58 | FORESTRY TAML Forestry T T Kim Newth Forest owners urged to plan ahead TAML Forestry offers a full suite of services from forest establishment and management to forest harvesting and marketing, as well as forest appraisals and guidance on carbon farming. Whenuku Road, Hawera Waiteika Road, Opunake Nukumaru Station Road, Maxwell Servicing all aspects of forestry in South Taranaki, TAML Forestry brings decades of experience to the sector. On the company’s operational team, Principal/Director Kelly Coghlan is a straight shooter who sees both challenges and positive opportunities ahead for private forest owners. “The biggest problem at the moment is the export market has softened. Demand into China – our biggest export market – has slowed and, with limited regional sawmills, there are few domestic options for logs. The whole marketing side is becoming more complex.” For private forest owners, he suggests now is not the time to be chasing volatile spot prices. With forestry regulations also becoming more complicated, he suggests a change in thinking is what’s needed. “Forest owners need to become a lot more strategic. New regulations are coming into force this August for log traders and forestry advisors, plus there is more pressure coming on environmental management with slash control already a big issue. The key message I’m trying to get out there to private growers is they need to get into a forward planning process.” TAML Forestry partners with private forest owners in South Taranaki and takes pride in delivering a personal, independent and honest service. TAML Forestry is the only such forestry company in South Taranaki offering a full suite of services from forest establishment and management to forest harvesting and marketing, as well as forest appraisals and guidance on carbon farming. “We are a private forestry company that has been in this business for a long time under Morris Fisher who many know and is still actively working with TAML and we cover all the bases, from planting, pruning, thinning and the whole management process from seedling to log. We even have our own logging crew. “The private forests we manage range from small farm woodlots through to 300 hectare syndicate-owned forests. It’s all first rotation forestry. In recent years, we have seen an increase in carbon farming in the foothills, with farmers opting to plant out some of their less productive land. There’s a lot of potential opportunity in carbon farming and we can advise them on that.” It is a busy harvesting phase at the moment, due to a boom in planting of pinus radiata forestry in the mid-1990s. Now the mature trees are ready to be logged. For forestry owners getting ready to log their trees, TAML Forestry can help them plan how to do it right using competent harvesting contractors and guiding them through the marketing process. “We have got a strong domestic market as well as export options for our clients through Port Taranaki in New Plymouth. Our priority is the domestic market. There’s only one big sawmill in Taranaki and we are one of the key suppliers to that mill and our growers get the “The key message I’m trying to get out there to private growers is they need to get into a forward planning process.” benefit of that. We can offer a range of sales options.” Kelly has several decades of experience in harvesting and marketing, including as a log exports manager that involved visiting all the international log markets – “I have plenty of experience on that side.” A perennial problem for the sector is a shortage of skilled logging and forestry labour. On the plus side, Kelly suggests the next big market opportunity for New Zealand timber will be biofuels as more and more companies convert from coal to wood-based fuel. “It sets us on a positive pathway towards a more self-sufficient future.”
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