Forest Owners Association: New tree target laudered

The Forest Owners Association wants priority put on new forest plantings.

The Forest Owners Association has embraced the new Government's proposal to plant 1billion trees over the next decade, touting not only the benefits for the sector but also a solution to the thorny issue of farmers and their forced contribution to the emission trading scheme.

Last week, the association and Wood Council of New Zealand had highlighted the crucial need for increased forest planting and architectural use of more wood in construction.
The Government is preparing to break up the 15-year-old Ministry of Primary Industries, returning it to ministries of forestry, agriculture and fisheries.

Forest Owners Association president Peter Clark said that when forestry was under the Ministry of Primary Industries, it was not getting the attention that a $6 billion a year
industry deserved.

The Government has outlined a plan for planting 100,000 trees annually, in an unspecified mix of commercial and native trees, and Shane Jones has been appointed both Minister of Forestry and Regional Economic Development.

The initial major planting is to be on Crown and Maori land.

Mr Clark felt the new Government's target of planting an additional 50,000ha each year was "optimistic but achievable". He said for most of the 1990s the new planting rate was more than 50,000ha a year, and in 1994 was 100,000ha "beyond keeping up with replanting".

Mr Clark said talks had been held with Mr Jones about "what can and can't be achieved" and he was in no doubt about the difficulties of increasing planting, given "more than a decade of no growth".

"In particular, we do need to build the labour force to do the planting ... we're struggling to plant enough trees to maintain the present area."

The Government is proposing farmers be brought into the emission trading scheme, by paying for just 5 per cent of their emissions. Mr Clark said given the Government wanted practical steps taken on climate change, "the only practical solution" was planting more trees to significantly lower carbon emission levels.

Just last week, Wood Council of New Zealand chairman Brian Stanley labelled the Government the "missing link" for not specifying wooden construction as the first choice for its new buildings.

While wood construction had benefits, including local sourcing, a renewable resource and quick construction, architects were not familiar with how to use modern wood, he said. Mr Stanley said

the Rotorua Lakes Council was the only local government body to adopt a wood-first policy for construction.