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Newsletter 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


Farm Forestry Newsletter
   July 2015  No. 83
In this issue

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

Contacts

President
Dean Satchell dsatch@xtra.co.nz
-Far North
-Mid North


Newsletter editor
Dean Satchell
dsatch@xtra.co.nz

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



 

Members

The members area of the NZFFA website can be accessed by using your email address and password to log in.

Your email address MUST be the address you have provided to NZFFA for your subscription (which happens to be the one this newsletter was sent to...).

If you don't have a password or can't remember it, you can get one very easily. Just follow the instructions here.

Any problems logging in then email me.

Dean Satchell, website administrator



e-Newsletter
If you are receiving this e-newsletter and don't want to, please notify NZFFA by replying.

Notices

From: Bob Stewart Agrofor@msn.com
Message: I am bowled away by all the kind offers, invites, and interest by welcoming NZFFA members to my wife's and my June 2016 visit to New Zealand. Having taken extensive advantage to your website and video tours of member's properties.....I almost feel that I've spent a week in NZ already.  Your association's web site is enough to make any American Tree Farm Association green with envy!
Am looking forward to meeting as many of your organization and seeing as much of your forestland as time (and my wife) will allow.
Should any members find themselves in the Portland Oregon/Vancouver Wash. area, please consider me a contact and friend.
Bob


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
Partnership success! The new Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment partnership programme has been approved... more>>

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 >>
Branch secretaries, please make sure you notify head office of any branch or action group events.

  • Wellington Branch working bee, Stanton Park 2nd August 10am.
  • Lower North Branch mid-winter dinner - What are those pests up to? Friday 7th August, 6pm
  • 2015 NZIF conference on forest policy, Wellington, 10th August
  • Mid Otago branch event - Film Festival at Orokonui, 16th August
  • Far North mid-winter dinner, Friday 28th August, 6pm
  • Productivity Enhancement Innovation Cluster meeting, Wednesday 22 September 2015, 10:30 am to 3:30 pm, Scion, 49 Sala St, Rotorua.
  • Soil Sampling in Planted Forests Workshop, Wednesday 23 September 2015, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm (lunch provided), Scion, 49 Sala St, Rotorua.
  • Forest Growers Research Conference 2015, Conference on Wednesday 14 October 2015, Field Trip on Thursday, 15 October 2015
  • Waikato branch field day, October 17th. Field Day at 1291 Wharepuhunga Road Te Awamutu to discuss Innovation and Sustainable Farm Forestry at Graham & Tess Smiths property. Winners of this award at the National Conference 2015

Blogs

Some 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 forests

8 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 consents

A 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:
Afforestation, pruning and thinning-to-waste, earthworks, river crossings, forestry quarrying, harvesting, mechanical land preparation, and replanting.

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:
https://mpi.govt.nz/news-and-resources/consultations/proposed-national- environmental-standard-for-plantation-forestry

 


Trees, soil and you - last chance to have your say

The 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.

Introduced in 2006, the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative was the first national scheme that allowed forest landowners to earn emissions units for the carbon stored within their forests.

“The scheme has been successful on a relatively small scale, with just 16,000 hectares of land under permanent forest,” says Mrs Goodhew. “We recognised that improvements to its administration could make it more appealing to landowners.

“Discussions began with current scheme participants as part of the formal review in late 2013 which has led to the suite of proposals that we are now consulting on.

“For this consultation process to be a success it is vital that we receive feedback from stakeholders with an interest in forestry management, climate change, and sustainable land management matters.

“The scheme offers many benefits outside of long-term carbon storage. Permanent forest cover is the most sustainable land use for large areas of erosion-prone hill country. It reduces sedimentation of rivers, improves water quality and reduces flood risk.”

For more information about the scheme and the proposed changes visit www.mpi.govt.nz/pfsiconsultation


Dothistroma Pine Needle Blight - Spraying programme 2015

The 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
P: 07 3323454; M: 027 4885940; E: don@hrml.co.nz


FFR Steepland Harvesting Programme

Please 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
Harvesting Programme Leader
Future Forests Research Ltd
M   +64 27 438 5233
T     +64 7 921 7239
E     keith.raymond@ffr.co.nz


Stakeholder feedback Sought for FSC

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



 

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