “headroom” was also seen as a step along the route to addressing iwi rights but no specifics have been developed.

More when the fourth report is released...

Bruce Bulloch
12/10/2015.

Fire Services Review

The DIA website has been updated with the submissions summary and the list of all submissions.
http://www.dia.govt.nz/Fire-Services-Review

Action Group weekend

Date:  14 & 15th November, 2015

Host branches: Farm Forestry Timbers and Nelson Branch

Saturday Programme

Morning
8:45am Meet at the Tahuna Conference Centre, Beach Road, Nelson, for welcome and introduction
9:00am Specialty Wood Partnership – a series of short presentations on what issues this partnership is setting out to resolve
10:10am Coffee break
10:30am Update from Farm Forestry Timbers – how are we doing, can we do better?
11:00am Combined Action Group facilitated discussion – what are we doing well, what and how can we do better
12:00 noon BYO lunch at Isel Park, Stoke

Afternoon
1:00 - 4:30pm Visit local timber processing and marketing businesses – Plankville Ltd, Gibson Timbers, Halswell Timbers

Evening
6:30pm Dinner at Monaco Restaurant, 6 Point Road, Nelson, $45¬ - $55 per head.  Guest speaker presentation during evening.

Sunday Programme

Time tba Visit to local grower’s forests
Time tab Visit to Appleton’s Nursery
12:30pm Finish BBQ lunch

Accommodation

There are numerous motels and accommodation facilities in and around Tahuna.  Please make your own arrangements.

Organisers:
Patrick Milne - 03 312 6599, 027 471 0224, patrick@cypress.co.nz
Nancy Cowan - 03 547 5515, nancyc@snap.net.nz

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