Owners fight Whanganui forest's Emissions Trading Scheme ineligibility

Shellwood Forest co-owner Sid Soulsby is annoyed most of the forest has been deemed ineligible for New Zealand's Emissions Trading Scheme. Photo / Laurel Stowell

A Whanganui pine forest once deemed eligible for inclusion in the Emissions Trading Scheme has been deemed 83 per cent ineligible.

Majority shareholder Dr Tom Clarkson QSO says the owners have been "messed around with a lot" by the assessor, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

Fellow shareholder and the owner of the land, Sid Soulsby, said the Emissions Trading Scheme rules were rife with inconsistencies and full of plain nonsense.

"Shane Jones' one billion trees are an admirable target but he needs to get the rottweilers at MPI on the same side."

But MPI forestry director Oliver Hendrickson said the standards for assessment had not changed. What had changed was the availability of more old photographs.

"With access to this better information, it is possible for ETS eligibility to change if a participant has chosen to deregister their land and then apply to reregister it."

Shellwood Forest is 166ha of pines on steep hillsides at Wairangi Station in Kauarapaoa Rd, 25km from Whanganui. It was planted from 1993-97 and has several owners.

When it applied for inclusion in New Zealand's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in 2011, 158ha were approved.

Only land that was not in forest in 1989 can be part of the ETS. The assessors in 2011 said 8ha were already forested before the pines were planted.

In 2013 the National-led government allowed New Zealand businesses to buy foreign carbon credits to offset their carbon emissions. The foreign credits were cheap and the price of a unit of carbon dropped to about $2.

Dr Tom Clarkson is a former climate scientist and part owner of Shellwood Forest near Whanganui. Photo / supplied

Dr Clarkson said the ETS had "collapsed" and the owners got Shellwood Forest deregistered from the scheme.

But the price of a tonne of carbon has climbed back to more than $20 per unit (a tonne of carbon stored). Dr Clarkson, a retired climate scientist, applied to get Shellwood back into the ETS in May 2016.

The 10-page application form asked about the forest's previous ETS status, and he thought that would be taken into account. So he was surprised when he found in October that only 74ha had been approved.

He appealed that, and in May was told 117ha would be eligible. He still wasn't satisfied and asked for a formal review.

He was still more surprised to be told in November last year that only 27ha was eligible.

He was told that decision was based on an aerial photograph taken in 1993, in which shaded areas indicated there was more than grass growing.

His only legal option now is to take the matter to the Whanganui District Court.

Assessment of eligibility is done by the Ministry for Primary Industries. Dr Clarkson says their methods have changed drastically since 2013.

The land was a sheep farm before the pines were planted. Its blackberry, fern and mānuka had been cut and burned again and again.

"[The standard is] certainly not the same as it was in 2011, when most foresters were getting into the ETS. If you have mānuka growing in one corner of your paddock they will not allow it [into the scheme]."

Fellow Shellwood Forest owner Sid Soulsby is involved with other forests in the ETS. He said most land would revert to forest naturally, if left long enough.

"On that basis, none of the forests that I am involved with would now qualify to enter the ETS."

The forest owners want Shellwood in the ETS. It will give them the option not to harvest pines on some of the very steep and inaccessible slopes. Instead they will be able to get income from the carbon the trees store.

Shellwood's second application was assessed "as new", as if it had never been in the ETS. But the situation was unchanged, apart from some small changes of shareholding.

Dr Clarkson has read the Climate Response Act carefully, and found no reference to second applications being considered differently from first ones.

He has written to both the Environment and Regional Development ministers about the situation and said Shane Jones would not get his billion trees planted in a decade with this happening.

"To me it's really being hindered by the rules within MPI."

But MPI director Oliver Hendrickson was unswayed. He said applications were considered when they were made, and any new information available was used in considering them.

Last year 33,000 new hectares of forest joined the ETS - 11 per cent of the current total. MPI approved 94 per cent of the land put forward for registration.

Mr Hendrickson admitted some applicants found the registration process difficult, but said its requirements were linked to New Zealand's international climate change commitments, and could not be changed.