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.

Council is proposing to transition away from commercial forestry and manage all its forests in a different way. Now we need to hear from you and then decide whether to progress with this change or stay with our current approach.

Background

The Right Tree Right Place Taskforce (made up of elected members and independent specialists) was set up in early 2023 to look at all the options for Council’s commercial forestry land. The Taskforce recommended Council transition away from commercial pine forestry and to replant with a continuous canopy of mixed species (following Pinus Radiata stands being harvested, removed or transitioned). You can read the Taskforce’s report in the background information on this page.

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. Council supports this new approach but wants your feedback before making a final decision.

In addition to moving away from commercial forestry, the Taskforce has also recommended managing all of Council’s 10,000+ hectares of forests as one area – including all the pine trees and native bush. It would take time to transition to thriving, biodiverse continuous canopy forests but no other New Zealand city has the benefit of such a large forest area on its doorstep, and this change in approach would enhance its conservation and recreation value.

Our changing climate makes this area even more important, as having protected and thriving mixed species forests in place over the long term will absorb and store carbon, improve water quality by stabilising the soil on our steep hillsides, and avoid the risk of forestry slash causing problems during heavy rain events.

Our proposed approach

Notwithstanding the recommended change in approach, Council will as a first priority work to ensure that Emissions Trading Scheme obligations are met. We will also spray weeds and replant as a priority with mixed species, in areas where pine trees have been cut down but not yet replanted.

This will help us minimise risks relating to these areas in future weather events.

Funding has also been included to work through the full extent of the change in direction, including options to progress the longer term transition, potential funding sources to support the transition, and what the future of Nelson’s 10,000+ hectares of forests will look like for Council and the community.

Retain our current commercial forestry approach

This option would continue the planting and harvesting of pine trees on Council’s reserves. Retaining the current approach would provide more financial certainty and avoid rework of existing harvesting plans. However, it would not lead to better management of all of Council’s forested lands or improved environmental, recreational and social outcomes, when considering slope instability, erosion and sedimentation, effects on aquatic life, soil degradation and poor visual amenity and biodiversity outcomes.

Over and above the standard yearly forestry activity costs, the estimated costs of this option are $600,000 across the 10 years of this Plan. The estimated cost to replant the remaining commercial forestry land in pine trees over the longer term is in the range of $950,000 to $1.3 million, which would be offset by harvesting income. It would have no impact on rates and $600,000 additional debt within the 10 years of the Long Term Plan.

Exit commercial forestry (Council’s proposal)

This option would see an exit from commercial forestry over time, with forests to be replaced with a continuous canopy of mixed species. It is more expensive but would allow Council to take a holistic approach to management of its native and exotic forests and develop a long-term asset for the community with improved environmental, recreational and social outcomes, particularly on the city fringe.

It 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.

The disadvantages would be increased costs and some economic impact on the forestry sector by removing Council’s small commercial forestry (less than 1% of the Nelson-Tasman region’s commercial forestry) from the current harvesting and replanting process.

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.

Impact on rates: Total of $3.4 million across the 10 years of the Long Term Plan.

Impact on debt: $9.8 million by year 10 of the Long Term Plan.