40 | Foresters ‘doing the right thing’ Timberlands is aiming to double its productivity by 2050, from the same land area. T T from page 39 FORESTRY Timberlands “Our customers and consumers have high expectations that we will manage our forests responsibly. We have partly achieved that through our international environmental certifications including the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Responsible Wood, which links into PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification). But certification in itself is very broad, and it’s an affirmation of our responsible and sustainable practices, that our consumers see Kaingaroa as a forest to be associated with in their branding. So there’s that inherent responsibility to be seen as industry leaders and doing the right thing.” As Colin observes, forestry is a very visible industry, which can have significant effects on regions, communities and the country. As recently seen in the East Coast, when things go wrong they can go wrong on scale. “We must not forget that we are foresters. This is what we do, we are passionate about it and we want to be seen doing the right thing. “Our employees and our contractors actually live in this community too, and we don’t want to mess up our own back yard. Another key reason for responsible forest management practices is that forests are actually important for the planet. “The world still wants wood for construction and if Kaingaroa is supplying it responsibly that reduces the chance of it coming from sources across the globe that might have less stringent forest management practices.” Hand in hand with responsible forest management practices is ensuring there is long term viability and ecological health of the forests. Timberlands has set itself an audacious objective to double its productivity by 2050, from the same land area. To achieve that Colin explains that the company has set a number of long term goals and targets that are both achievable and aspirational, designed to restore the socio-environment it operates in. “The key word is restore. The UN refers to ‘sustainable development’ goals, but to us sustainable means holding the line, and not getting any worse or better. We want it to be restorative. “For example, we’re aiming to be carbon zero or better. We want to be predator free. We want to eliminate wilding conifers from the environment. “Last year Timberlands spent a million dollars on wilding control, just on the land that we manage and most of the wilding conifers that we are eliminating came from outside of the forest estate or were inherited. “When you think that the Government is now spending ten million dollars on wilding control annually, Timberlands contribution is significant.” With a goal to increase biodiversity, Timberlands has recently engaged PHD students to study micro-biodiversity like fungi and insects in the soils and bird species. “We have twenty-eight threatened, rare or declining species in the forest, along with rare remnant areas like wetlands and frost flats that are ecologically important. So that in itself is a reason to protect forest health.” Colin says one of the key things around ecological health of the forest is maintaining a mosaic of age classes, so that it is not a forest where everything is harvested all at once in one area. He says that mosaic really supports the ecological health of both plantation and its natural biodiversity. “We also want to enhance the communities that we are associated, including an aspiration to pay a prosperous wage. We already pay a living wage but we want to consider what a prosperous wage might look like and how we can get there. “Also within the community, we want to be recognised as having the best recreational forests in the country. “While not officially recognised as such yet, the mountain biking and hiking tacks in Waka Forest is pretty massive.” Establishing operational standards that exceed what they are legally required to meet as an industry. While the legal requirement is to prepare for a one in twenty year event, Timberlands will prepare for a one in one hundred year events with larger culverts. There are several other areas where Timberland applies the one in one hundred design. Again Cyclone Gabrielle and the increasing frequency of significant storm events across the globe serves as a clear marker for change. Colin acknowledges that while some of the goals and targets are very achievable, others will be a stretch, but says you can’t just cherry pick the low hanging fruit. “I have always said if we get three quarters of the way there on some of the harder goals, that is probably a good result. “Operationally we do set ourselves high standards. We have just had some audits from the Waikato Regional Council that has given what I would call an A-Plus standard of operational compliance, which is a very high affirmation.” “Another key reason for responsible forest management practices is that forests are actually important for the planet.” The NZ Bush Falcon/Karearea is one of 28 threatened species found in Kaingaroa.
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