Farm Forestry New ZealandNewsletter 154, November 2024
President's report
Busy times continue. The renewal vote for the Forest Growers Levy has taken place and we should soon know the outcome. Earlier we put a lot of work into gathering the views of small scale growers in regard to the levy, and finding what changes or improvements they wanted. We will expand this survey now that we have an additional 4,000 email addresses of forest owners.
Our efforts to push for changes in how the levy is administered and spent were reported in the November Tree Grower. There has been some recognition that the Levy Board might widen its view of where levy money should be spent, and with whom it should be consulting.
The main talking point in the industry currently is margin squeeze, and lack of profitability from increased costs and lower export prices. The China log market appears to have shrunk and we need to find new outlets for top logs. Biofuel is a possibility but some regions have been slow to develop the necessary facilities. Although some of our logs that go to China become furniture for the US market, this trade is also under threat from proposed tariffs.
In the October SME meeting we looked at six projects that asked for $180.000 of Levy funding. We had just over $100,000 to allocate, which meant some compromise. There are a number of other projects proposed by or supported by NZFFA members that have gone to other committees, and we should know the outcome of all applications next month.
Howard and I took our revised version of the MOU between NZFFA and the Forest Owners Association to the latest FOA board meeting. We'd like a stronger relationship between the two associations, and this should help. The Forest Growers Research Conference in Dunedin last month had a good representation of farm foresters and an increased content on alternative species. Vaughan Kearns and Rob Webster reported on the breeding programmes for improved cypress and redwoods.
This month NZFFA has been represented at the AGMs of NZ Certification Association, Poplar and Willow Trust, Phytos and Tane's Tree Trust. I joined the Pan Sector group in a meeting with MPI leaders, where the agenda included proposed planting controls, wood processing investments, joint standards for wood products with Australia, transition forests, and international recognition of sequestration in pre 1990 forests.
Internally our focus is on upgrading the membership system and the website: Howard has taken responsibility for one and Graham the other. This is a great opportunity to improve the appearance and usability of our website which MPI recognises as an important resource.
In case we don't have another newsletter before Christmas, thanks everyone for your work and support over the year. Have a relaxing time with friends and family, and stay safe.
Neil.
Last month: Combined Action Group weekend, Taranaki
The much awaited Taranaki Action Group weekend was held in mid October. There was a great turnout of fifty five good keen men and women, and up to twenty locals at various times.
Friday was an “indigenous forestry day “ visiting two planted Kauri stands close to New Plymouth and a Rimu stand high on the slopes of Mount Taranaki. But it was always my intention to coincide the Weekend with the Pukeiti Rhododendron Gardens being at their best. This is where we spent the morning.
The flowers of the forest in full bloom. And some Rhododendrons.
It was a very pleasant surprise when our host Jeremy Thomson advised that a several well known members of NZFFA had a hand in the initial establishment of Pukeiti. Now run by the Taranaki Regional Council, it has become a major attraction. The blending of the hundreds of different Rhododendrons with iconic local flora is spectacular within this extensive park. It was a great way to kick the weekend off.
The afternoon saw us admiring the Kauri in Rotokare / Barrett Domain in suburban New Plymouth, planted by visionary Fred Cowling over eighty years ago. Most trees are in good health and express a very good form with close stocking. We then went on to the magnificent Brooklands Park, where we walked through another Kauri plantation of a similar vintage. Last stop of the day involved a walk back to our motel through the River Walk, where we could view the Pukewaranga Oaks grown from acorns from Hackfalls and Eastwoodhill.
A sumptuous dinner was enjoyed by all, with us outsiders meeting up with many NZFFA Taranaki locals. There was a presentation from Kat Strang discussing pest management strategies and other conservation initiatives, followed by another good presentation from the local Stihl agent, Hamish Scott.
Saturday was a big day on Makara Farm, the property of Jeremy Thomson. There was, understandably, a big emphasis on Redwoods, but Japanese cedar got a look in, and a lively discussion around harvesting Radiata pine from the Forest 360 representative. This ran well over time due to the interest shown by the visitors.
After a first class lunch we headed to the property of Taranaki member and portable sawmiller Nick Kowalewski. Nick showed us some of his plantings, including a 2021 Hybrid Cypress trial and also his cabin hideaway featuring a spectacular dining table made from London Plane. The last stop of the day saw us marvelling at the immense size of a Redwood roadside planting. It may have been a memorial grove, as it was planted at the end of WW2 in 1945.
Sunday, we were first at the home of David Samson, retired nurseryman and the man behind the Japanese cedar clone “Egmont”. His personal tree collection is exactly what would be expected of such an enthusiast, including a very nice stand of closely spaced Totara.
Next stop was on the Forgotten Highway where we had a tidy presentation from a newly recruited Woodmizer operator, who was cutting his own Cypress and Eucalyptus. The workshop / sawmill showed plenty of ingenuity in its construction. Off the Highway into the hinterland, we visited the substantial Redwood and Oak Forest at Whangamomona. Paul Silcock was our host here on behalf of owners, Kingheim Ltd. The Redwoods appear very much at home on the fertile ex farm site and a lot has been learned about the establishment of Oaks and the necessity of vigorous pest management.
In hindsight we needed more time here but an early finish was required to allow most of us to return home before midnight. It was a great weekend.
Special thanks to Jeremy Thomson, Paul Silcock and our van drivers, George Shallcrass, Ben Shallcrass and Dave Forsythe. Thanks also to all that participated, it wouldn’t have been half as much fun on my own, or perhaps it would have?
Vaughan Kearns, NZFFA Trips Coordinator
This week: log into the new member management system
As reported in the Tree Grower, we have signed up to a new membership management system. It now holds all of the information on you that the old system did (at least, all the good bits) but it's still dumb. It needs to recognise you before we can all use it. You should have an email from Raewyn and me asking you to create a log-in so that it learns who you are, and acknowledges you as a member. From there you can check your details and update your personal information. If you want any changes to the branches or action groups that you belong to, please tell Raewyn and she'll make them. We are going to use the system to send out an invoice for your subscription, so we need to get it right. I appreciate your help in this unusual situation.
Thanks, Howard
This week: new forestry promotion campaign
Elizabeth Heeg, CEO of the levy secretariat, has advised that the levy promotional campaign for 2024 has just gone live. There is a one-minute video here, and three 15-second advertisements have been clipped from it. The campaign will run until the end of January and will highlight the benefits of production forests. It's aimed at non foresters, so if you feel a little cynical that's fine, you're not the target audience. The idea is to:
Raise the profile of Forestry by increasing reach and engagement with the public.
Test the efficacy of a range of campaign messages and tone to produce data that will help develop a larger campaign in 2025.
Address the negative perceptions of forestry emerging among younger people by expanding the target audience to include 18 to 34 year-olds.
Pilot whether a brand change to ‘Forest Growers New Zealand’ prompts positive associations and responses.
Media placements will include Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube; traditional media outlets; subscription TV adverts; some print media and cinema nationwide. The parent website of the initiative is Forest Growers NZ, the new brand of the Levy Board and FOA.
This initiative is desperately needed - Auckland City has just erected its community Christmas tree, 18 m high, covered in plastic and made of steel. Who gave the steel industry the right to celebrate our Christmas?
Rise up, 18 to 34 year-olds. I'll join you when I find my teeth.
Soon: 10 and 12 December - Hui on native afforestation
Te Uru Rākau is currently trying to address barriers to native afforestation, particularly for Maori. They have held a number of meetings and are now asking:
How might we best enable Māori landowners to make informed native afforestation decisions?
How might we best support Māori to generate sustainable income from native forests?
Tricky, tricky. Two Hui are planned where Te Uru Rakau will share the current work programme, discuss identified opportunities and workshop what could be done.
Hui 1 will be on Tuesday 10 December, 12.30 - 1.30pm. This is the link to join. Hui 2 will be on Thursday 12 December, 12.30-1.30pm. This is the link to join. Note both links are in Microsoft teams.
If you have any questions around these areas of focus feel free to email Rangapu.Maori@mpi.govt.nz
Jacob Paterson | Senior Adviser Strategy, Enablement & Māori Partnership
Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service
Coming up: 1-4 April - Annual Conference "Trees in Farmed Hill Country"
The North Canterbury branch invites you to the 2025 annual conference in Christchurch, 1st to 4th April. The venue is the Commodore Hotel, 449 Memorial Avenue, Christchurch, close to the airport. Registration will be online after Christmas but if you plan to come, please book your accommodation as soon as you can. Christchurch is hugely popular.
Conference Programme
Day 1 - Afternoon, Tuesday 1st April. Action Group meetings starting at 1 pm, and a free evening. The Eucalypt, Cypress, Sequoia and Indigenous Forestry action groups will each meet. The Executive will meet in the evening.
Day 2 - Morning, Wednesday 2nd April. Balance of Action Group meetings: Acacia Melanoxylon, Oaks, Farm Forestry Timbers, Poplar and Willow and Forest Investors.
Day 2 - Afternoon, Wednesday 2nd April. Council meeting, AGM, Keynote speaker and technical presentations. In the evening, pre-dinner drinks and the Awards Dinner.
Day 3 - Thursday 3rd April. Field trips to Mt Grey and Selkirk, both previous winners of the South Island Farm Forester of the Year. There will be an 8 am start with the buses leaving from the Commodore. We will split into two groups and visit one property in the morning and the other in the afternoon, swapping over at lunch at the Tin Shed in Amberley.
Mt Grey (Gary Fleming’s property) has been in the family for four generations, and contains a variety of species. Gary planted his first eucalyptus trial in 1985, and since has planted over 100 varieties of eucalypt with many seed lot trials of timber and rare species. He also has over 50 species of oak and numerous cypress trials. Gary has recorded most of his plantings over the last 40 years and now has over 900 entries. Multiple provenances of some species have been planted for seed production. There is a DFI Eucalyptus globoidea seed orchard as well as clonal Eucalyptus bosistoana, and a number of species generally only considered suitable for warmer North Island sites.
Gary takes out a fraxinoides with the Hammer of Thor
Selkirk (Jenny and Alastair Malcolm’s property) was purchased in 2012. It is a dryland hill block which was bare except for 5 ha of second rotation radiata and some Leyland hedges and cypresses. Alastair came from a background of fruit growing and fruit tree nurseries. Stage 1 plantings included native beech, redwoods, Douglas fir, totara, kauri and cedars. Since 2016 plantings have been aimed at carbon farming with eucalypts being preferred as well as some poplars and a final native planting along the waterway in 2024. This has brought the planting to approximately 60 ha. Bird counts have been taken over the last two years with adjacent farm land being used as controls.
In the evening there will be an informal dinner at the Hornby Club, and afterwards you will be delivered back to the Commodore carpark.
Day 4 - Friday 4th April. Field trip to Melrose and Double Tops. This is a full day trip to the properties of Mandy, Dugald, Andrew and Charlotte Rutherford situated up the Virginia Road inland from Hawarden. There they farm 6,700 ha ranging in altitude from 300 m to 1,300 m, from cultivated paddocks through to high country tussock. We last saw this property during the 2004 Conference. Since then there has been a major expansion partly funded by the proceeds of timber sales. Mandy and Dugald have been practicing farm foresters for over 50 years, and have also won the South Island Farm Forester of the Year award.
The evening's dinner will be at the Omihi Hall on the way back to town. Afterwards you will be delivered back to the Commodore carpark.
Day 5 - Saturday 5th April. Choice of two trips from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm. The first is to see high country wilding control in the upper Waimakariri basin. This will include Lake Lyndon at the top of Porters Pass to look at amenity trees, beech establishment and wilding spread. From there, the Kura Tawhiti Conservation area, Castle Hill village, and on to the Cave Stream straights to view Flock Hill Station where there have been major efforts at wilding control. Lunch will be at the University of Canterbury Cass Research Station. After lunch we will see impressive Douglas fir plantings at Coralynn Station and associated wildings on the slopes above Bruce Stream. The homeward journey will be via the Lake Lyndon-Coleridge Road with a stop overlooking the 400 ha Mt Barker Forest, perhaps the largest managed wilding forest in the country.
The second trip will cover drylands eucalypts, a Specialty Timber sawmill and the Proseed Seed Orchard. We will stop first at a property close to Mt Grey and investigate a Eucalyptus Action Group Stringybark trial, which is part of the national Drylands Eucalypt trials, and a redwood trial. This will include about 1.5 kms of walking. Later we will stop at John Fairweather’s Specialty Timber Sawmill, where John will speak about the issues of small volume, high quality timber production. After lunch we travel to the seed orchard of Proseed on the outskirts of Amberley, hosted by Shaf van Ballekom.
After returning to the Commodore there will be a free evening to talk and socialise.
Asking - know of any contract grazing under trees?
We've had an enquiry about whether we know of any examples that can be referenced, where foresters have successfully let their land out to farmers for grazing once the trees are mature enough to withstand stock. Since pastoral farming is earning less and less, perhaps a contract leasing model might be helpful. If you have heard of any instances where this is either working or not, please contact Geoff on geoff@leviassets.com
Cows like trees - no bull. Credit Chris Bossley
Asking - would you manage the awards process?
We like having annual awards to recognise the good work members do, and we want to continue the tradition. However some awards fall through the cracks if no-one is keeping an eye on what the awards are for, who got them, who judges them and who hands them out. Basically we need an Awards Manager: a good organiser who can be thorough and professional and make sure things happen on time. This is project management. The basic job description is:
Promote the awards to branches and members
Ensure there are records of who has won the awards, past and present
Make sure all the awards criteria are written down and accessible
Make sure there are appropriate judges, and a proper judging process
Make sure all nominees are kept fully informed
Make sure the award winners are at the ceremony wherever this is possible
Commission the necessary certificates and/or engraving
Ensure the relevant award money is available from the sponsor or the NZFFA
Manage, or delegate to a capable person(s), the whole awards evening process
Manage and help obtain the sponsorship of the awards.
If you are a good organiser, have the time and would like to be part of the team, please tell us. Some of it will be fun, and you get to talk to some interesting people. Contact Vaughan on ruapehusawmills@xtra.co.nz.
Sharing - what we did with your money: Statement of Service Performance
Because we didn't share this at the Napier AGM, Graham felt it would be useful to tell members what we achieved in 2023. Here it is:
• Work continued to improve functionality of our website, updating and adding new information.
• A successful Annual Conference was held in Timaru from 30 March to 3 April 2023 with the AGM on 31 March. There was excellent organisation, a healthy attendance, an interesting programme, fine weather and strong financial support.
• Four Issues of the quarterly NZ Tree Grower magazine were produced to a high standard with important information relevant to smaller-scale forest growers.
• NZFFA represented the interests of small to medium scale forest owners in consultation processes in a number of areas. We also worked closely with a number of government and other agencies on matters of interest to NZFFA members.
• The small-to-medium forest owners’ database that captured around 16,700 plantation owners was checked, and errors noted. Specifically, clean addresses had been found for a large number of incorrect landowners. The addresses of the correct landowners are now being found as time allows.
• NZFFA acted as the financial manager of a special project funded by Te Uru Rakau delivering 20 workshops on ‘Opportunities from Trees’. It also acted as the financial manager of two projects funded by the Forest Growers Levy Trust: identifying Coast Redwood trees with superior heartwood durability, and investigating the training needs of Small Scale Forest Owners. All of these projects were successfully completed.
• Regular Farm Forestry Newsletters were produced including a special version for levy payers who are not NZFFA members but who want to receive communications from NZFFA.
• Branches and Action Groups sent newsletters to their members and held meetings, field days, information sessions and social events.
• The Farm Forestry YouTube channel is going well, with over 75,000 views since it was launched. Subscribers rose from 463 in 2022 to 617 in 2023.
• The Farm Forestry Facebook page still has 5,000 followers and a strong discussion group, although fewer posts were made in 2023 due to other pressures of work.
We hope to report an equally strong performance over 2024 at the Christchurch conference.
Newsletter editor: by default, Howard Moore. If you have any complaints, tell me over a drink.
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