Farm Forestry New Zealand

• Notices
• Latest Headlines
• Events
• Blogs

NZFFA accessories

NZ Emissions Trading Scheme Review

Ewing takes forest safety helm

NZ Wood Campaign - Love our Forests launched

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

Levy Rate Notification
Under the Commodity Levies (Harvested Wood Material) Order 2013, the Forest Growers Levy Trust has set the levy payable for the 2016 levy year (1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016) at 27 cents per tonne of harvested wood material. The rate is exclusive of GST. The Trust notes that the levy rate has remained stable at 27 cents since the implementation of the Levy Order (the Order allows the rate to be set from 27 cents to 30 cents per tonne).
Forest Grower Levy Trust  – December 2015

Forest Growers and investors survey
Have you completed our survey that was emailed recently to you? We have prepared a 5 minute survey and invite you to complete this here >>. This will help with us identifying your priorities in terms of information needs so that as a partner in the forest growers levy NZFFA can address these.

Forest Industry Safety Council
National Safety Director (NSD) Update 25 November 2015 >>

Harvesting Research Programme
Future Forests Research Harvesting programme update November 2015 >>

Land and Water Forum
Fourth Report of the Land and Water Forum (pdf, 2.5 MB)
Media release >>

Latest headlines

Updating you with the latest research from the GCFF programme
Identifying where our planted forests are underperforming, the establishment of a new field trials to test the legacy effects of nursery management and the establishment of an automated system to… more>>

Fire risk spreads with wilding conifers
Wilding conifers have long been considered a risk to our ecologically significant highland regions, but they may also significantly increase wildfire hazards The invasion of unwanted wilding conifers throughout highland… more>>

Government agricultural emissions pledge
The New Zealand Institute of Forestry suggests there is cost-effective technologies Agriculture can do about their emissions. The New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) strongly disagree with the Prime Minister… more>>

The Land and Water Forum releases fourth report on water management
The Land and Water Forum (LWF) today published its fourth report, outlining 60 new consensus recommendations for how New Zealand should improve its management of fresh water and calling on… more>>

Forest owners sign biosecurity agreement with government
The Forest Owners Association says having a biosecurity agreement with the government is a vital part of the forest industry’s defence system. FOREST OWNERS ASSOCIATION MEDIA RELEASE 5/11/2015 Forest defence… 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.

• NZFFA Conference 2016. This will be held at Hokitika, Westland Sunday 17th April - Thursday 21st April 2016. More >>
• Gisborne branch field day, Sunday 6th December, Ray and Grace Newmans, Otoko.
• Opportunities for bioenergy from the new approach to science funding, Bioenergy Association Webinar 11 December 2015, 2 pm
• Forest Genetics for Productivity Conference, "The Next Generation", 14-18 March 2016, Rotorua Energy Events Centre.
• New Zealand Land Treatment Collective Annual Conference 16-18 March 2016, Gisborne
• Growing Confidence in Forestry’s Future (GCFF) Conference, 10-12 May 2016, Auckland

Blogs

Were the recent North Island floods naturally occurring events?
Wink Sutton's Blog >>

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

NZFFA accessories

Cap $25.00
Gate sign $7.50
Lapel pin $7.50
Jersey badge (sew on) $7.50

Gate sign/jersey badge/lapel pin (3 items) $15.00
Gate sign/jersey badge/lapel pin/cap (4 items) $35.00

(All prices include GST, and packing & postage within NZ. International delivery POA) Contact Glenn at admin@nzffa.org.nz or post your order to NZFFA, PO Box 10349, The Terrace, Wellington 6143

NZ Emissions Trading Scheme review

Dear NZ ETS Stakeholder

The Government has started its review of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS) to assess its operation and effectiveness to 2020 and beyond.

As a key stakeholder to the NZ ETS, your involvement in the review is important. This email provides information on the written submissions process for the review and outlines the stakeholder meetings proposed.

For more information on the review process and to view the discussion document, visit: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/consultation/new-zealand-ets-review-201516-consultation

Written Submissions
The Government has released a discussion document setting out the key issues for the review. This discussion document includes information on the NZ ETS and poses a range of questions for public feedback.

Written submissions are being sought on:
1.       Some of the transitional measures that were introduced to moderate the impacts of the NZ ETS
2.       How the NZ ETS needs to evolve for our future circumstances
3.       Operational and technical improvements.

There are two closing dates for submissions. Some matters are being treated as priority matters because they may be candidates for legislative change during 2016.

• Submissions on priority matters are being accepted until 5pm 19 February 2016.
• Submissions on the remainder of issues under review will be accepted until 5 pm 30 April 2016.

Technical notes will also be published on some issues in December and early 2016. These will provide further detail and analysis on matters under review. We will email you again when the technical notes become available, but we also encourage you to regularly check the Ministry for the Environment website for updates during the review.

Stakeholder meetings
The Government is holding meetings with stakeholders representing a range of NZ ETS interests.

We would like to invite you to attend an initial meeting for the Forestry Sector. These will be held:

• 1330 – 1500 on Tuesday 15 December 2015 in Wellington
• 1130 – 1300 on Thursday 17 December 2015 in Christchurch

This aims to provide:

1. An overview of the issues being considered in the review as outlined within the Discussion Document
2. Information on additional targeted meetings we would like to hold with you in early 2016 (explained further below)
3. Advice on how to make a submission
4. An opportunity for you to ask any questions about the consultation process.

If you would like to attend this Information Session, please confirm your attendance and preferred location with nzetsreview@mfe.govt.nz by 5.00pm, Monday 7th December 2015.

Please note the sessions are invite only and spaces may be limited. However if you want to suggest another party who may be interested in attending an Information Session, forward their name and/or organisation with their email and phone number to nzetsreview@mfe.govt.nz by 5.00pm, Monday 7th December 2015.

Further details on the exact location of the meeting will be confirmed to you by e-mail shortly.

Additional targeted meetings are also proposed from mid-January to early February 2016. These will be focused on your market sector and will include the opportunity for you to discuss issues with Ministry representatives.

Kind regards,

The NZ ETS Review Team

Ministry for the Environment
Website: www.mfe.govt.nz
23 Kate Sheppard Place, PO Box 10362, Wellington 6143

Ewing takes forest safety helm

Getting people at all levels of the NZ forest industry to think differently about how to create safe outcomes when working in a dynamic environment is a key objective of the new Forest Industry Safety Council (FISC).

“Our overall aim is zero fatalities and zero harm. It’s an ambitious target, but we owe it to those who work in our forests and to improve the reputation of the industry,” says National Safety Director Fiona Ewing.

She says the council is successfully pulling together a work programme to address the findings of the Independent Forestry Safety Review. Among these are initiatives that were already underway before she took the helm of FISC two months ago, including Safetree™, which will be an important communication platform for the council; and IRIS, the incident database which was set up and operated for many years by the Forest Owners Association.

“There are lots of examples of existing good practice and FISC will evaluate and share these and other initiatives more broadly across the sector,” Ms Ewing says. “It is an exciting prospect. FISC is the first example of a body representing employers, government and workers to be given a mandate to lead health and safety across an entire industry.”

Most FISC initiatives will be developed by the operational advisory group (OAG) and fine-tuned by technical advisory groups (TAGs), made up of people from across the industry with relevant expertise. The TAGs cover legislative reform, competency, performance management, leadership and communications. Ms Ewing encourages people with skills in these areas to put their names forward as candidates for TAG membership.

“Feedback on Safetree™ initiatives so far have been positive, from both contractors and crew members, through to forest owners, ACC and Worksafe NZ. These initiatives include stories and messages from workplace ‘heroes’ communicated on Safetree™, via YouTube and other social media; channels that are widely used in the crew environment,” says Ms Ewing.

“Of course others prefer more traditional forms of communication. The important thing is that we engage with everyone from workers to forest owners in ways that work for them.”

FISC is chaired by Dame Alison Paterson. The board is made up of representatives of forest owners, farm foresters, forest contractors, workers, unions, Worksafe NZ and ACC.

Source: Friday Offcuts

National Safety Director Update 25 November 2015 >>

NZ Wood Campaign - Love our Forests launched

A new NZ Wood advertising campaign is being launched on Tuesday 1 December. The aim of this campaign is to promote and profile the forest growing industry in a positive light and to educate the general public and politicians about the huge value the industry brings to New Zealand and New Zealanders.

The concept “Love our Forests” underpins all the reasons that forestry is great. We have used real people to tell the story and in the process, found some great talent lurking in the forestry industry! For this first phase of the campaign we have chosen three key areas:

1. The economic benefits of forests
2. The environmental benefits of forests, and
3. The recreational benefits of forests

These three themes have been created for both billboards and magazines/newspapers. These are on display on the NZ Wood websiite >>.

The billboards are being placed at Wellington airport – one external billboard and two internal digital billboards. For those with existing billboards NZ Wood can provide the billboard images for your use if you want to upgrade. For any new billboards (and we encourage you to consider this) NZ Wood will provide the image/skin and the company would provide frame.

The print campaign is running in Kia Ora magazine (Air New Zealand’s inflight magazine), NZ Logger and Sunday Star Times. This first phase of the campaign will run through until March/April 2016.

We are also undertaking research to assist in understanding current perspectives and perceptions about the forestry industry which will help shape the strategy of future advertising and public relations work. While the preliminary results have been prepared there is still further work to be undertaken so we can provide a comprehensive package to the industry on the longer-term NZ Wood strategy based on that data.

Paul Nicholls, Chair FOA/FFA Promotions Committee

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