Wellington Regional Forests
Wellington Regional Forests
Forestry Rights Owned by: Resource Management Service
FGI NZ Ltd
Forest Management Plan
For the period 2017 / 2022
Prepared by C R Richards PO Box 1127 ROTORUA Tel: 07 921 1010 Fax: 07 921 1020 [email protected] www.pfolsen.com
FOREST MANAGEMENT PLAN PEFC_01 Wellington Regional Forests
Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 5 Foundation Principle...... 5 About this Plan ...... 5 The Landscape Context ...... 6 2. The Forest Land ...... 6 Overview ...... 6 Legal ownership ...... 6 The Forestry Right ...... 6 Forests & location ...... 7 Topography ...... 7 Land use capability LUC ...... 7 Climate ...... 8 3. Map 1 - Forest Location Map ...... 9 4. The Broader Landscape...... 10 The ecological landscape ...... 10 Historic and archaeological sites ...... 11 5. Map 2 - Forest Ecological Context...... 12 6. Socio-economic profile and adjacent land ...... 14 Forest history ...... 14 Current social profile ...... 15 Associations with Tangata Whenua ...... 16 Tenure & resource rights ...... 16 Neighbours ...... 16 Recreational stakeholders...... 17 Regulatory Environment & Risk Management ...... 18 7. The Regulatory Environment & Risk ...... 18 Regulatory considerations ...... 18 Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 ...... 18 Resource Management Act (RMA) 1991 ...... 19 The National Environmental Standard for Plantation forestry (NESPF) ...... 20 Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 ...... 21 Consents & authorities held ...... 21 The Emissions Trading Scheme ...... 22 Other relevant legislation ...... 22 8. Map 3 National Environmental Standard Erosion Susceptibility Classes in the RMS Estate. .. 23 9. Commercial Risk Management ...... 24 Market access retention ...... 24 Log customer credit risk ...... 24 Infrastructure damage or service disruption ...... 24 Fire...... 24 Pests and diseases ...... 25
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10. Environmental Risk Management ...... 26 Environmental risk ...... 26 RMS Statement of Intent ...... 26 Environmental policy ...... 27 EMS framework ...... 29 Environmental Code of Practice ...... 29 Forest Road Engineering Manual ...... 29 Assessment of environmental risks ...... 29 Hazardous substances management ...... 31 PEFC hazardous chemicals policy ...... 32 Management Objectives ...... 33 11. Forest Investment Objectives ...... 33 Management structure ...... 33 Business objectives ...... 33 The Managed Plantation Estate ...... 34 12. Commercial Plantation Estate ...... 34 Forest area ...... 34 Current species ...... 34 Age class distribution ...... 35 Productivity indices ...... 35 Current crop status ...... 36 Carbon sequestration ...... 37 13. Map 2a - j - Forest Stands Map ...... 38 Map 2b Hiwinui Forest Map ...... 39 Map 2c Hukinga Forest Map ...... 40 Map 2d Mangaroa & Pakuratahi East Forest Map ...... 41 Map 2e Pakuratahi West Map ...... 42 Map 2f Puketiro Forest Map ...... 43 Map 2g Stoney Creek Forest Map ...... 44 Map 2h Tauanui Forest Map ...... 45 Map 2i Valley View Forest Map ...... 46 Map 2j Whakatikei Forest Map ...... 47 14. Commercial Crop Establishment and Silvicultural Operations ...... 48 Introduction ...... 48 Forest management goals ...... 48 Future crop species ...... 48 Unwanted pine spread ...... 48 Establishment programme ...... 49 Establishment methods ...... 49 Pre-establishment considerations ...... 50 Tending ...... 50 Tree nutrition...... 50
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15. Harvesting Strategy and Operations ...... 51 Estate modelling ...... 51 Proposed harvest ...... 54 Contractor management ...... 55 16. Forest Inventory, Mapping and Forest Records ...... 56 Inventory ...... 56 Mapping ...... 56 Forest records ...... 56 Non-commercial Estate Management & Protection ...... 57 17. Protected Forests, Habitats, Ecosystems and Species...... 57 Introduction ...... 57 Terrestrial reserves ...... 57 Water & streams ...... 59 Management and riparian setbacks ...... 60 Native fish habitats ...... 61 The Trout fishery ...... 62 Management for fish ...... 63 Avifauna ...... 63 Management for avifauna ...... 64 Bats & management ...... 65 Herpetofauna and management ...... 65 CITES species ...... 67 18. Property Management and Protection ...... 68 Statutory pest obligations ...... 68 Pest control...... 69 Tree crop protection ...... 70 Fire prevention and control ...... 71 Fire authority responsibilities ...... 71 Public liability and fire insurance ...... 72 Other Benefits from the Forest ...... 73 19. Forest Products and Other Special Values ...... 73 Introduction ...... 73 Non-timber forest products ...... 73 Other special values ...... 73 20. Recreational Management ...... 74 Recreational usage ...... 74 Management of recreational use ...... 75 Public access roads ...... 76 Looking Ahead ...... 77 21. Monitoring ...... 77 Introduction ...... 77 Values monitored ...... 77 Other monitoring ...... 79
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22. Industry Participation and Research ...... 80 23. Future Planning ...... 82 Introduction ...... 82 Operation plans ...... 82 Stakeholder consultation...... 82 24. Register of Plan Change and Review ...... 83
Appendix 1 – Land Titles over which Forestry Rights exist...... 84 Appendix 2 – Regulatory Issues ...... 88 RMA plans ...... 88 Appendix 3 – Other Relevant Legislation ...... 89 Appendix 4 – High Tension Lines Corridors...... 90 Appendix 5 – Pest Plants and Animals...... 92 Appendix 6 – Map of Rural Fire Authority Boundaries...... 97 Appendix 7 – Significant Aspects of a Plantation Forest Life Cycle...... 98
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1. INTRODUCTION
Foundation Resource Management Service FGI New Zealand Ltd (RMS) owns the Cutting Principle. Rights (Forestry Rights) to the forests described in this document.
As a responsible forest investment company, Resource Management Service FGI New Zealand Ltd is committed to maintaining high standards of forest management.
RMS has committed to obtaining Environmental Certification under the internationally recognised third party external forest certification scheme, the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC).
RMS has instructed their NZ based forest management agent PF Olsen Ltd to prepare the forests and associated management systems for certification under the PEFC regime.
This Management Plan is an integral component of the requirements of the PEFC Certification System.
About this Plan This Management Plan provides a summary of the managed estate and intended management over the specified period and contains: • A description of the land and its landscape context; • A description of the external operating environment; • Management objectives; • A description of the commercial plantation estate and its non- commercial elements and obligations; • Forest management, harvesting, protection and land management intentions; • Provisions for monitoring and protection and public usage; • Maps showing plantation area, legal boundaries and protected areas.
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The Landscape Context 2. The Forest Land
Overview This section describes the legal and physical attributes of the land on which the forest is located. Included in this section are discussions of:
• Legal ownership and tenure. • Location and access; • Topography; • Soils; • Climate;
Legal ownership The plantation forests, the subject of this Plan are owned by RMS via two long term “Forestry Rights” covering the western ‘Metro’ forests and the eastern ‘Wairarapa’ forests. The underlying land is owned by Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC). The list of land titles forming the land holdings underlying this forest estate are listed in Appendix 1.
The obligations and responsibilities between the Land owner (GWRC) and the “Forestry Rights” owner (RMS) are laid out in a “Memorandum of Transfer Creating a Forestry Right”, a comprehensive commercial legal agreement that lays out mutual obligations in respect of: • Land rentals, • Access rights and usage • Covenants • Third party rights and other commercial and non-commercial obligations including reporting requirements.
The Forestry There are two Forestry Rights, one covering plantations in the Hutt Valley, Right Rimutaka and Kapiti Coast areas, the other forests in the eastern Wairarapa. Each is for an initial term of 60 years, with options to seek renewal for a further term 0f 30 years.
RMS is required to replant the land other than specific listed situations such as riparian setbacks and powerline corridors, or if the land is not to be used, to relinquish that area from the Right, though this cannot happen until year 32 of the initial term. Rental on the land is payable annually with an inclusive process for annual review.
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Forests & The plantations under Forestry Right (The RMS estate) comprises a series of location twelve separate forest blocks. These forests and their locations are tabulated below and illustrated in Map 1.
Forest Locations
Total Productive Distance – to Forest Name Area (ha) Territorial Authority Wellington Port Akatarawa Saddle 39.1 Kapiti Coast 53km Hiwinui Forest 437.2 South Wairarapa 93km Hukinga 122.6 Upper Hutt City 45km Mangaroa 151.1 Upper Hutt City 37km Maungakotukutuku 187.9 Kapiti 43km Pakuratahi East 187 Upper Hutt City 51km Pakuratahi West 440.9 Upper Hutt City 41km Puketiro 1232.3 Porirua City / Upper Hutt City 37km Stoney Creek 1155 South Wairarapa 100km Tauanui 180.1 South Wairarapa 102km Valley View Forest 981.8 Upper Hutt City 41km Whakatikei 157.1 Upper Hutt City / Kapiti Coast 51km Grand Total 5272.1
Topography All the forests are located on moderate to steep hill country. The Hutt / Kapiti coast forests are located on the southern foothills of the Tararua and northern foothills of the Rimutaka ranges, while those to the east in the Wairarapa are on the southern reaches of the Aorangi ranges.
Large proportions of the estate sit on slopes between 25 & 35 degrees and are at altitudes of between 400 and 600m a.s.l.
Land use Soils, apart from small areas in the lower coastal areas fall under a range of capability LUC soil classes that are nevertheless typified by relatively low suitability for productive pasture, moderate rolling to steep terrains and erosion potential (under grass) that ranges from slight to moderate slip through to moderate to severe sheet or in some cases a risk of debris avalanching.
Continued on next page...
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…continued Forest land use capability Forest Name Dominant Code Description Akatarawa Saddle 6c1 Kapiti Coast Hiwinui Forest 6s3 + 7e5 South Wairarapa Hukinga 6s1 + 7e2 Upper Hutt City Mangaroa 7e2 + 6e7 Upper Hutt City Maungakotukutuku 7e1 Kapiti Coast Pakuratahi East 7e5 +6e+ 6s7 Upper Hutt City Pakuratahi West 6e2+6s1+7e2 Upper Hutt City Puketiro 7e2+6e8+7e1 Porirua City / Upper Hutt City Stoney Creek 7e6+6e+6s3 South Wairarapa Tauanui 6e+7e13 South Wairarapa Valley View Forest 7e2+6c1+6e8 Upper Hutt City Whakatikei 6c1+6e8 Upper Hutt City / Kapiti Coast Grand Total
Climate The RMS estate is set across three climatic areas strongly influenced by the geography and topography of the surrounding areas and in particular the influence of the Rimutaka and Tararua ranges and their interaction with the prevailing westerly and southerly wind patterns.
The climate zones are temperate and suitable to plantation forest growth with no water nor temperature constraints. There is a general eastward gradient toward lower total rainfall and higher winds and summer temperatures. Forest climate Territorial Forest Name authority Climatic description Akatarawa Saddle Kapiti Coast The Kapiti coast climate is warm and temperate. The Maungakotukutuku Upper Hutt City / rainfall is significant, with precipitation even during the Whakatikei Kapiti Coast driest month. The average annual temperature is 13.3 Porirua City / rising to a summer monthly average if 17.70C. The Puketiro Upper Hutt City average annual rainfall is 1,177 mm. Hukinga The climate is warm and temperate with significant Mangaroa rainfall throughout the year in Upper Hutt, even in Pakuratahi East Upper Hutt City February, the driest month when 64mm falls on average. In Upper Hutt, the average annual Pakuratahi West temperature is 13.0 °C, 17.5 0C in summer. About 1,403 Valley View Forest mm of precipitation falls annually. Hiwinui Forest The climate is mild, and generally warm and temperate. Tauanui There is still an average of 814mm of rainfall during the South Wairarapa year, though it averages 40-60mm per month in summer & Autumn. The average temperature in the Stoney Creek area is 13.0 °C though it averages 17.60 c in January. Grand Total Source: https://en.climate-data.org/location/33719/
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3. Map 1 - Forest Location Map
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4. The Broader Landscape.
The ecological The RMS estate comprises plantation Forestry Rights only and does not landscape include indigenous forest or natural ecosystem areas other than those associated with streams and rivers traversing between parts of the plantation estate, small unstocked or failed restocking patches, or those created in an ongoing fashion as setbacks are established upon restocking around streams that previously had none.
Western Forests While containing very little in the form of natural indigenous vegetation environments, the RMS forests in the Hutt and Kapiti Coast areas are embedded within a wider natural landscape comprising native forests managed by the Department of Conservation in the Tararua and Rimutaka ranges and the Pakuratahi and Akatarawa Regional Forest Parks managed by the Greater Wellington Regional Council(GWRC). There are small areas of plantation in close proximity to the Conservation estate but most are substantially embedded within the wider boundaries of the Regional Forest Parks.
These conservation and parklands are extensive and embody a wide range of ecological and conservation values. There are specific protocols to manage the boundary interface between these public conservation and recreational lands. The small remnant, regenerating or riparian areas embedded within the plantation areas are almost entirely classified as the least threatened ecosystems under the New Zealand Threat Classification system with >20% of such ecosystems class being formally protected and >30% of that original class remaining today. There are small overlaps with much more threatened classes where only 20-30% of that cover remains and none is formally protected.
Eastern Forests The RMS forests in the Eastern Wairarapa are in a very different bioclimatic zone. While the Stoney creek forest is physically separated from other conservation lands, Hiwinui and Tauanui both directly abut Conservation estate in the form of the Aorangi Forest park. The three forests together are located across a mix of environments from threatened (at 10-20% of original cover remaining with no formal protection) to the least threatened (with >30% remaining and >20% protected). The mix of threat classes near or overlain by the forest boundaries are highly reflective of the history of intense land clearance for pastoral agriculture.
The spatial location of the RMS forests in relation to the public conservation lands, and threatened environment classes is illustrated in Map 2
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Historic and Records of archaeological and historical places are maintained in the NZ archaeological Archaeological Association (NZAA) Site Recording Scheme1. sites Checks of the NZAA website reveal a number of sites of historical and archaeological importance are within or in close proximity to the RMS estate Forestry Rights – (see table below). All of these sites are industrial archaeological sites related to the early infrastructural development of the area and particularly the “Rimutaka Incline” rail route from Wellington to the Wairarapa. This famous route which winds its way through Pakuratahi West forest is itself of historical significance and has been developed into an important recreational (cycleway and walking) resource with accompanying historic interpretation structures and displays.
A check of the Archaeological Site Probability model published by the Department of Conservation2 suggests that for the most part there is a low probability of pre-European archaeological evidence existing within the forests of this estate.
Recorded archaeological sites in or within 150m of the RMS estate.
NZAA_ID Forest NAME NZTM_E NZTM_N ShortDescription SiteFeatures R26/406 Puketotara 1766912 5452248 Stone quarry face. Quarry R26/619 Valley view Birchville dam [1931-54] 1775278 5449206 The Birchville dam is a 46 metre long unreinforced concretePipeline, arch Dam,dam thatReservoir supplied water to the Upper Hutt area between 1931 and 1954. Several pieces of disconnected and rusting pipe in the stream bed down-stream of the main dam. S27/51 Pakuratahi Wst Mangaroa Tunnel 1780458 5447172 The Mangaroa Tunnel was opened in 1877 as part of theTunnel Upper -Hutt-Kaitoke rail section of the Wellington-Featherston Railway. S27/46 Pakuratahi Wst Munitions Bend 1782809 5446103 Three abutments with hardwood timber spans. Railway S27/32 Pakuratahi Wst
1 http://www.archsite.org.nz/ 2 Arnold, G.; Newsome, P.; Heke, H. 2004: Predicting archaeological sites in New Zealand. DOC Science Internal Series 180. Department of Conservation, Wellington. 24 p.
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5. Map 2 - Forest Ecological Context.
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6. Socio-economic profile and adjacent land
Forest history The RMS estate was established by the Wellington Regional Council
Greater Wellington’s plantation forests were originally planted to provide regional employment opportunities, to suppress gorse, for soil conservation purposes and to protect water sources for the surrounding urban areas. The forests west of the Rimutakas were originally authorised under Part III of the Wellington Regional Water Board Act 1972.
Management policies applied up until the time of the sale of Forestry Rights included statements pertaining to :
• Management of the exotic plantation forests for commercial return for Greater Wellington while following best practice and with due regard to soil and water values. • To take into account the potential effect of the proposed forestry developments and operations on the quality and quantity of water available from catchments for future water supply purposes. • Ensuring legal compliance during all operations. • To minimise disturbance to ecosystems and to soil and water values through the application of best industry practice including provision of buffer zones on streams and key recreational and heritage values such as the Rimutaka Rail Trail. • The desirability of allowing compatible recreation activities. In short the expected result was that3: “Plantation forestry activities will be sustainably managed into the future. The forestry tracks and exotic forests provide opportunities for recreation, which in turn contribute to the following quality of life outcomes; culture, meeting needs locally, leisure, safety, distinctive sense of place, and health”.
3 http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/council-reports/Report_PDFs/2005_197_3_Attach.pdf
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Current social As a whole the Wellington region has a population of 504,900 of which profile 80% reside within the cities of Wellington, Porerua, Hutt and Upper Hutt4. The western (Metro) forests are effectively embedded within a largely urban population that is centred on these cities with relatively rugged and unutilised steeplands in between. Conversely the eastern (Wairarapa) forests occur in much more sparsely populated areas within a mixed primary production land use matrix involving pastoral land use, cropping, horticulture, viticulture and forestry. The contrast is illustrated in the 2013 statistics for Wellington City compared to the South Wairarapa District.
Key statistics as summarised from Census5 data provide the following : Wellington Sth Wairarapa NZ area area European 77% 90.2% 74% Maori 13% 13.7 14.9% Formal 84% 77.1% 79.1% qualifications Unemployment 7.2% 5.2% 7.1% Dominant Professional Managers Professional occupation Median income $32,700 $28,800 $28,500 Family w 42% 35.8% 41.3% children Internet 80.8% 74.8% 76.8% Home 64.9% 72.2% 64.8% ownership
The RMS forest estate, forms a combined area that sits within the Southern North Island Wood Supply region as defined by the New Zealand National Exotic Forest Description 20166. This area contains 164,748ha or 9% of the national wood supply area.
The 5,246 productive hectares of the RMS estate thus represents just 3.2% of the regional wood supply. Much of that supply is either used in domestic processing operations in the Wellington to Taranaki regions or exported as logs through the port of Wellington.
At this scale, operations within the RMS estate do not have a large regional influence, however at the sub regional scale the RMS estate is big enough to contribute to reasonable spread of harvesting activity over extended periods and thus some continuity in work for contractors who are drawn from the immediate surrounding communities.
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Region 5 http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-about-a- place.aspx?request_value=14322#14322 6 https://www.mpi.govt.nz/document-vault/3951
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Associations with Official information indicates Maori with affiliations to the areas over which Tangata Whenua the RMS estate covers are:
Iwi Land area Hutt valley through to Kapiti Coast Ngāti Toa, Muaūpoko The Wairarapa Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Rangitane o Wairarapa
Representatives of these Iwi are considered stakeholders with a potential interest in the management of the forests
Tenure & A review of the forest areas within the Maori Tenure website7 reveal there resource rights are no areas of Maori Land currently registered within the bounds of the RMS forested estate.
There are numerous Licences and agreements pertaining to existing uses with the forests that prevail through the ‘Forestry Rights Agreements’ (See Section 19), while the Forestry Rights also make specific reference to the provision of options for supply of forest timber products to specified previously existing domestic users.
Neighbours Neighbours to the forest estate boundaries may have a special interest in the management of the forest. Activities within the forest may positively or negatively impact upon their quality of life or businesses in a number of ways, while inappropriately managed operations could create risks of adverse health, safety and environmental and biosecurity hazards. As such, neighbours are considered stakeholders with a potential interest in the management of the forests.
The RMS estate, being partly embedded within a peri-urban context, has large numbers of neighbour stakeholders and interest groups. Where possible, publicly available details of these groups, their representatives or the individuals concerned are gathered and held in a stakeholder register database for the purposes of engagement where relevant, over forest management matters that may affect them such as operations over the adjacent boundary.
7 http://www.maorilandonline.govt.nz/gis/map/search.htm
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Recreational Some of the RMS estate lies within the boundaries of the Wellington stakeholders. Regional Forests, namely Akatarawa and Pakuratahi forests as well as Kaitoke regional park. These designations specifically provide for and are actively managed for various forms of public recreational use ranging from walking, and hunting to 4*4 driving and the highly publicised and well used Rimutaka Rail Trail. Rights of public use within the eastern forests is also provided for.
As a consequence there are a large number of recreations stakeholders and stakeholder representative organisations involved. Management of this important recreational use remains a function of the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC). Coordination at the interface between the commercial plantations of the RMS estate and the GWRC’s recreational management and objectives is further addressed in Section 20.
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Regulatory Environment & Risk Management
7. The Regulatory Environment & Risk
Regulatory Forestry operations throughout New Zealand are undertaken within the considerations context of a regulatory framework that aims to ensure wider economic, social and environmental goals are achieved for the populace as a whole.
Failure to meet regulatory requirements is a key business risk that must be managed. The following section summarise key regulatory requirements and risk management controls exercised over forestry operations in the RMS estate.
Health and • RMS and PF Olsen management, leadership and constant focus, Safety at Work including the strong message that safety rates as the No. 1 priority Act 2015 ahead of any other business driver. • Contractor selection process including emphasis on: – safety systems and track record – worker skills and training – equipment type and standard • Work planning. • Contractor induction. • Monitoring, including random and reasonable cause drug testing, safe work practices and PPE. • Incident investigation and reporting, including investing in software, training and processes development to enable good transparency on lag and lead indicators. • Regular (annual) review and update of the critical risks as identified in RMS NZ estate data sets and from Industry indicators. Such a review shall focus on incidents that have caused harm and/or loss, any known cause factors and mitigations and revised controls. Health and Safety is also subject matter reported to the GWRC as a condition of the Forestry Rights as part of the joint ‘Principal’s Duties’ under the Act.
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Resource The RMA sets up a resource management system that promotes the Management Act sustainable management of natural and physical resources and is now the (RMA) 1991 principal statute for the management of land, water, soil and other resources in New Zealand. The RMA effectively delegates much of the rule development and enforcement to local government organisations. These are listed below: Forest Name Regional Council8 District Councils 9 Akatarawa Saddle Kapiti Coast Maungakotukutuku Kapiti Coast Whakatikei Upper Hutt City / Kapiti Coast Hukinga Upper Hutt City Mangaroa Greater Upper Hutt City Pakuratahi East Wellington Upper Hutt City Pakuratahi West Regional Council Upper Hutt City (GWRC) Puketiro Porirua City / Upper Hutt City
Valley View Forest Upper Hutt City Hiwinui Forest South Wairarapa Tauanui South Wairarapa Stoney Creek South Wairarapa
Under the RMA, each Council has its own planning documents and associated rules that have been developed through public process. Any forestry operations must comply with the rules relevant to the Council Area in which the operations is to take place.
At the time of formulation of this Management Plan, it is highly likely that many individual Council rules will be superseded by a new instrument under the RMA, the ‘National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry (NESPF)’, designed explicitly to assist streamlining, efficiency and consistency in the application of environmental law to the forest industry (See next section). Nevertheless until such time as an NES and any transitional arrangements become operative, the currently operative and proposed District, City and Regional planning documents prevail and all operations are subject to these in the respective council jurisdictions.
Appendix 2 lists the plans and their current status. Of particular relevance is the GWRC proposed ‘Natural Resources Plan’ that seeks to integrate currently operative plans covering management of soil, water, air and discharges into one plan. The complex overlaps between numerous Council boundaries, forest estate boundaries and the progression of new plans through the RMA plan formulation process will require considerable care over the initial phases of this plan.
8 Regional Councils responsible for soil conservation and water and air quality issues. 9 District Councils for landuse and biodiversity issues
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The National Planned to come into law in 2017, the NESPF will, if passed, establish a Environmental whole new rule hierarchy that applies the same rule set uniformly across Standard for most forestry operations in all parts of New Zealand. Operations will come Plantation under the legal force of this RMA instrument, though some transitional forestry (NESPF) arrangements will apply.
The core underpinning the structure of the NESPF is a rule hierarchy linked to the erosion susceptibility of the lands upon which forestry operations are to be conducted.
Work commissioned by the Ministry of Primary Industries and again recently updated has led to the creation of a national spatial map, the “Erosion Susceptibility Layer” (ESC) that classifies all of New Zealand into a series of four classes of erosion susceptibility from low (1) to very high (4).
The stringency of the rules hierarchy, i.e. whether consents are needed and the degree to which Councils can apply discretion to the conditions attached to a consent, is then tied closely to the recognised erosion susceptibility of the lands involved and the risks created by the operations.
In the case of the RMS estate, the table below indicates the breakdown of the estate into the respective ESC classes.
ESC ESC ESC ESC Forest Name 1 - % 2- % 3- % 4- % Total ha Akatarawa Saddle 99 1 39 Hiwinui Forest 61 27 13 438 Hukinga 61 39 123 Mangaroa 37 63 148 Maungakotukutuku 8 92 188 Pakuratahi East 12 38 50 187 Pakuratahi West 30 68 2 440 Puketiro 37 63 1,232 Tauanui 55 45 180 Stoney Creek 12 3 28 58 1,153 Valley View Forest 51 49 984 Whakatikei 98 2 155
In broad terms, harvesting, roading (earthworks) and new afforestation operations will need consents in the ESC 4 class. Earthworks will need consents in class 3 and in the class 1 & 2 terrains, most operations will be permitted subject to conditions. The coverage of the erosion classes within the estate are illustrated in Map 3.
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Heritage New It is the landowner’s responsibility to identify any historic sites on their land Zealand Pouhere prior to undertaking any work which may disturb or destroy such sites. Taonga Act 2014 If a site is found or suspected on any block, protocols specified in PF Olsen’s EMS, and any others specifically developed in conjunction with Heritage NZ, archaeologists and Iwi or other stakeholders, will be observed and the necessary Archaeological Authorities obtained with Heritage NZ and if necessary the local Territorial Authority.
These responses may include, but are not limited to: • Map and ground surveys to identify, mark and protect known heritage sites. • Iwi consultation and surveys for unknown sites. • Archaeological Authorities to modify sites if required. • Accidental Discovery Protocols to stop work and engage experts if sites are discovered during operations.
Consents & The current resource consents and HPT authorities that apply to the RMS authorities held estate are listed below:
Consents and authorities held
Authority Consent Id Forest Granted Expiry Status Details Upper Hutt City 350/10/010/1 Mangaroa 30/09/2016 30/09/2021 Current Forest harvesting approval Upper Hutt City 350/10/010 Pakuratahi 20/01/2016 20/01/2021 Current Forestry harvesting Wellington WGN170043/34 Mangaroa 21/11/2016 21/11/1951 Current To construct a concrete block stream crossing within Colletts Stream, incl. deposition & disturbance. Wellington WGN170043/34 Mangaroa 21/11/2016 21/11/2021 Current Discharge permit to discharge contaminants to land in a manner that may enter water & catchment" Wellington WGN170043/34 Mangaroa 21/11/2016 21/11/2021 Current Water permit to temporarily divert Colletts Stream while undertaking ford construction works. Wellington WGN160319/34 Puketiro 5/08/2016 5/08/2021 Current To discharge contaminants to land in a manner that may enter water, within Wainui stream catchment. Wellington WGN160319/34 Puketiro 5/08/2016 5/08/2021 Current Roading and tracking construction with upslope batter >2m Wellington WGN160318/34 ValleyView 15/08/2016 15/08/2021 Current To discharge contaminants to land in a manner that may enter water within the Akatarawa River Wellington WGN160318/34 ValleyView 15/08/2016 15/08/2021 Current Construct roading, tracking with batter >2m for >200m, disturb soil due to construction for forestry. Wellington WGN160315/34 Puketiro 25/07/2016 25/07/2021 Current To discharge contaminants to land in a manner that may enter Wainui stream. Wellington WGN160315/34 Puketiro 25/07/2016 25/07/2021 Current Disturb and deposit material on bed of Wainui stream for forest harvesting Wellington WGN160315/34 Puketiro 25/07/2016 25/07/2021 Current Roading, tracking with batter >2m, length >200m and soil disturbance for forestry Wellington WGN160174/33 Pakeratahi W 1/03/2016 1/03/2018 Current earthworks and vegetation clearance, discharge contaminates into water of Kaitoke stream Wellington WGN150285/33 Puketiro 21/08/2015 21/08/2025 Current Consent to discharge contaminants to land in a manner that may enter water and Wainui Stream. Wellington WGN150285/33 Puketiro 21/08/2015 21/08/2025 Current To disturb and deposit material on the bed of Wainui Stream Wellington WGN150285/33 Puketiro 21/08/2015 21/08/2025 Current Removal of pine forest vegetation from erosion prone land, and construct roading with upslope batter. Wellington WGN150285/33 Puketiro 21/08/2015 21/08/2050 Current To construct a ford within the bed of Wainui Stream" Wellington WAR130279/32 Hiwanui 14/05/2013 14/05/1948 Current Consent for construction of the ford and associated stream bed disturbance Wellington WAR130279 Hiwanui 14/05/2013 14/05/2018 Current Consents for construction of landings and tracking and associated soil disturbance Wellington 170043 Mangaroa 21/11/2016 21/11/2021 Current Rights granted to construct roading, disturb soil and deposit material on the bed of a tributary.
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The Emissions Forests in New Zealand are governed by rules related to New Zealand’s Trading Scheme Climate Change Response Act (CCRA) to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint and contribution to associated climate change.
Much of the RMS Estate lands were existing forest as at 31st December 1989. At harvest, these stands can be subject to a deforestation tax equivalent to the tonnes of CO2 projected to be released from decomposition of the forest at a unit financial value determined by the internationally traded emission units. This tax is payable if the forest is not replanted or, if left to regenerate naturally, does not achieve the regulated heights and stocking densities. The obligation falls on the Forestry Rights owner (RMS FGI Ltd) who is required to report any deforestation of this land to Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC).
Deforestation during the first rotation is not permitted under the Forestry Rights other than in specific situations that make provision for certain infrastructure and or wider riparian setbacks on rivers.
Within the estate approx. 1,500 ha are forests planted after Dec 1989. These are accruing carbon units and are entered into the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme ( see Carbon_sequestration)
Other relevant There are numerous other statutes and regulations that impact on forest legislation operations. Forest owners can be held liable for breaches of these Acts and may be held responsible for damage to third party property. Management processes seek to manage and minimise these risks.
Other relevant legislation is listed in Appendix 3.
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8. Map 3 National Environmental Standard Erosion Susceptibility Classes in the RMS Estate.
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9. Commercial Risk Management
Market access • It is a major focus of the Property Manager to ensure contracted retention products are delivered on time and in specification to ensure RMS retains credible access to it’s markets. • RMS is seeking to attain Independent third party environmental certification for it’s estate under the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). PF Olsen Ltd acting under the instruction of its client will be responsible for the excecution and maintenace of the required PEFC Certification elements of which this management plan forms an important component.
Log customer • There have been a number of NZ sawmills fail in recent years leaving credit risk log customers unpaid for the last month’s deliveries. The Investment Manager manages customer credit risk exposure and mitigation measures for export markets while PF Olsen manages these risks for domestic log customers.
Infrastructure The RMS estate is traversed by a number of powerline utilities. Risks around damage or these are managed by: service • Identification on maps and on the ground any utilities at planning disruption stage. • Early engagement with utility owner to plan operations to minimise risks. • Operational execution of agreed plans with parties specifically qualified for the tasks involved when working close to utilities. Additionally, specific enhanced corridor setbacks after harvest are provided for in the terms of the Forestry Rights for the national high tension lines passing through Puketiro forest. These corridors are shown in Appendix 4
Fire Fire is always a risk to the forests. The RMS estate has additional particular risks related to the presence of power transmission lines, high proximate public usage and climatic characteristics of high wind velocities and in the eastern parts of the estate in particular, very dry conditions over summer. RMS also has commercial interest in carbon stored within part of the estate under the Emissions Trading Scheme. Fire risk is managed through: • Protocols to restrict work hours or to stop work in periods of extreme fire risk.
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Continued on next page... …continued • Annual auditing and regular monitoring of contractors’ fire prevention and first response equipment prior to fire season each year. • Maintenance of trained personnel and fire suppression equipment. • Protocols for pooling of resources as a first response to fires under the leadership of the relevant Rural Fire Authority.
Pests and • The RMS forest estates are included in a nationally run annual survey diseases for the presence of known or new pests and disease. • Pests and diseases are managed according to any statutory obligations and best practices as identified by scientific research and past experience, with the type and intensity of treatment (if any) subject to what is at risk and the age of trees (see Section 18).
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10. Environmental Risk Management
Environmental Environmental risk is managed by PF Olsen as appointed property manager, risk through a cascade framework from high level ‘intent’ determined by the Forestry Rights owner, through PF Olsen’s own environmental policies, thence through defined and documented processes constituting an Environmental Management System (EMS), supported by monitoring and reporting.
PF Olsen’s policies and RMS’s Statement of Intent are considered to be well in alignment.
RMS Statement RMS has a published ‘Statement of Intent’ in respect of sustainable forest of Intent management that states RMS’s commitment to environmentally sound and sustainable forest management practices on all forest lands under its management authority.
More specifically RMS will: • Provide a safe and healthy work environment for its employees, suppliers and contractors and operate as a socially responsible corporate citizen. • Undertake operations in an environmentally responsible manner. • Proactively engage with stakeholders. • Continuously improve the productivity and utilisation of its forestlands in a responsible manner. • Comply with the intent, as well as the letter of all applicable national or local laws, regulations and other external compliance requirements. • Provide adequate resources to meet the requirements of the Certification Standard. • Only undertake forest operations that do not degrade native forest or convert native forests to alternative land use. • Maintain or enhance the level of carbon sequestered within the forests. • Provide its employees, contractors and suppliers with and understanding of the requirements of the Forest Management Plan. Exercising good environmental stewardship through responsible management of forest resources meets the needs of our clients, customers, employees, society and future generations.
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Environmental PF Olsen Ltd policy Environmental Policy
PF Olsen Limited is committed to: • Sustainable forest and land management; • Promoting high environmental performance standards that recognise the input of the community in which we operate;
• Supporting an environment of continuous improvement in environmental performance;
• Obtaining and retaining independent 3rd party forest certification in conformance with the Principles and Criteria of the Forest Stewardship Council and / or the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification as specified by forest owning clients, or in any case ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems.
In order to achieve these commitments PF Olsen (and PF Olsen Certification Scheme Members) will undertake the following: • Where applicable to a particular forest, comply with the presiding Certification Standards as set out in any agreements between the forest owners and PF Olsen. • Planning of operations to avoid, mitigate or remedy degradation of ecological, heritage and amenity values; • Compliance with all relevant legislation and where appropriate exceed environmental statutory requirements; • Training for all employees and contractors to ensure an understanding of certification member’s commitments to high standards of environmental performance, their responsibilities under the environmental legislation and to assist the implementation of sound environmental practices; • Monitoring environmental and socio-economic research and international agreements that may improve PF Olsen environmental and certification performance; • Regular environmental performance audits of operations; • Support for environmental research; • Undertake forest management in accordance with the principles and ethics of the NZ Forest Accord the Principles for Commercial Plantation Forest Management in NZ, and other relevant agreements, conventions and accords. • Promotion of the prevention of waste and pollution; • Promotion of the effective and efficient use of energy; • Due regard for the well-being of the community.
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EMS framework The Environmental Management System (EMS) is an integrated set of cloud based, defined and documented policies, processes and activities that govern the physical implementation of forest management activities. The EMS applies a systematic approach certified to ISO 14001 standards to ensure that prevention of adverse and harmful impacts is effective.
The framework is reviewed annually with the input of an Environmental Management Group (EMG).
Environmental As a member of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association, all operations Code of Practice carried out on the property should be undertaken in conformance to The Forest Owners Association “New Zealand Environmental Code of Practice for Plantation Forestry”. This publicly available document sets out guidelines that underpin the requirements for sound and practical environmental management.
Forest Road As a member of the New Zealand Forest Owners Association, roading and Engineering engineering techniques employed within the forest should conform to the Manual industry best practice as outlined in the New Zealand Forest Owners Association publication, “NZ Forest Road Engineering Manual”, published 2012.
Assessment of Environmental risks arising from forest operations are assessed and environmental managed on a site-by-site basis prior to execution. The relative probability risks and magnitude of adverse effect attributable to any particular operation on any particular site is highly variable.
At a high level, ‘risks’ are presented as consuming services summarised for a typical plantation life cycle in Appendix 7. As a broad assessment over the total RMS estate, the potential for adverse impacts across the range of operations and forest sites is indicated in the Environmental Assessment matrix below, which summarises the identified risks across ‘key management aspects’.
The level of potential risk has been evaluated in the matrix as high ‘H’, medium ‘M’ or low ‘L’, or not applicable ‘NA’ and is thus indicative of the level of care that might need to be applied to ensure the potential for adverse effects is minimised. These potential risk levels have been allocated by using the high-level frequency/impact level/control level given in Appendix 7 ‘Significant Impacts of a Plantation Forest Life Cycle’ and comparing to the local factors of the RMS estate to give an estate-specific level of risk.
Continued on next page...
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…continued Risk assessment for Key Aspects involved in forest management activities
ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES/ISSUES – Risk of adverse outcomes
&other
Forestry Operational
Activities
iment Control
- WaterQuality Conservation Soil &Quality Quality Air Aquatic Life Wildlife Native Native Vegetation Historical& CulturalValues Landscape& Values Visual Neighbours forest users Utilities Public Recreation Values Erosion&Sed Harvesting H M H L M M L M H H M Earthworks H H H L H L L M L L L Slash Management H H H L H L NA NA L L L L Stream Crossings M L NA NA H L L NA NA L NA NA Mechanical Land L L L NA L M L NA L L L L Preparation Burning L M M H L M L NA H H M H Planting L L L NA NA NA NA L L L L L Tending NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA L L L Fertiliser Application NA L NA L L NA NA NA NA L L L Agrichemical Use NA M NA M H L M L L H H H Oil & Fuel Management NA H L NA H L L L NA H L H Waste Management NA L NA NA L L L L L L NA M Forest Protection NA L NA M L L L NA NA M NA M
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Hazardous Hazardous substances are any substances, which may cause adverse substances environmental impacts and/or injury or health problems if incorrectly management handled or used.
The hazardous materials which may be used within RMS estate are: • Pesticides; (herbicides – for commercial and ecological weeds, fungicides – for forest fungal disease control, and vertebrate or invertebrate toxins – used for control of pest mammals e.g hares and possum or wasps.) : • Fuels and oils : • Fire retardants – only ever used if there is a fire. • Surfactants – to increase herbicide efficacy. Transportation, storage and labelling of these hazardous materials must all comply with the provisions of legislative controls under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the NZS 8409:2004 Management of Agrichemicals code of practice.
During actual usage, the highest risks are associated with chemical trespass or bulk fuel spillages. These risks are managed by: • Neighbour consultation over planned spray operations. • Careful planning and timing of any aerial operations having regard to wind and spray drift. • Unsprayed buffer strips on neighbour boundaries and riparian or other protected reserves. • GPS flight path control and records. • Monitoring and recording of weather conditions during the operation, including using smoke bombs and photos/video. • Moving contractors into the use of double skinned bulk fuel storage tanks as the preferred method of containment for all larger capacity tanks. • Tracking of all active ingredient usage within the estate. Risk management includes active involvement in and review of technologies and research into alternative methods for the control of weeds, pests and diseases where these are effective and efficient.
Fuel use is directly related to the machinery used in forestry operations and the market locations. Using modern efficient machine technology is still the primary area where efficiency gains can be made. There is a steady programme to transfer chain bar oils to vegetable based low toxicity oils.
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PEFC hazardous In addition to the general objective of minimising the use and any adverse chemicals policy effects that might arise from the use of Chemicals in the forest, the PEFC endorsed forestry standard requires that the use of World Health Organisation Class 1a and 1b pesticides shall not be used unless legally approved for use and such use must also be approved by PEFC itself, such approval taking into consideration alternatives and the local legal and risk management framework around usage.
In the New Zealand context there are two Class 1a pesticides that might be used in or around the RMS estate on occasion, being 1080 and possibly Diphacinone. Both are vertebrate pesticides and would only be used by third parties as part of wider conservation and TB control efforts. The “Forestry Rights” agreements make provision for such control operations by third parties.
Within the class 1b pesticides, sodium cyanide, is the only other vertebrate pesticide that might be used at some future point, again by third parties for possum control.
Other pesticides, all WHO class II pesticides that are or may be used in the RMS estate are Fipronil and Carbaryl. These are insecticidal agents that might be used in limited circumstances for wasp control and Cuprous oxide a copper based fungicide, used by the forest industry to control Dothistroma needle cast. Normal use, at very low concentrations, is between 2 and 4 times in the first half of the tree’s rotation.
All the classes of formulations used are registered and legally approved for in use New Zealand by the NZ Environmental Protection Agency, subject to various controls, and for the purposes to which they are applied as listed below.
Hazardous chemicals used or potentially used in the RMS estate Active ingredient Purpose Common usage WHO Class 1a *not used by PF Olsen Extremely Hazardous $$ Use unlikely in plantations *Rats, $$ Usually in ecological restoration Diphacinone Vertebrate pests projects Sodium fluroacetate *Possum control. Usually in Animal Health Vertebrate pests (1080) Board and Dept of Conservation operations WHO Class 1b Highly
Hazardous Sodium cyanide Vertebrate pests. *Possum control (ground-based)Rare WHO Class 11 Carbaryl Insecticide Potential use – Wasp nests only. Cuprous Oxide Fungicide Dothistroma needle cast 1317-39-1 Fipronil Insecticide Wasps -New formulation for wider control.
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Management Objectives 11. Forest Investment Objectives
Management In common with the approach taken by many Timber Investment structure Management Organisations (TIMO’s), the NZ forest holdings of RMS are managed as a financial asset, the key features of which are: 1. Financial structuring, tax, accounting plus log marketing and land/lessor management as well as oversight of property management. 2. Actual property management to manage day-to-day forestry and harvesting operational planning and execution is contracted to a reputable local forestry management company, in this case PF Olsen Ltd. PF Olsen Ltd is a NZ owned and NZ resident forest management company based in Rotorua but an operational presence in every region of NZ10.
Business RMS FGI NZ Ltd owns its NZ Forestry Rights as a financial asset from which objectives it expects to maximise financial returns while concurrently managing the associated statutory, reputational and commercial risks.
RMS FGI NZ Ltd, as a socially responsible owner, places equal priority on health, safety, environmental and financial management as clearly described in its charters. Maximising returns will be understood and applied within this context.
The objectives of RMS FGI NZ Ltd are to maximise its financial returns from its business of growing a commercial tree crop on GWRC land by: 1. Ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions of the two ‘Forestry Right’ agreements. 2. Enhanced value and productive capacity - protecting the existing forest and adding value through best practice silviculture of its commercial tree crop investment. 3. Management excellence – including giving precedence to our over- arching values, attitudes and beliefs that serve to keep our workers and the environment safe from harm. 4. Obtaining best available stumpage returns.11
10 www.pfolsen.com 11 Sales prices less costs of sales from harvesting trees.
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The Managed Plantation Estate
12. Commercial Plantation Estate
Forest area The overall position of the forest stocks within the Forestry Rights area as derived from aerial photo based mapping and Geographic Information System records, is set out in the following table.
Forest area (ha)
F.Rights Net stocked Area awaiting Skids Reserve Other area area restocking 5,246 4,905 341 27 3.5 1.6
Non-productive areas include stocking gaps, roads and tracks, powerline corridors and other small unplanted areas. No ‘Gross Area’ is recognised as the Forestry Rights only include the plantation areas and non-productive enclaves are in addition to the Forestry Rights area. The Rights area is being reviewed by the parties for minor adjustments as mapping improves.
Current species The dominant species growing within the RMS estate is Pinus radiata (radiata pine) at 97%. The next most prevalent are Cupressus macrocarpa at just over 1% and Douglas fir at quarter of a percent.
Percentage of estate area by species groups
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Age class The age class – area distribution of the RMS estate displays a quite distribution consistent distribution by area other than a three year peak in area that is approaching harvestable age and a similar sized gap that will influence available harvest volumes 2 years later.
The distribution does provide the owner with flexibility in the options for harvest levels according to market prices.
Area / Age-class distribution within the RMS estate.
Productivity A standardised estimator of the productivity of a plantation site in NZ for indices radiata pine is the 300 index12.
The 300 index for the RMS estate is generally in the 20-25m3/ha/yr range but with increasing proportions rising into the 27-30m3/ha/yr ranges in the more eastern and lower altitude coastal western forests.
Site index, another productivity measure sits between 25m and 30m across the range of forest sites.
In both cases, such figures would be at the lower to mid productivity range for radiata pine in the North Island. This is due to the harsher climatic conditions and shallow soils at higher altitudes (in some areas).
12 A measure of productivity of a site based on stem volume growth (mean annual increment) of 300 stems per hectare.
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Current crop The RMS estate in total, is the accumulation of 552 planted stands status distributed over the 12 geographic forest areas, with an average weighted age of 18.6 (as at Dec 2016).
Of the total estate planted, 55% or 2,688 ha is first rotation, the balance of 2,217 or 45% is second rotation. Most of the estate (93%) 4,564 ha is unpruned with the next largest component being 227 ha of pruned radiata.
In terms of establishment status, 3,712 ha or 75% of the estate arises from actively planted forest. The balance of 1,224ha or 25% by area of mainly young stands has arisen as natural regeneration after harvest. Reliance on natural regeneration is not a policy to be continued in the RMS estate.
In conventional New Zealand forestry terms, the estate is quite fragmented with nearly 70% of stands making up just half the established area (see graph below).
Maps of each forest are shown in Section 13
Area distributions by forest. Total Productive Total Productive Forest Name Area (ha) Forest Name Area (ha) Akatarawa Saddle 39 Pakuratahi West 438 Hiwinui Forest 428 Puketiro 1,222 Hukinga 123 Stoney Creek 1,155 Mangaroa 151 Tauanui 180 Maungakotukutuku 188 Valley View Forest 978 Pakuratahi East 187 Whakatikei 157 Grand Total 5,246 ha
Cumulative area distribution by stand
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Carbon RMS’s long-term strategy is to maintain or enhance the level of carbon sequestration sequestered within the forest estate. This may be achieved by: • Increasing stand productivity, through higher stocking density and faster growth; • Maintain or enhance total stocked area; • Protect natural native regeneration within reserves and unstocked areas; • Utilise a silviculture system that maximises quality crop volume; • Having an effective fire prevention and control strategy; • Using controlled burning as a management tool only where necessary to burn accumulated slash where it poses a significant environmental or safety risk. Carbon levels within the forest are monitored via a regular snapshot of expected carbon held within the estate. These estimates are based upon the estate yield model that is reviewed annually and provides the basis for conversion of standing volume estimates into carbon sequestration estimates using formulae recognised under the Climate Change Response Act 2002.
In order to incorporate visibility of the effects of forest management on the estates sequestered carbon, estimates of carbon will be monitored long term by way of the current estimate at the start of this five year management planning period and a forecast five years hence based on the estate model standing crop forecasts five years hence. These calculations will be repeated every five years providing a basis for monitoring and will include estimates from native reserves existing or created within the estate. These calculations will capture changes due to fire, whether accidental or controlled.
RMS have no benefit in carbon from forests in existence as at January 1st 1990, but are liable for any deforestation penalties incurred over such areas of the estate if areas outside those specified in the Forestry Rights Agreements are not replanted or satisfactorily regenerated.
RMS do have a commercial interest in the carbon stored in the post December 1989 forest areas as listed below. These form part of the RMS asset base. Post December 1989 forest areas in the RMS estate Forest Post 89 Area Akatarawa 43 Puketiro 293 Stoney Creek 1,137 2,903
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13. Map 2a - j - Forest Stands Map
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Map 2b Hiwinui Forest Map
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Map 2c Hukinga Forest Map
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Map 2d Mangaroa & Pakuratahi East Forest Map
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Map 2e Pakuratahi West Map
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Map 2f Puketiro Forest Map
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Map 2g Stoney Creek Forest Map
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Map 2h Tauanui Forest Map
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Map 2i Valley View Forest Map
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Map 2j Whakatikei Forest Map
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14. Commercial Crop Establishment and Silvicultural Operations
Introduction Forest operations are implemented to ensure a good quality crop and maximum growth. These operations include land preparation, establishment, weed control, pest and disease control, fire protection, pruning and thinning, and general property asset maintenance.
Forest The forests of the RMS estate are to be managed to: management • Grow trees and produce logs for the manufacturing of different wood goals products in New Zealand and overseas with a focus on described primary products; • Ensure that the productivity of the land does not decline; • Ensure that the forest estate’s contribution to carbon cycles is maintained or enhanced; • Replant following harvesting; • Ensure that environmental values are identified and maintained; • Ensure that historic and culturally important sites are identified and protected; • Ensure that other forest values and products are identified, protected and where possible enhanced.
Future crop As an already established estate, the species planted has already been species predetermined well into the future. Based on performance histories of other species in these areas in the past, the proximity to well established domestic and export market opportunities, the general site characteristics and economic and productivity expectations, radiata pine will over the term of this plan, remain the predominant species of choice upon replanting within the RMS estate.
Unwanted pine In most parts of the wetter cooler, Rimutaka /Hutt valley/Kapiti Coast spread forests, vigorous native hardwood regeneration will normally out compete most radiata pine that might naturally regenerate following harvest in newly created streamside setbacks. Some basic monitoring and if required regeneration pulling can be undertaken if required to maintain a native cover status.
In the drier, windier eastern forests, re-establishment programmes will include a spread risk assessment using the “Wilding Spread Risk Calculator to inform decisions about replant boundaries and monitoring or other control strategies if required. There is no intention to plant or replant in other species with known high spread risk.
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Establishment Where possible, cutover forest land will be replanted within a year following programme the completion of harvesting.
Re-establishment of harvested forest in the winter / spring following harvest, is a requirement of the Forestry Right for the first 60 years (or any extension period granted) unless natural regeneration is ensured or the area falls within specified Forestry Right exclusion terms such as stream and powerlines setbacks). Over any second rotation renewal of the Forestry Right, the option exists to hand back unplanted land if not replanted.
Based on proposed mid-term harvesting scheduling, replanting programmes are expected to approximately follow those tabulated below: Area (Ha) Year Metro Wairarapa Total 2017 159.0 88.6 247.6 2018 148.5 100.4 248.9 2019 156.5 96.1 252.6 2020 162.3 82.0 244.3 2021 198.9 96.5 295.4 2022 191.7 120.1 311.8
Establishment Mechanical site preparation is expected to be applied to a small portion of methods the harvested area in the Metro forests. It allows for line raking of slash after completion of the harvesting as required. The Wairarapa harvesting is not anticipated to require line raking after harvesting.
Aerial desiccation of cutover forest land is assumed to take place in April/May, in suitable areas. This operation prepares the site for planting by suppressing competition from weeds and natural regeneration. Where cutover areas are in close proximity to residential or cropping areas, special protection measures will be implemented, or alternatives to aerial spraying will be used.
All cutover sites are assumed to be replanted with genetically improved radiata pine seedlings at a rate of between 800 and 1,000 stems per hectare. This should ensure that the site is fully occupied as soon as possible, and allows for adequate selection of well-formed stems at the time of thinning.
These preparation techniques are expected to see a material improvement in the productivity of the estate over time.
The past practice of reliance on natural pine regeneration will be discontinued as it results in uneven stand regeneration, loss of opportunity to benefit from breeding improvements made over the years and much increased waste thinning costs.
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Pre- There may be situations arising from pre-harvest assessments, ecological or establishment archaeological surveys, post-harvest operational review or other activities, considerations including consultation with stakeholders, where small areas are retired from production after harvest for practical, safety, environmental or heritage reasons.
These situations will normally only become apparent during the planning phases ahead of harvesting and other operations.
Tending Thinning: A single waste thinning operation is assumed at around age 10. The actual timing of this will vary depending on the growth and condition of the crop. Thinning to a final crop stocking of between 450 and 550 stems per hectare should produce a high quality unpruned tree crop.
Waste thinning of naturally regenerated stands in the Wellington and Wairarapa forests is more costly than thinning a planted tree crop, since more stems will need to be removed. These stands can carry 2,000 stems per hectare or more. Thinning of naturally regenerated stands or stands with above average stocking will be conducted when proven to be financially viable.
Pruning: The economic viability of pruning has been tested using a cost-benefit analysis, assuming three pruning lifts and a single waste thin. At current costs and prices, the additional costs of this pruning regime exceed the increase in the tree crop value. Therefore, for this 5 year period no pruning is anticipated. This assumption will be re-tested periodically.
Tree nutrition As a general rule in plantation forestry in New Zealand, fertiliser use is very low or non-existent except in some specific soil types. However, relatively shallow soils and the underlying geologies in some parts of the RMS estate are leading to signs of nutrient stress in some forest stands. Metro Forests: Much of Pakuratahi appears to be phosphorous deficient. Growth appears to be significantly impacted. It is likely nitrogen will also be low in this forest. Wairarapa forests: Symptoms consistent with both nitrogen and phosphorous deficiency were observed in all stands. It is likely that these deficiencies are limiting growth.
Nutrient deficiency symptoms will be monitored by foliar sampling. Fertiliser will only be applied if the health and the growth of the trees are significantly adversely affected without it and if a significant beneficial economic and health response can be expected based on current scientific understandings.
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15. Harvesting Strategy and Operations
Estate modelling Forest records, particularly data about area, species, age, standing volume and log grade and terrain (harvesting method) are compiled and used in estate models to project forward cutting schedules, volumes, locations, grades and cashflows under optimised or constrained scenarios that meet the owner’s objectives. These models will be re-run regularly to reflect updated forest data, reconcile yields with projections and provide further forecasts.
Balancing the Determining optimal cutting strategy for the forest with the objective of harvest vs. forest maximising returns within the recognised physical, environmental and other value constraints is carried out jointly by the TIMO and the Property Manager following a nested iterative process using the estate models as depicted below:
Client
Process
TIMO
Process Process
Process
Contractor
gr
erty M erty
Process
Prop
gr
erty M erty
Data
Prop
KEY
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Planning and With estate model derived schedules providing short and medium term preparing for forecasts from which operational budgets and activities are driven, the ideal harvest to achieving an optimal harvesting solution in terms of the forest owner’s health and safety, environmental and commercial objectives is developed through the harvest planning more or less reflecting the process below: Strategic (Paper) Plan – (3-5 year horizon) This will involve a desk top assessment of harvest options to determine the: – preferred harvest system, – preliminary harvest area and setting boundaries, – preliminary road and skid layout, – consent and statutory risks and environmental requirements. Draft harvest Plan (18 month horizon) The strategic harvest plan will be developed in detail and in consultation with contractors wherever possible, to produce a draft harvest plan to finalise; – the harvest area and setting boundaries, – the preferred logging system, including recommended rigging system (based on analysis of critical cable logging settings), – the road and skid layout, including any specific engineering (RoadEng or CAD/Civil 3D) designs for critical roads, – key operational requirements/conditions to ensure compliance with resource consent and statutory requirements, – the preferred timing and sequence of road-line salvage, road construction and harvest operations Final Harvest Plan and Prescriptions (2month horizon) Detailed work instructions, in the form of a final harvest plan and prescription, will be provided for each of key operations (road-line salvage, road construction and clearfell harvest). These will reflect the agreements made with the contractors and include: - 1:5,000 scale planning maps (detailing harvest area and setting boundaries, road and skid layout, extraction lines/corridors, operational constraints and hazards), - Specific operational notes and instructions (project requirements), - Specific management plans (Traffic Management Plan, Power Line Management Plan, Archaeological Management Plan), - Specific design (RoadEng and CYANZ/CHPS Cable Analysis) - Resource consent conditions Continued on next page...
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…continued The ideal sequence of steps described above and illustrated below can and does vary according to circumstances but is nevertheless the goal sought though implementation of PF Olsen’s management processes.
Strategic Harvest Plan (3-5 year horizon) High level planning exercise to identify with reasonable certainty the harvest area boundary, preferred logging system, likely road and skid layout and key risks and issues that need to be addressed during the detailed planning stage.
Draft Harvest Plan
2-3 Year Horizon Preliminary Engineering Design Detailed planning exercise that tests previous assumptions and assesses Preliminary design of critical alternative harvest options. It roads and skids to confirm develops and refines the strategic constructability and viability of plan. Includes analysis of harvesting the proposed plan. This may also systems.t concludes with a draft include the design of bridges and plan for contractor feedback and culvert crossings. input.
Resource Consents & HNZ Authorities
Prepare and lodge resource consent and Heritage NZ Archaeological authorities as required for the project. These will typically be required for large scale earthworks and clearance of vegetation from steep slopes.
Harvesting a permitted activity permitted a Harvesting permitted are Works Engineering
Final Harvest Plan (12-18 month horizon) Road-line salvage and engineering prescriptions issued 12-18 months ahead (aiming to complete forward roading 12 months ahead of clearfell). Detailed engineering design completed as required.
Forward Roading (Construction) Forward road construction to commence 12 – 18 months ahead of harvest, depending of seasonality risk. Aim to have construction completed 12 months ahead of harvest in forests with clay soils – can work to 6 months in pumice soils.
Harvest Ready Logging Crew Assigned
Clearfell Harvest Clearfell harvest prescriptions issued to harvesting contractors 2 months prior to harvest commencing. Minor adjustments made to infrastructure as agreed with clearfell contractors.
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Proposed harvest The aggregated harvest being planned for the next five years is tabulated below: Area (ha) Year Metro Wairarapa Total (ha) 2017 148.5 100.4 248.9 2018 156.5 96.1 252.6 2019 162.3 82.0 244.3 2020 198.9 96.5 295.4 2021 191.7 120.1 311.8
Infrastructure The roading and other infrastructure work proposed for the areas to be harvested in the first year are detailed in the Annual Cutting Plan. There are presently no plans for the construction of any other roading, infrastructure or improvements to the land.
Forest infrastructure includes roads, tracks, landings, bridges and culverts. Design specifications for these are outlined in the ‘PF Olsen Standard Specifications for Road and Landing Construction’.
Typically, infrastructure within an early- to mid-rotation age ‘greenfields’ forest is limited to access for a 4WD vehicle. During harvest planning, upgrades of existing roads/culverts/bridges and planning for new roads, landings, crossings will be identified and scheduled. The type of infrastructure designed and constructed is influenced by topography, harvest duration and intensity of use.
Once established, these require maintenance. The PF Olsen Asset Hazard Register is a GIS-linked database of forest assets that includes bridges, culverts and crossings under resource consent. This provides the framework for a record of the asset attributes, and its associated maintenance schedule, some of which are required under consent conditions.
Land handback Land hand back during the term of this five year plan is not envisaged. In accordance with the two Forestry Right Agreements, the Rights holder is required to replant harvested areas less any documented exclusions. Beyond the first 32 years (or 63 years if the term is extended), the Rights holder may elect not to replant and such areas will be handed back.
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Contractor Prior to engaging any new contractor a comprehensive review of the management contractor’s safety systems, safety record, systems of work organisation, general performance record and equipment is carried out. PF Olsen must be satisfied on this review, regardless of the tendered price. For safety and productivity reasons, where topography and terrain allows, mechanised felling, extraction and processing is being encouraged.
Upon appointment all new contractor crews undergo a comprehensive safety and environmental induction, while PF Olsen Ltd, in conjunction with its contractors and NorthTech, runs a comprehensive programme of training to ensure the workforce is competent for the work they are required to perform. These formal NZQA qualifications are supplemented periodically by internally run training courses including those on environmental matters.
All harvesting, engineering and silviculture contractors are subject to quarterly operational audits and random drug testing. A full safety systems audit is scheduled and carried out annually. Full crew re-inductions take place every 5-years.
Weekly crew visits and monthly (or fortnightly according to risk) KPI assessments including environmental audits pick up corrective actions and follow-up on those.
WorkSafe undertakes audits on an unannounced basis from time to time.
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16. Forest Inventory, Mapping and Forest Records
Inventory Forest growth and development is monitored through forest inventory. Forest inventories providing stand information are required at different times and for different reasons throughout the life of the rotation: • Pre-assessment: for silviculture rate setting and validating operational timing vs silvicultural targets; • Quality control: to check contractor’s performance and update stand records; • Mid-crop: to collect measurement inputs for growth modelling. A new programme is being implemented by RMS; • Pre-harvest inventory is scheduled for stands around age 24, to collect measurement data on the crop. This is used for harvest planning, marketing and revenue estimation. New technologies may see some of this information gathered and analysed using remote sensing in the future.
Mapping All mapping within the RMS estate is in digital format and is constantly updated in a Geographic Information System (GIS) that is linked to FIPS. The GIS system spatially records a vast array of forest data, from stand and legal boundaries, to reserves, rivers, roads, infrastructure, topography and soils.
Accurate mapping also assists budgeting, planning, calculation of future revenue/tree crop value, calculation of payments, infrastructure location, harvest planning, and also meeting climate change emission obligations.
New plantings are remapped from new aerial photography around age four (when the trees are visible on aerial photography) to accurately determine boundaries and areas and also around two years prior to harvesting to assist with harvest planning.
Forest records Detailed records of each stand’s silvicultural management history, productivity, inventory and other attribute data are compiled and maintained in a stand records database and Geographic Information System (GIS). These records form the basis for informing silvicultural scheduling, harvesting schedules and other management activity.
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Non-commercial Estate Management & Protection 17. Protected Forests, Habitats, Ecosystems and Species
Introduction Indigenous biodiversity management in or associated with exotic forests is a normal component of everyday forest management. PEFC places obligations upon the forest manager to be aware of and where required enact procedures to assist with the maintenance and protection of important biodiversity where they are able.
Exotic forests can and do provide a level of biodiversity though this is often enhanced by natural forest ecosystem remnants embedded within the plantation matrix. These are often the most important contributor to the total of the productive landscape’s biodiversity. However, rare and threatened species can also be found associated with exotic forests and may require special attention for management if located.
Terrestrial The Forestry Rights plantation areas are embedded within a wider native reserves forest landscape. By nature of the way the RMS Forestry Rights were put up for sale by GWRC, the Rights in themselves do not contain anything other than small fragments of unstocked gaps and failed establishment that is returning to native shrubland forest. As indicated in Section 4, the substantial bulk of the plantations occur within land environments where the indigenous forest that would have been supported in these area still has between 20-30% remaining or more, and in the latter case, more than 20% formally protected. Nevertheless small areas of the estate do occur in much more highly threatened environments and small remnant patches given time and protection can revert to much higher valued ecosystems.
GIS layers from the GWRC Proposed Natural Resources Plan 2015 produced as part of that Council’s statutory obligations under the RMA do not reveal any specific natural terrestrial habitats or areas designated for protection within the plantation estate nor its general vicinity. However, the Hukinga, Puketiro, Whaikatikei and Valley View forests are all part of a landscape linked with the GWRC Akatarawa “Key Native Ecosystem”. This is a large 12,430 ha native forest area that forms the southern extent of the Tararua range, contains a mosaic of native forest types and includes 1,000ha of near natural lowland podocarp forest and 500 ha of beech podocarp forest. This whole area is the subject of a specific GWRC management plan13
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13 http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/council-publications/Key-Native-Ecosystem-Plan-for-Akatarawa-Forest.pdf
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…continued Terrestrial Ecosystem Risk Management: The primary interface between commercial forestry operations and natural terrestrial ecosystems is at the margin where plantation edges abut natural forest edges or gully vegetation. In this circumstance environmental risks are managed through the Forestry Rights terms whereby operational plans that may impact native forest areas outside the Rights have to be submitted to GWRC for approval. GWRC will involve their ecologists and undertake pre-operational on-site inspections before deciding on conditions if any related to any approval.
Detailed pre-operational harvest planning seeks to minimise damage to any natural vegetation areas through the systems and layout employed. During operations, directional felling, working through narrow corridors and other techniques will be applied to protect natural vegetation where possible and minimise any damage where not.
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Water & streams In the matter of water and water quality, the RMS estate has extensive direct and indirect connection with waterbodies that are important within the region not least due to the relevance of these areas to current and future urban water supplies.
Larger streams that generally have wide native vegetation riparians are well protected by that vegetation which falls outside the Forestry Rights. There are however large numbers of small waterbodies connecting to the larger streams and some of these have had no riparian margins setbacks created at the time of original planting.
GWRC have acquired and developed a lot of information on the values of the waterbodies of the region. In relation to the RMS estate this is summarised below.
Water Quality: GWRC have a significant number of long term water quality monitoring sites throughout the region that inform the Council’s State of the Environment reporting.
Of all the sites, only three have potential relevance, RS25 & 26 because the sites, while dominated by indigenous vegetation, directly abut two of the plantation areas where operations have been ongoing for some years. Both sites are representative of the higher order streams that are indirectly linked to the plantations over short sections of their length. Site RS44 is a plantation dominated catchment though not related to the RMS estate.
Site RS52 is immediately adjacent to but upstream of the RMS Tauanui forest. The river is important to local iwi, and while no inference can be made from the data below, the forest has been harvested in the period 2006 - 2012 and is now regrowing. Most stream margins are well buffered.
Water Quality at sites of potential relevance to the RMS estate14.
Water Dominant quality Rank of Habitat GWRC site Name vegetation Geology index 53 sites MCI quality score RS25 Akatarawa R @Hutt confluence Indigenous Adjacent to Vally view Hard Excellent 5= Excellent 204 RS26 Whakatikei Indigenous Adjacent to Puketiro Hard Excellent 9= Excellent 196 RS44 Totara S Exotic NA. East Coast. Hard Excellent 18 = Good 152 RS52 Tauanui R Indigenous Upstream Tauanui Hard Excellent 8 Excellent 190 Range 60-217 53 sites Median 147 Continued on next page...
14 Rivers State of the Environment monitoring programme Annual data report, 2014/15 GW/ESCI-T-15/146
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…continued Rivers with expected high ecological health: GWRC have undertaken modelling work to predict those water bodies that are expected to exhibit high ecological health as measured by the Macroinvertebrate Index.
While modelled rather than actual data, their results anticipate that there are 65km of streams within the RMS estate that should have a high MCI score.
Length (m) of waterbodies within RMS estate with expected high MCI’s.
Akatarawa Saddle Hukinga Pakuratahi EastPakuratahi West Puketiro Valley View Whakatikei Grand Total Akatarawa River 964 11,708 13,257 25,930 Hutt River/Catchment 792 792 Pakuratahi River 12,026 13,905 25,931 Whakatiki River 6,909 5,654 12,563 Grand Total 964 11,708 12,026 14,697 6,909 13,257 5,654 65,215
Rivers of local importance: For the purposes of the GWRC proposed Resource Management Plan 2015, other rivers that are indirectly connected to the RMS estate have been classified with special values. They are tabulated below and underpin the need to ensure that in-forest practices will maintain the standards currently reflected in the water quality monitoring results.
Rivers of local importance as classified in the GWRC Plan Description River Forest Km in Plan ref / forest Schedule Regionally significant Akatarawa Valley View 19.7 Shed’le H primary contact recreation Pakuratahi Pakuratahi E & W 20.8 Shed;le H Human drinking water Waikanai Maungakotukutuku 14.5 Policy P69 system tributary NgÄ• Taonga Nui a Kiwa Tauanui Tauanui 25.5 Shed’le B
Management A standardised GIS-based stream classification system based on NIWA’s and riparian River Environment Classification (REC) has been used to develop a setbacks rationale for defining riparian management with a set of rules in the EMS that apply to operations occurring near the riparian corresponding with each stream category. They also informing minimum set-backs upon establishment or reestablishment of forest after harvest where riparian setbacks had not existed before.
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…continued Minimum planting setbacks as defined in the Forestry Rights Agreements are: • 5m for streams less than 1.0m wide and by virtue of clauses within the Forestry Rights….. • 10m for all streams between 1 & 3m wide. • 20m for all streams wider than 3.0m wide. The morphology of streams can mean that the minimum set back is wider in many instances.
The stream REC categories actually within the RMS estate provide thresholds based on stream width for other considerations aside from the setbacks. The total length of each class is summarised below:
Length (m) of Stream Categories informing riparian management
Stream Akatarawa Pakuratahi Pakuratahi Stoney Valley Grand Stream class width Saddle Hiwinui Hukinga Mangaroa MaungakotukutukuEast West Puketiro Creek Tauanui View Whakatikei Total Large_Low_Wet_Hard >3.0m 168 1,886 2,053 Large_Low_Wet_Soft >3.0m 119 110 229 Large_Mod_Wet_Hard >3.0m 1,322 1,151 1,782 3,628 7,572 3,880 2,612 241 22,189 Large_Mod_Wet_Soft >3.0m 1,044 148 132 1,324 Large_Steep_Wet_Hard >3.0m 30 226 255 Med_Low_Wet_Hard 1.5-3.0m 564 3,905 1,169 502 3,898 10,039 Med_Low_Wet_Soft 1.5-3.0m 277 315 964 801 2,357 Med_Mod_Dry_Hard 1.5-3.0m 1,816 1,816 Med_Mod_Wet_Hard 1.5-3.0m 375 819 1,352 1,852 1,358 6,367 15,333 3,357 4,533 596 35,941 Med_Mod_Wet_Soft 1.5-3.0m 405 60 1,574 2,039 Med_Steep_Wet_Hard 1.5-3.0m 691 1,268 94 2,052 Small_Low_Dry_Hard 0.75-1.5m 435 435 Small_Low_Wet_Hard 0.75-1.5m 102 622 814 754 2,293 Small_Low_Wet_Soft 0.75-1.5m 42 388 647 435 1,271 2,783 Small_Mod_Dry_Hard 0.75-1.5m 4,363 4,363 Small_Mod_Wet_Hard 0.75-1.5m 3,575 41 1,080 306 1,233 3,900 4,716 145 445 560 16,002 Small_Mod_Wet_Soft 0.75-1.5m 219 37 255 Small_Steep_Wet_Hard 0.75-1.5m 651 23 272 125 1,071 VSmall_Low_Wet_Hard < 0.75m 94 94 VSmall_Mod_Wet_Hard < 0.75m 475 475 Grand Total 709 10,563 4,357 2,002 2,403 4,932 12,645 22,032 27,699 6,114 11,381 3,229 108,065
Native fish Migratory and Threatened Native Fish habitats In addition the GWRC has, as part of its regional planning processes under the RMA, modelled stream reaches on the basis of distance to coast and catchment size and proportion under native vegetation to classify stream reaches into those that potentially provide habitat for migratory fish and those that potentially harbour threatened native fish species.
The results tabulated below show, in lineal metres, the interface between identified streams and the RMS estate.
Length (m) of rivers of importance for migratory fish (GWRC Plan)
Akatarawa SaddleHukinga MaungakotukutukuPuketiro Stoney Creek Tauanui Valley View Grand Total Akatarawa River 964 11,708 13,257 25,930 Awhea River 23,338 23,338 Horokiri Stream 3,619 3,619 Maungakotukutuku Stream 4,481 4,481 Whangehu Stream 5,355 5,355 Grand Total 964 11,708 4,481 3,619 23,338 5,355 13,257 62,723
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…continued Length (m) of rivers important for threatened native fish (GWRC Plan)
Row Labels Akatarawa Saddle Hukinga Maungakotukutuku Pakuratahi E Pakuratahi W Puketiro Tauanui Valley View Grand Total Akatarawa River 964 11,708 13,257 25,930 Horokiri Stream/Catchment 3,619 3,619 Pakuratahi River 12,026 13,905 25,931 Tauanui River 5,355 5,355 Waikanae River/Catchment 4,481 4,481 Whangehu Stream 5,780 5,780 Grand Total 964 11,708 4,481 12,026 13,905 3,619 11,135 13,257 71,096
Trout fishery A significant number of the waterbodies within the GWRC area, especially those still substantially forested and located in hard-rock geologies, provide conditions suitable for trout spawning and support a local trout fishery.
GWRC’s modelled data show the following intersect between these waterbodies and the RMS estate.
Length (km) of trout spawning rivers (GWRC Plan) Forests Catchment Pakuratahi E & W Pakuratahi W Puketiro Valley View Grand Total Akatarawa 12.5 12.5 Hutt 27.8 3.1 13.9 44.8 Wainui 1.8 1.8 Whakatikei 3.1 3.1 Grand Total 27.8 3.1 4.9 26.4 62.2
Length (km) of rivers identified as trout fishery rivers (GWRC Plan)
Forest Catchment Mangaroa Maungakotukutuku/WhakatikeiPakuratahi E & W Pakuratahi W Puketiro Puketiro/Whakatikei Valley View Grand Total Hutt 19.3 4.1 11.2 23.0 57.6 Mangaroa 3.0 3.0 Waikanae 7.8 7.8 Wainui 2.0 2.0 Whakatikei 3.9 3.9 Grand Total 3.0 7.8 19.3 4.1 5.9 11.2 23.0 74.3
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Management for PF Olsen uses the Freshwater Environments of New Zealand (FWENZ) fish models to inform the potential for threatened fish species that may be present in streams affected by operations and if necessary any response to such a presence.
Primary management actions in relation to fish, in addition to those already covered under water quality are: • Development and maintenance of a register of crossings and an inspection routine to ensure fish passage. • Sound design and construction of all new stream crossings. • Timing of in bed crossing construction to avoid peak spawning period. • Minimising damage to streamside environments and provision of setbacks where they were not originally present. • Identification of, and avoidance and/or buffering of waterbodies during aerial spraying for replanting and Dothistroma control or aerial fertilisation if ever required. • Protection of any wetlands identified within the plantation matrix.
Avifauna No specific surveys have been conducted within the RMS plantation estate for threatened native bird species. In general, as a relatively small component within a wider matrix of natural forests (western areas) and farmland (eastern Wairarapa), the fragmented nature of the plantation blocks means that at best they will only provide habitat for native species that is reflective of the wider landscape.
A review of data15 for the Hutt Valley area and the Wairarapa area provides some good base line on the likely forest inhabitants in these regions. Bird observation frequencies (Hutt Valley Council areas) Threatened Common
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15 http://ebird.org/content/newzealand/
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…continued
Bird observation frequencies (Sth Wairarapa Council areas) Threatened Common
While the local lists of threatened bird species are much more extensive most of those species habitats are shore, sea, estuarine and river bed focussed.
Of the forest birds the long tailed cuckoo and NZ falcon are highly likely to be present within the plantation habitats. Kaka and parakeet may be transient users but are most unlikely to be resident within actual plantations.
In the Eastern forests, there remains a possibility of a presence of fern birds and bittern within any small wetland and associated scrublands within or adjacent to the planted forest. However any such areas will be very small, amounting to infilled gullies amongst the plantation after land-slide events in the past.
Most of the common species listed can be expected to be regularly within or transient through the plantation forests.
Management for Primary management actions in relation to avifauna are: avifauna • Adherence to industry protocols developed for management of NZ falcon (and if unexpectedly identified, kiwi). • Inclusion of threatened species sightings into the PF Olsen sightings database, and subsequently into the NZ Forest Owners NatureWatch – Biodiversity in Plantations Project16. • Minimising damage to natural forest areas and any small wetlands and scrublands during harvest and reforestation, particularly any gully systems that already form natural corridors through the larger plantation areas.
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16 http://naturewatch.org.nz/projects/biodiversity-in-plantations
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…continued • Promotion of the development of improved riparian corridors after harvest. • Co-operation with GWRC and other bodies undertaking vertebrate pest control within the wider GWRC property holdings within which the plantations are embedded.
Bats & The river systems running within or adjacent to the RMS estate that also management have large well developed natural forest surrounds may also provide potentially good feeding corridors for native bats.
Research has also shown that large ‘old-man’ radiata pine can provide good roost habitat.
Primary management actions in relation to bats are: • The forest industry currently has draft protocols for management of bats in plantain forests. Once published, these will underpin management actions. • Bat detection boxes will be deployed around the forests in a prioritised programme with the aim of establishing those parts (if any) of the plantation forests that may harbour bats. The immediate focus will be to get ahead of the future harvesting programme where bats may be present. Detections will be recorded in the NZ Forest Owners NatureWatch – Biodiversity in Plantations Project17 • Co-operation with GWRC and other bodies undertaking vertebrate pest control within the wider GWRC property holdings within which the plantations are embedded.
Herpetofauna A desktop review of the likelihood of presence and distribution of native and management lizards and frogs within the RMS estate was commissioned to inform future strategies for management if any.
Most NZ lizard species are now threatened, principally due to predation but also habitat loss. The wide range of habitat specialisation by some lizards and the highly variable bio-climatic regimes across the RMS estate suggested a presence of lizards within the actual plantation boundaries was a possibility.
The desktop review18 based on past recorded sightings within a 5km radius of each of the RMS forest blocks confirmed a possibility for lizards to be present in or around most forest areas. Past sighting records indicated a potential for nine lizard species (of which six had a threat classification) to be found within the Ecological Districts within which the forest are located. Continued on next page...
17 http://naturewatch.org.nz/projects/biodiversity-in-plantations 18 EcoGecko Ltd
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…continued Analysis of the Department of Conservation database indicated three species with a threat classification had been recorded within 5km of various forests. Locally sighted lizard species with a threat categorisation
Species Proximate forest(s) within 5km (Common name) None Pacific gecko Maungakotukutuku, Akatarawa, Hukinga, Ngahere gecko Pakuratahi W. Maungakotukutuku, Whakatikei, Puketiro, Valley Barking gecko View, Pakuratahi E, Hiwinui. Hiwinui. Spotted skink None Ornate skink None Glossy brown skink
Following discussions with the Ecologists, the primary management actions in relation to herpetofauna over the duration of this plan will be: • Undertake a vehicle based survey of the forests to identify and prioritise the types of habitat within plantations that are most likely to justify further focus. • Undertake test surveys for presence/absence of key species within target habitats. • Depending upon outcomes, develop a tailored management response that can be applied within the context of a managed plantation. • Include photos of the threatened species in the threatened species sightings information provided to staff and contractors, and train parties in identification and lodging sightings records in the NZ Forest Owners NatureWatch – Biodiversity in Plantations Project19. Such sightings can be made available to the Department of Conservation.
19 http://naturewatch.org.nz/projects/biodiversity-in-plantations
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CITES species CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments.
Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild, and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 34,000 species of animals and plants.
The full list of New Zealand CITES listed species are available in the EMS, or online at http://www.doc.govt.nz/about- doc/role/international/endangered-species/cites-species/nz-cites-listed- species/.
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18. Property Management and Protection
Statutory pest Pest management within the RMS estate is subject to statutory obligations obligations under the Regional Pest Management Strategy administered by the GWRC20.
The Strategy applies to both pest plants and animals and categorises them in terms of management objectives. The categories and forest owner obligations are summarised in the table below with the pest lists contained in Appendix 5.
In the case of the RMS estate there are specific clauses related to the management of vertebrate pests within the ‘Forestry Rights’ Agreements to provide for statutory bodies such as GWRC to undertake vertebrate pest control.
Statutory pest regulations Pest Category Control objectives Total control Focussed effort to control and eradicate Containment Moderate distribution, containment within current distributions – total control beyond Boundary Control Widespread pests where total control nor containment feasible. / Suppression Control within current property boundaries is sought. Site-Led Widespread ecologically damaging weeds. Control focus within ecologically important sites. Surveillance Known pest species that may or have reached the region and are monitored to understand whether or not they will be or are becoming a risk. Forest Rights Owner Obligations Pest Plants Pest Animals Total Control Monitor for presence, NA - Council Notify Council of any locations. Observe biosecurity protocols. Containment Destroy pests within boundaries of NA - Council plantations.
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20 http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/council-publications/GreaterWellingtonRPMS2009.pdf
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…continued Forest Owner responsibilities Pest Plants Pest Animals Boundary Control Destroy pests within boundaries of Destroy pests within boundaries of / Supression plantations. plantations. Note- any shooting and poisoning operations are controlled by GWRC. Site Led Monitor for presence, NA - Council Notify Council of any locations. Observe biosecurity protocols. Surveillance Monitor for presence, NA - Council Notify Council of any locations. Observe biosecurity protocols. Control unauthorised domestic dumping Note: Site led pest control operations are conducted by GWRC within the Akatarawa Key Native Ecosystem area. These operations include a number of specific plant pest locations and general pest animal control and are inclusive of portions of the RMS estate embedded within the Akatarawa Forest21
Pest control Aside from specific pest control obligation under the Regional Pest Management Strategy, control and containment of certain forest pests will be sought as a concurrent part of management of the estate where or if they become present and threaten the productive capacity of the crop or ecologically significant reserves.
Key pests in this respect are:
Plants Animals – Where damaging to plantation productivity Hares, Rabbits, Goats, Possum, Banana passionfruit Deer. Blue passion flower Broom Buddleia Climbing spindleberry Gorse Old man’s beard Pampas grass Wild ginger Woolly nightshade
An adjunct to the EMS, PF Olsen’s Integrated Pest Management Document provides guidance on decision making around the application and execution pest control operations and chemical use. Continued on next page...
21 http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/council-publications/Key-Native-Ecosystem-Plan-for-Akatarawa-Forest.pdf
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FOREST MANAGEMENT PLAN PEFC_01 Wellington Regional Forests
…continued Two other elements are important for the management of pests within the RMS estate. 1. Control (to the extent possible) of domestic garden waste dumping. Illegally dumped garden waste is a major source for the introduction of invasive pest weed species. Known or new sites identified should be monitored and if necessary treated to prevent unwanted introductions. 2. Attention to operational biosecurity and phytosanitation via: (a) Machine cleaning of earthworks and groundbased harvest machinery when moving into a forest from a region that is a distinctly different bioclimatic zone and / or has known weed risks. (b) Sourcing of road metal where possible, from within the same forest boundaries. (c) Monitoring, managing and controlling quarry and roadside weeds arising from road aggregate, especially where such aggregate is sourced externally and new weed species become apparent.
Tree crop The RMS estate is monitored for key diseases as part of the National Forest protection Health Surveillance System.
As at the 2016 year, no significant forest health issues were identified nor additional actions recommended. Most currently present pine diseases cause little damage and do not require control. The exception is Dothistroma, a fungus which attacks pine needles. This fungus is controlled using a copper-based fungicide, but only when the infection reaches a critical level. Some nitrogen and phosphorous nutritional deficiencies have also been noted.
Aside normal operational treatment of Dothistroma as and when required key actions in relation to crop protection remain to: • Support the forest health surveys conducted by a specialist forest health surveyor. Assess the forest health and identify any forest health issues as early as possible. Undertake control measures as appropriate. • Support the pest control program undertaken by GWRC. Identify and implement additional control measures if and where required. • Minimise losses to wind damage by thinning only low risk areas during the spring equinox, avoiding small harvest coupes where possible and salvaging areas affected by wind damage if possible. • Enhance the health of the tree crop through improvements in site preparation, genetic quality of the tree stocks, timely silviculture and fertilisation if cost-effective.
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FOREST MANAGEMENT PLAN PEFC_01 Wellington Regional Forests
Fire prevention With the weather patterns normally experienced in New Zealand during the and control period late spring/summer, fire can be a real threat to the forest and its productive capacity. This is especially the case in forest subject to high public recreational use and access. This can be minimised by: 1. Having an effective fire plan and rural fire control organisation; 2. A close link with the relevant fire authorities, and an understanding of equipment and trained manpower requirements, and 3. Active prevention measures which include restrictions on allowable access, fire prevention signage, publicity when fire danger prevails, access to adequate water sources, and if required constructing and maintaining firebreaks; 4. Effective fire reporting communications systems, mapping, and fire plan alert procedures; 5. Good forest management that recognises the influence of terrain, roading network and accessibility, and fuel build-up from silvicultural practice that will influence fire prevention and control measures.
Fire authority The legal responsibility for fighting forest fires and the development of fire responsibilities plans lies with the respective territorial land authorities (TA’s) where the forest is situated. In this region TA’s have coordinated efforts to create single larger Rural Fire Authorities (RFA’s) (see Appendix 6). There is a close liaison with the RFA in terms of developing the ‘fire plans’ and the maintenance of good communication relative to potential risks and fire danger ratings.
In the case of the RMS estate, the RFA’s are as tabulated below: Forest Rural Fire Authority Akatarawa Saddle Hukinga Mangaraoa Maungakotukutuku Pakuratahi E & W Wellington RFD22 Puketiro Whakatikei Valley View
Hiwinui Stoney Creek Wairarapa RFD23 Tauanui
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22 http://www.wrfa.org.nz/uploads/docs/Fire-Plan.pdf 23 http://www.wrfd.org.nz/sites/default/files/WRFD%20Fire%20Plan%20%28Part%201%2C%20Sep%202016%29.pdf
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FOREST MANAGEMENT PLAN PEFC_01 Wellington Regional Forests
…continued In the event of a fire that starts within the forest, the RFA is responsible for attending and providing the resources to extinguish the fire. Where a fire starts outside the forested area and moves into the forest, the RFA has recourse to the Rural Fire Fighting Fund to compensate for firefighting costs.
Note: The rural fire fighting organisations and funding mechanisms are being restructured with a new organisation ‘Fire Emergency New Zealand’ (FENZ) coming into existence on the first of July 2017 ready for the 2017/18 fire season.
Public liability RMS FGI has public liability insurance cover as has PF Olsen Ltd. and fire insurance All contractors working within the forest also have cover with firefighting cover extensions. Insurance certificates are provided and monitored to ensure cover is in place.
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Other Benefits from the Forest 19. Forest Products and Other Special Values
Introduction Forest plantations can provide non-timber forest products and special values that enhance the economic wellbeing of the owner or legitimate forest users. Non-timber products are an important means of maximising the production capacity of the forest whilst maintaining environmental and social values. The forest management plan provides procedures for developing and managing these resources.
Non-timber The primary commercial non- timber (lumber and pulp) uses arising from the forest products forests are: • Sites for apiarists. These are licenced by GWRC and revenues held by GWRC. • Commercial firewood dealers who may be licensed to pick up low grade residues for resale to domestic households. • Permitted collections of pine cones for community fundraising events. None of these products hold any forest certification status.
Other special The Western ‘Metro’ Forests Forestry Right, provides for a total of 19 values licences and agreements in relation to access, communications infrastructure and recreational club activities and occupancy.
There is one Right of Way Agreement applying in the eastern Tauanui forest.
In addition provision has been made for potential developments of wide community importance in the form of: • The Transmission gully motorway, • Wind farm development. • Water supply infrastructure. • Transmission line maintenance and avoidance. Heritage values, such as the Rimutaka incline route, are well recognised and PF Olsen has well established policies and processes for accidental discovery and ensuring legal compliance with the legislation.
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20. Recreational Management
Recreational The RMS plantation forest estate is an integral part of the larger area of usage native forested land owned by GWRC that cumulatively forms a major recreational resource.
With significant parts of the Western Forest estates being of a peri-urban nature, there is a high demand for various forms of recreation. The highly regarded Rimutaka rail trail – following the route of the historic Rimutaka incline is embedded within the Pakuratahi E forest.
In the Eastern, Wairarapa forests, recreation is less and more focussed around hunting.
Overall the forests are used for motorised recreation, horses, mountain biking and walking. Groups use the forests for 4wd driver training. Police and military use the forests for exercises and community groups (e.g. Whaitua) have been hosted to show how production forests can be managed.
Specific clauses in the Forestry Rights govern the management of recreational use. The forests will continue to be open for legitimate use subject to entry by permit and /or designated route and time controls, and temporary closures for operational and public safety reasons.
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Management of Western ‘Metro’ Forests: recreational use Under the Forestry Rights Agreement terms, recreational use management is and will remain the prime responsibility of the GWRC through its “Parks Department”. However, the interfacing of public use and commercial forestry requires particular attention to management for health and safety.
The GWRC publishes management plans, brochures and maintains significant website resources for the key recreational assets managed by the Parks department. They are: Forest GWRC Recreational Asset Management Plan All incl Regional Forests Land Plan. Akatarawa http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Parks-and- Recreation/Misc/Regional-Forest-Lands-Plan.pdf Kaitoke http://www.gw.govt.nz/assets/Parks-and- Recreation/Misc/Kaitoke-management-plan- 2005.pdf Pakuratahi Not currently on line Specific webpages and brochures related to each forest are available covering access, permit applications, maps, available activities, Public access times and points and events calendars. These can be accessed below: http://www.gw.govt.nz/akatarawa/ Akatarawa http://www.gw.govt.nz/Kaitoke/ Kaitoke Regional Park Pakuratahi http://www.gw.govt.nz/pakuratahi/
Additionally the Parks Department undertakes multiple interactions with recreational stakeholders and stakeholder group representatives in issues ranging from consultation over recreational policy, strategy and plans to finer details such as site usage, development or events management.
Eastern (Wairarapa) Forests: Specific clauses in the Forestry Rights govern the management of recreational use. The forest assets (for public road use see next section) will continue to be open for legitimate use subject to entry by permit.
All Forests Managing the interface between the commercial plantation operations and the public recreational usage is an area of substantive focus between the Forestry Rights owner’s agent, PF Olsen Ltd, and the GWRC Parks Department.
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…continued There are specific obligations within the Forestry Rights that essentially set out how this interface is to be managed. The outcomes from this process are: 1. A joint approach ‘Principals Plan’ that entails regular monthly meetings to notify operational timetables and identify and discuss any problems and required solutions. 2. The maintenance and publishing on the GWRC forest websites of up-to-date weekly ‘Events Calendars’ that notify times, contacts, activities and areas in which operational and recreational activities will be occurring as well as any constraints upon public usage. 3. The GWRC retains the right to provide for third party activities and recreational use subject to engagement over safety management issues. 4. There are a number of listed ‘Rights for use’ within the landholdings that are retained and protected.
Public access There are some roads and marginal strips that are within or adjacent to the roads boundaries of some of the forests. These routes remain open to public, subject to any temporary closures, organised through the local Territorial Authority, required for safety such as during times of high fire risk or forestry operations. All signage must be followed and those using the routes will still require a permit if there is any intention to access the forest from the road routes.
These public road locations are publically viewable in the Walking Access Commission website24. Any users are expected to abide by the Outdoor access code25 published by the Walking Access Commission.
24 https://www.wams.org.nz/wams_desktop/index.html 25 http://www.walkingaccess.govt.nz/walkways-and-access/outdoor-access-code
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Looking Ahead 21. Monitoring
Introduction To ensure that the management objectives identified in this plan are being achieved, various monitoring exercises outside normal operations management have been developed. Monitoring results are summarised and reported as and when required and are also, where appropriate, made publicly available through the PF Olsen webpage.
Values monitored Management inspections are completed regularly during operations and periodically between times to monitor all aspects of the forest growth, health and conditions. The findings of the inspections are detailed and, where appropriate, summarised on the PF Olsen Certification website. The full monitoring framework implemented and applicable to the RMS estate is tabulated below. Environmental Process Monitoring Framework Monitored Include Components Data Source Data medium Reporting / Website Element frequency Chemical usage A.I usage/ Area overuse operations supervisors FIPS On demand / annual Form Consultation Complaints/ other interaction operations supervisors & FIPS Annual / annual activity planners Form/ meeting minutes Environmental Incident number operations supervisors FIPS On demand / annual incidents / categories Form Environmental All Env Management Group Meeting Annual/ Goals Minutes Flora & fauna Species & Status frequencies/ operations supervisors, FIPS /Form On demand / annual new finds public, crews Naturew’tch Forest estate Plantation area/ management FIPS stand On demand / annual structure ageclass/species/crop plans/stand records records attributes/forest type/protection status Protected ecosystem area/forest type/protection status Continued on next page...
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…continued Monitored Includ Components Data Source Data medium Reporting / Website Element e frequency Forest growth PSP protocols / periodic contractors Volume Periodic-annual – not on inventory. ISO 9001 reconcilit’ns web /Estate model Forest health Disease & health, wind National Forest document Periodic-annual – not on damage surveillance web program26 Forest Rights Agreement compliance Reports documents Annual GWRC PEFC membership Block/ location/name Certifying Body Certificate On demand / annual Health and safety LTI / MTI /TIFR accidents & operations Noggin Monthly/ annual statistics incidents & initiatives supervisors Internal Audit CAR Frequency * category Auditors(ees) Noggin Annual / annual activity Ops Supervisors Log production On Total logs/ PEFC Cert log dockets Woodtrack On demand / annual harv- est Operational Audit trends/cause analysis operations FIPS Monthly / annual monitoring supervisors Form Pests RTC / kill returns or other Contractors/ FIPS Annual/ where relevant GWRC/ permitees Various Protected NA Condition trends/photopoint Contractors/ To be Bi-annual if restoration ecosystem monitoring supervisors established initiated condition High Conservation NA Condition trends/photopoint Contractors/ To be Annual Value forests monitoring supervisors established Recreational & Permits issued GWRC -data FIPS Annual / annual non-timber Resource consents Number/compliance operations planners FIPS monthly / annual Stream monitoring Clarity +/- other specific supervisors Various Operational/ Full NOF GWRC data GWRC SOE Environmental Courses, numbers, names Staff FIPS Annual / & individual training NZQA Client satisfaction Post-operation client survey clients Survey form Post-operational /annual Social survey Demographics, values, work contractors Survey form 3 yearly conditions
26 Forest health inspections are undertaken annually, by an independent specialist forest health assessor, through the NZ Forest Owners Association forest health scheme.
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Other monitoring GWRC State of the Environment Monitoring: Where relevant, data gathered by the Council’s SOE monitoring programme will be incorporated into management knowledge and further sites (e.g.water) encouraged.
Soil: The GWRC undertakes long term soil monitoring27 the results of which are published. The graph below indicates in terms of soil factors and acknowledging a small sample size, plantation forest sites appear not to be any cause for concern.
Operational standards and practice: Other operational standards are monitored through a variety of concurrent and post operational assessment procedures that cover all operations from planting to harvesting and log production.
This information which includes log manufacturing quality performance, safety performance and other private or commercially sensitive is not made public.
Budget and physical programme versus expenditure and forecast: Also monitored and reported monthly through the PF Olsen FIPS system concurrently with all operations. This information is not made public.
Formal Reporting to GWRC The terms of the Forestry Right include obligations to provide quarterly Health and Safety reports and rolling 5 year Annual Plan reports to GWRC.
27 Soil quality and stability in the Wellington region: state & trends 2012 WGN_DOCS-#878729-V3
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22. Industry Participation and Research
NZFOA Inc. and RMS FGI NZ’s primary means of participating as part of the forest owner FGLT community, and to gain industry intelligence and access to research findings is via: • Membership of New Zealand Forest Owners’ Association Inc. (NZFOA) http://www.nzfoa.org.nz/and representation through its Property Manager on the Executive Board and working committees of NZFOA. • Payment of a commodity levy (currently 27 cents/tonne or JAS) to the Forest Growers’ Levy Trust (FGLT). http://fglt.org.nz/. The FGLT uses these funds to finance pan-industry good programmes and contracts NZFOA to carry out this work.
Research A little over 50% of the funds raised by FGLT are allocated to forestry research projects. These funds are supplemented by NZ Government research for industry funds that are bid for on a contestable basis every few years.
Application of the research is via knowledge gained in workshops, uptake by contractors, commercial providers and better genetics. PF Olsen’s direct involvement with research bodies such as FFR contributes to and benefits RMS FGI NZ through early application of good ideas and research findings.
FISC The Forest Industry Safety Council (FISC) was set up in early 2016 following an independent review of safety in the forest industry. FISC is a forum for exchange of safety improvement initiatives, and to develop resources for forest managers and contractors. These resources are primarily delivered via the Safetree website http://safetree.nz/. FISC is financed jointly from FGLT and government, primarily Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).
PF Olsen’s continued support of FISC in the form of senior staff involvement in the OAG and TAG committees ensure RMS FGI NZ interests are considered and that outcomes are understood and applied in practice.
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Additional Other bodies that either or both the TIMO and Property Manager are active representation in, that bring benefit to RMS FTG NZ include: Wood Council of New Zealand (Woodco) Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum NZ Forest Nursery Growers’ Association Forest Health and Biosecurity Committee Log Transport Safety Council Port of Wellington Users Group NZ Institute of Forestry Inc. NZ International Business Forum NZ China Council Various organisations dealing with fresh water quality regulations Wellington and Wairarapa Rural Fire Authorities National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry (setting new legislation).
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23. Future Planning
Introduction This plan pertains to the management of the RMS estate and will provide guidance for the next 5 years. Deviations from this plan will be justified on the basis that the changes do not adversely affect the environment and are necessary or beneficial to achieving the management goals and objectives.
The next review date for this plan is February 2022.
The forest management plan is used for both medium and long term planning.
Operation plans For the short term use operation plans are prepared. These plans are prepared annually in accordance with this management plan and are the basis for tactical planning and operational scheduling, budgeting and operational and financial reporting. Such operation plans and associated budget are subject to approval by RMS at the beginning of each financial year.
Non-financial annual plans are also presented to the GWRC as required under the terms of the Forestry Rights agreements.
Stakeholder Consultation with key stakeholders has been enabled as part of the consultation development of this plan which will be publicly available on the PF Olsen Certification website. Feedback from stakeholders (and others as they become apparent) is monitored, including actions undertaken to resolve disputes and issues and may inform changes in operational practice or future plan reviews.
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24. Register of Plan Change and Review
Introduction This plan pertains to the management of the RMS estate and will be reviewed on an annual basis. This section documents specific changes made during each review.
Change Date Section/Page Appendix 2- Regulatory Issues. Hyperlinks fixed and updated. 29/09/17 Appendix 2 Page 87 Appendix 3- Other Relevant Legislation. Updated to include new 29/09/17 Appendix 3 FENZ Act 2017 and HSW Act 2015. Page 88 Carbon sequestration added to Forest Management Goals. 29/09/17 Page 48 Commercial interest in carbon identified in Commercial Risk 29/09/17 Page 24 Management. RMS aim of maintaining/enhancing carbon sequestered in the 29/09/17 Page 26 estate added to Statement of Intent. Carbon section updated to include long-term carbon strategy and 29/09/17 Page 36 ways it may be achieved. Infrastructure/roading strategy added. 29/09/17 Page 55 Mapping section expanded. 29/09/17 Page 56 Appendix 7- Significant Aspects of a Plantation Forest Life Cycle 11/01/18 Page 100 added. Expanded explanation of Assessment of Environmental Page 28 Risk. Productive Capacity references added into following sections: 11/01/18 Page 32 Business Objectives, Fire Prevention & Control, Pest Control. Page 71 Page 69 Environmental Process Monitoring Framework matrix updated- 11/01/18 Page 77 Forest Estate Structure split into Plantation and Protected Page 78 Ecosystem. Wind damage added into Forest Health element.
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Appendix 1 – Land Titles over which Forestry Rights exist.
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Appendix 2 – Regulatory Issues
RMA plans The table below lists the key RMA planning documents that may need to be referenced when planning forestry operations within parts of the RMS estate.
Planned operations in a particular forest will be subject to the rules only of the Territorial Authority within which the forest is located for issues of land use, terrestrial biodiversity, heritage issues, noise and dust.
All forest are subject to the Regional rules which address issues related to soil and water protection, discharges to land, water and air as well as biosecurity through the Regional Pest Management Strategy.
District & Regional Plans to be referenced Territorial Authority Status Requirement Kapiti Coast Mostly operative Plan Kapiti Plan Maps
Porirua City Operative Plan Porirua Plan Maps
Upper Hutt City Operative Plan Upper Hutt Plan Maps
South Wairarapa Operative Plan South Wairarapa Maps Regional Authority Greater Wellington Regional Council Operative Regional Soil Plan Operative Regional Freshwater Plan Operative Regional Plan - Discharges Operative Regional Air Quality Plan Proposed Combined Natural Resources Plan Operative Regional Pest Management Maps
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Appendix 3 – Other Relevant Legislation
Commercially relevant statutes & regulations Accident Compensation Act 2001 #49 Animal Welfare Act 1999 Biosecurity Act 1993 Climate Change Response Act 2002 Conservation Act 1987 Crown Forest Assets Act 1989 Fencing Act 1978 Fire and Emergency New Zealand Act 2017 Forestry Rights Registrations Act 1983 Forests Act 1949 Freshwater Fisheries Regulations 1983 Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 Protected Objects Act 1975 Reserves Act 1977 Resource Management Act 1991 regulations Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941 The Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975 Trespass Act 1980 Wildlife Act 1953
Relevant regulations to the above legislation also apply as well as various industry Accords, Codes of Practice as listed below.
Industry Accords & Codes New Zealand Forest Accord Principles of Commercial Plantation Forest Management New Zealand Environmental Forestry Code of Practice New Zealand Code of Practice for the Management of Agrichemicals. Climate Change Accord NZ Log Transport Safety Accord Eliminating Illegal Forest Products in New Zealand MoU Federated Farmers and Forest Owners Association and Farm Forestry Association New Zealand Forest Road Engineering Manual
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Appendix 4 – High Tension Lines Corridors.
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Appendix 5 – Pest Plants and Animals.
Pest Plants
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Pest Animals
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Appendix 6 – Map of Rural Fire Authority Boundaries.
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Appendix 7 – Significant Aspects of a Plantation Forest Life Cycle.
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