2. The Indigenous Forest Industry & Forestry Legislation
2.1 Current Indigenous Timber Production
Over the last 10 years up to 50 percent of the annual production of indigenous roundwood has come from the Crown's indigenous production forests on the West Coast (Timberlands West Coast Ltd.). Timberlands indigenous timber production has progressively declined, with the cessation of unsustainable harvesting in North and South Westland in 1994 and in the Buller-Karamea in 2000.
Of the production of 110 000 m3 of indigenous roundwood in the year ended 31 March 1997, approximately 40 000 m3 came from Timberlands West Coast Ltd's operations on the West Coast and about 25 000 m3 from SILNA lands (Devoe and Olson, 2001). The remainder (about 45 000 m3) was harvested from other private forests under the provisions of Part IIIA of the Forests Act, administered by the Indigenous Forestry Unit (IFU) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
For the year ended March 2001, indigenous roundwood production declined further to about 50 000 m3, of which 22 400 m3 came from Timberlands West Coast Ltd. Indigenous timber production from the Crown's indigenous production forests on the West Coast will cease as at 31 March 2002, in accordance with Government policy. Indigenous timber production will then be confined to privately owned forests.
2.2 Provisions of Part IIIA, Forests Act 1949
Part IIIA of the Forests Act has three points of focus:
- it limits the export of timber from indigenous forests to personal effects, finished products and rimu and beech sawn timber from land managed under Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Plans and Permits. Tree ferns may be exported from forest land where they are managed on a sustainable basis. Tree ferns and salvaged stumps and roots may also be exported from non-forested land;
- it limits the milling of indigenous timber to a number of categories, such as windthrown or dead timber, for a landowner's personal use (limited quantities), timber salvaged from non-forested land and timber from land managed under SFM Plans and Permits;
- it outlines provisions and procedures for the sustainable management of indigenous forests under approved SFM Plans and Permits.
Some forests are exempt the provisions of Part IIIA of the Forests Act; indigenous forest on SILNA land, West Coast indigenous production forest (managed by Timberlands West Coast Ltd.), land administered under the Conservation Act 1987 (The Conservation Act 1987 prohibits the sale of indigenous timber) and planted indigenous forests.
SFM Plans provide for long-term management of indigenous forests. They must be based on a forest inventory and provide for harvests of timber on a perpetual, sustainable basis while maintaining the forest's flora, fauna, soil and water quality, natural and amenity values and protecting the forest from pests, weeds and fire. Prescriptions contained in the Second Schedule to Part IIIA of the Forests Act recognise the general ecological characteristics of the major species groups and specify how they should be managed (kauri, podocarps and shade tolerant broadleaved hardwoods versus beech and light demanding hardwoods). SFM Plans must generally be registered against title to the land for a minimum of 50 years. They are appropriate to forest areas where sustainable harvests, either annual or periodic, can be conducted efficiently and profitably and where the landowner is committed to long-term management of the forest.
SFM Permits are limited to a 10 year term, provide for a maximum roundwood harvest of 250 m3 of kauri or podocarps or shade tolerant broadleaved hardwoods, and a maximum of 500 m3 of beech or light demanding hardwoods, irrespective of the area of forest, providing that the harvest does not exceed 10 percent of the timber standing on the landholding. SFM permits do not require the depth of inventory or other information necessary in a SFM Plan but are subject to the management prescriptions contained in the Second Schedule. SFM permits may be renewed after 10 years but only where the forest has replaced, through growth, the quantity of timber removed under the previous permit. The timber may be harvested at any time over the 10-year term, either as a single harvest or spread over a number of years. SFM Permits are a more practical option for small forest areas, or where the landowner does not wish to manage the forest for timber on a long-term basis.
For each year harvests are to be undertaken from land subject to registered SFM Plans and Permits, an Annual Logging Plan must be submitted to the IFU and approved prior to work commencing.
2.3 Approvals & Applications for Harvesting from Private Indigenous Forest
Information presented here is sourced from forestry statistics published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the IFU SFM Plan and Permit register and sawmill returns to 30 June 2001. Projections of timber production exclude timber milled under the minor provisions of Part IIIA of the Forests Act (e.g. personal use, salvage etc). For the year ended 30 June 2001 the total quantity milled under these minor provisions was approximately 2 300 m3 of which 50 percent was salvaged timber.
Historically, over 80 percent of the indigenous sawn timber produced in New Zealand has been kauri and podocarps (principally rimu with lesser quantities of miro, matai, totara and kahikatea), the remaining 20 percent comprising hardwoods, principally beech and tawa. From April 2002 production of indigenous timber will be confined to private land subject to Part IIIA of the Forests Act and SILNA land that is exempt from the provisions of the Act. With the cessation of timber production from West Coast indigenous production forests there will be a substantial reduction in the supply of rimu, to about 10 000 m3 of roundwood annually.
SFM Plans, approved and in progress as at 30 June 2001, cover 35 300 ha and an annual sustainable harvest of about 70 100 m3 of indigenous roundwood. Of this, about 90 percent comprises beech and limited quantities of other hardwoods (e.g. tawa).
SFM Permits, approved and in progress as at 30 June 2001, cover approximately 50 300 ha and a total harvest of approximately 106 000 m3.
The total area covered by SFM Plans and Permits, approved and in progress is 85 600 ha. In the space of 15 years the ratio of softwood to beech and other hardwoods has completely reversed. Beech is set to become the principal indigenous timber produced in New Zealand.
Note: 'Indigenous roundwood removals' reported in forestry statistics are less than and are not comparable to rates of harvest approved under Part IIIA of the Forests Act. This is especially so in the case of beech, where a high proportion of the approved harvest will comprise non-merchantable timber (existing information suggests at least 40 percent) that will often not be removed from the forest unless outlets for industrial wood (e.g. woodchips) or fuel-wood are available to forest owners. Rimu in contrast is usually of good form and is sound. Roundwood removals are usually between 90 and 100 percent of approved rates of harvest, based on historical records (Griffiths A, pers com). Roundwood figures referred in this paper are total roundwood, irrespective of quality, unless otherwise specified.
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