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Not all doom and gloom for alternative species

John Fairweather's blog
Wednesday, December 23, 2015

The last issues of the North Canterbury branch newsletter covered some interesting issues associated with growing and harvesting alternative species. Two points stuck out to me. One was that there is a need for specialist small-block harvesting equipment. The other was that currently it appears that alternative species do not make a commercial case on financial and traditional timber grounds.

I agree that growing and harvesting alternative species is not as easy as one would like. I can attest in my own case that blackwoods on my site may not be as viable as radiata. However there are some considerations that, if valid, suggest that there is still scope for optimism about alternative species grown for traditional production goals.

First, there is clearly a need for small-block harvesting equipment. I know of some farmers with trees to harvest that are reluctant to get the professional loggers in because they do not want a large clear fell. Purchasing one’s own small-scale harvesting gear, such as a Fransgard winch which would allow them to minimise harvesting costs, is not a priority among all the other pastoral farming demands. We need contractors with the right gear to safely harvest small but usable volumes. I expect that there are farmers and other landowners with small woodlots who approach the traditional loggers, and no action is taken because the volume is too small to be economic for traditional gear – now typically 20 tonne diggers with harvesting heads etc. Another benefit of a contractor with technology appropriate for small volumes is that woodlots could be selectively harvested. This would give the grower income over a number of years. It would also better suit my scale of production where I need smaller volumes throughout the year.

Second, I am paying $70-90 per tonne for good quality eucalyptus or acacia logs, and these prices match radiata prices of similar quality, so the returns to growers are not all that bad. Admittedly, this is just for two species, and my total annual volume is low. However, the total volume needed may increase in the future, as I expect my small operation to expand. Others might also get into eucalypts or other alternative species, as the idea of actually using specialty wood gets more traction. The Specialty Wood Product Partnership research programme promises positive outcomes for eucalypts and other alternative species.

Increased demand for specialty woods will grow when their merits are better appreciated by architects, joiners and the general public. In fact, joiners tell me they would like to use real wood but customers are not aware of what is available and therefore do not ask for it. We need to address this fundamental lack of demand. Specialty wood people should be presenting their wares at home shows.

I hope my marketing efforts in future will go some way to generate increased demand for specialty woods.

As part of my marketing goals, I am planning a seminar next year to present to Christchurch architects and joiners recent post-graduate research on the economics of growing nitens, and the utility of nitens for furniture use. It is important to reach this audience in order to develop demand for using alternative species.

I can also report, at least for my customers, that there is an appreciation out there for real wood. It seems that people have an instinctive appreciation of wood and an awareness that they are lacking something by not having ready access to wood products. Generating demand may not be all that difficult.

Were the recent North Island floods naturally occurring events?

Wink Sutton's Blog
Sunday, November 29, 2015

The recent North Island floods seem to be treated as if they were naturally occurring events. Concentrated heavy rain resulted in farm damage and flooding of low lying areas, such as Whanganui city, with silt laden water. What is of concern to conservation minded foresters is the absence of any media discussion that human activity may have been a significant contributing factor.

In earlier times the clearance of indigenous forest in the upper catchment regions was recognised as a major contributory cause of lowland flooding. In 1938 there was a series of major North Island floods.Two floods appear to have been particularly important.There was the flash flood on the 18 February at Kopuawhara, north of Wairoa, in which 21 Ministry of Works employees were drowned. Only two months later, there was a major flood in the plains of the Esk River, north of Napier. These and other floods resulted in the 1941 Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act. As well as building stop banks on the flood plains there were tree plantings, mostly of poplar and willows, in the erosion prone catchment regions. Esk and later Mangatu Forests were established to reduce flooding and erosion in the Esk andWaipaoa rivers.

The government cannot claim it has not been warned of flooding and erosion problems that will result from indigenous forest clearance of steep high country. Over the last 150 years there have been numerous warnings from concerned forester environmentalists. The first serious warning was published in the 1877 report of the New Zealand visit from1875 to 1877 of the professional forester, Captain Inches Campbell Walker. On page 91 of Michael Roche’s History of New Zealand Forestry there is the following quote from Campbell Walker’s report −

I should view with very greatest anxiety any clearing of the hills which form the dividing range of the Island and am convinced that it would be followed sooner or later, by the most disastrous results, both in the shape of deterioration of the climate, dangerous floods and drying up of springs and sources of rivers.

Forest clearance of steeper backcountry and subsequent conversion to farmland is a major contributor to lowland flooding with silt laden water. There should be greater awareness that and lowland flooding has been made worse by human actions.

In large part because of the political power of landowners, solutions may be difficult to implement on a significant scale.The erosion prone land could be retired, in other words, such land to be abandoned and left to revert to an indigenous vegetative cover. Farm profitability may be actually increased because erosion land may not be very productive. The erosion prone land could be planted with a production tree species. However, although there may be a short term gain, older stands could be unstable because of the underlying soil instability.Tree harvesting may present erosion problems and may be costly. Another option is for erosion land to be planted with manuka, especially bred to maximise the production of nectar for manuka honey.

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Disclaimer: Personal views expressed in this blog are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent those of the NZ Farm Forestry Association.

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