Council’s forestry approach

Council owns and manages approximately 600 hectares of commercial forestry in its Maitai, Brook, Roding and Marsden reserves (including water and conservation reserves) which the public have access to. For several years Council has been debating whether or not planting and harvesting pine forests is a good idea – both financially and environmentally.

Following the work completed by the Right Tree Right Place Taskforce, Council has made the decision to transition away from commercial forestry and manage all its forests in a different way.

Opportunities

The approach would maximise community amenity and recreational values and offer environmental and climate benefits (such as permanent carbon sequestration and flood mitigation) and likely increase levels of service. It creates the potential to develop a plan for the whole 10,000 hectares of forest owned by the Council to address biodiversity concerns such as pest control, habitat protection and invasive weeds.

This approach would involve planting a mixture of high value native and exotic trees and leaving them to grow into forest. Future generations may have the option to selectively harvest high value timber from the forests, but the intention is to maintain continuous canopy forests.

Costs

Over and above the standard yearly forestry activity costs, the estimated costs of this option is $9.8 million of additional funding across the 10 years of the Plan to progress the transition. The estimated cost for transitioning the remaining forestry over the longer term is in the range of $4.6 million to $29.2 million, some of which could be offset by income.

Works

Transition works will be prioritised in the Maitai, Brook and Marsden Forests. Work in the Maitai Valley to plant a mix of redwoods and natives will begin early September on land above the Maitai Raw Water Pipeline. This work will help Council ensure it meets Emissions Trading Scheme obligations and increase slope stability in a key strategic area. See link in Forestry Updates below for more information.