Afforestation Grant Scheme Guidelines

About the Afforestation Grant Scheme

Who can Tender for an Afforestation Grant?

Provided that certain land eligibility criteria are met, persons with the right to use land for forestry can EITHER:

  • tender for an AGS grant; OR
  • obtain an AGS grant through their Regional Council3; OR
  • apply to join the proposed NZ ETS or Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI) and take ownership of carbon credits and liabilities.

Individuals, business entities and local government may tender for AGS grants provided they own the land, or have the right to use the land for forestry.

AGS grants will be made through a competitive tendering process because this will allow the Government to establish the level of financial assistance that landholders require and to allocate funds efficiently. In the case of the Gisborne District where the East Coast Forestry Project4 (ECFP) operates, the application dates and notification dates have been co-ordinated. This will allow investors to co-ordinate planting projects under the AGS and ECFP.

It is possible that, after a number of initial tender rounds, there could be a move from a tender-based system to a fixed-grants system.

What Land is Eligible for a Grant?

Land eligible for a grant must be land that:

  1. was not forest land on 31 December 1989; or
  2. was forest land on 31 December 1989 but;
    • was deforested between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2007; or
    • was deforested on or after 1 January 2008; and in respect of which any liability to surrender units arising to the Crown under the Kyoto Protocol have been satisfied.

"Forest" Land is Defined as:

"a minimum area of land of 1.0 hectare with tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 30 per cent in each hectare with the potential to reach a minimum height of 5 metres at maturity in situ. A forest may consist either of closed forest formations where trees of various storeys and undergrowth cover a high proportion of the ground or open forest. Young natural stands and all plantations which have yet to reach a crown density of 30 per cent or tree height of 5 metres are included under forest, as are areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily unstocked as a result of human intervention such as harvesting or natural causes but which are expected to revert to forest".

A guide for determining whether forest meets this definition is available5 and applies to afforestation under the AGS, the NZ ETS, and the PFSI.

The assessment of the eligibility of an applicant's land is based upon the information provided in their tender. MAF will, as required, carry out an inspection to confirm that the land is eligible to receive a grant.

Non-compliant land within an application area must be identified in any tender, and will not be eligible for a grant.

What Land is not Eligible for a Grant?

Significant Natural Areas (SNAs), Sites of Special Wildlife Interest (SSWIs) and Recommended Areas for Protection (RAPs) are not eligible for an afforestation grant, except for indigenous afforestation applications that will enhance the protected area.

Applicants may need to approach their local councils and/or DOC conservancies/area offices for advice about the location of SNAs, SSWIs or RAPs.

An afforestation grant cannot be used on sites registered with the Historic Places Trust; and/or recorded on District Council Plans. If there are recorded sites in the application area, the applicant will be required to employ an approved archaeologist to survey the proposed grant area and mark out any archaeological sites present. These sites will then be excluded from the grant area. An approved tender will remain provisional until the archaeological survey is completed6.

The AGS will not be available on land that has entered into the NZ ETS, the PFSI or the ECFP. East Coast District landowners may apply for an AGS grant on any additional non-ECFP target land7 that can't be accommodated in an ECFP application (an objective in the ECFP is that 50% of the total grant area is to be target land as assessed at a regional level).

Land owned or administered by central government agencies is ineligible.

Eligible Species

The species in an application must have the potential to meet the definition of "forest land", and must be compatible with the site where they will be planted.

Indigenous species should be "eco-sourced" i.e. endemic to the locality. Natural forest reversion projects could include the establishment of exotic trees as a nurse crop in a transition to indigenous forest.

Forest species that have been identified in Regional Council Pest Management Strategies as having weed potential will be ineligible.

Establishment Practices

To be eligible for sink credits under the Kyoto Protocol, a grant forest must be: "direct human induced ... through planting, seeding and/or the human-induced promotion of natural seed sources". This means some form of active management will be required in establishing the forest.

Forests may be planted, or developed through assisted natural reversion.

The AGS requires a minimum standard of forest establishment, so that the grant forests can produce benefits other than carbon sequestration. This is a more restrictive definition of forest than the Kyoto Protocol definition.

The AGS minimum standard for planted forest establishment is: "seedlings, cuttings or other plant material achieving a minimum stocking of 750 stems per hectare, and free of significant weed competition". With planted indigenous forest, the minimum stocking may consist of other species - for example, manuka, planted with a dominant species such as kahikatea or kauri.

With indigenous reversion blocks, an applicant must provide a brief management plan detailing the measures that will be taken to ensure that succession to indigenous forest will occur with reasonable certainty - for example, fencing, exclusion of livestock, control of wild animal herbivores or supplementary planting.

The forest may be established for wood production purposes, other environmental purposes or a combination of both.

No standards are specified for any other silvicultural operations.

Minimum Application Size

The minimum application size is 5 hectares. This area may consist of multiple areas of at least 1 hectare.

Shelterbelts or riparian strips less than 30 metres wide (canopy-edge to canopy-edge) are not eligible. However, afforestation on both sides of a waterway can be assessed as one riparian strip with the width of the waterway excluded from the width measurement.

3 Provided that their Regional Council has obtained AGS funding.
4 The ECFP is a government scheme that provides grants to land owners for the afforestation of severely eroding land. For more information visit www.maf.govt.nz/climatechange
5 Visit www.maf.govt/climatechange
6 There is a list of consulting archaeologists on the New Zealand Archaeological Association website (www.nzarchaeology.org). Consulting archaeologists will be able to advise whether there are any registered archaeological sites, or whether there is reasonable cause to suspect that there are, at a proposed area for afforestation.
7 For information on the East Coast Forestry Project and defined target land under this scheme, visit www.maf.govt.nz/forestry/east-coast-forestry

Contact for Enquiries

Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change
MAF
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 CLIMATE (254 628)
Contact this person