| 43 Rayonier Matariki Forests FORESTRY Company takes long view with trees Richard Loader In addition to its own team of 100 employees, Rayonier Matariki Forests employs a contractor workforce of over 700 people to undertake all forestry activities. With its roots stemming back over three decades, Rayonier Matariki Forests is New Zealand’s third largest forestry company with approximately 120,000 hectares of plantations on a 166,000-hectare landbase that stretches from Northland to Southland. When Carter Holt Harvey sold a lot of its estate in 2005 Rayonier entered into a joint venture with several other parties, forming Rayonier Matariki Forests and purchasing 95,000ha of Carter Holt Harvey forests. Adding its own forests to the newly formed venture, Rayonier became the sole manager of the Matariki Forests. Close to its forests, Rayonier Matariki Forests now has regional offices throughout New Zealand including Invercargill, Rangiora, Hawke’s Bay, Tauranga and Whangarei, with Head Office based in Auckland. In addition to its own team of 100 employees overseeing all forestry operations throughout New Zealand, Rayonier Matariki employs a contractor workforce of over 700 people to undertake all forestry activities. The Canterbury forest estate encompasses 22,700 hectares including the Hanmer Forest in the north and a group of forests in the Selwyn District to the south, harvesting 460,000 tonnes of logs per annum. Mark Grover, GM Operations, says Canterbury’s customer base is approximately 70% domestic with logs supplying local sawmills and roundwood customers, along with Daiken New Zealand’s MDF plant just out of Rangiora. “The remaining 30% is export logs out of Lyttelton. We also buy some export logs AWG (At Wharf Gate) from other forest owners. From that point we load, ship and sell them to our international markets, which in the South Island is predominantly China.” The Southland forest estate encompasses 31,300 hectares and is very well spread from South Otago in the north, over to the Catlins in east and right over to the fringes of Fiordland with the Jericho (Blackmount) Forest in the west. Harvesting 550,000 tonnes of logs each year, about 45% of Southland’s logs go to the domestic market with the balance exported along with AWG purchased logs. A reduced scale of domestic mills dictates less logs fed to the domestic market. to page 44 027 229 2044 gavins.logging@gmail.com “We’re always looking at the long term and how we can plug declining age classes in our regions. We look at procurement and are in the market to add established forests or land for new plantings to our estate.” Mark says like all of Rayonier Matariki’s operations, both South Island regions are harvested sustainably, over the long term. “We’re always looking at the long term and how we can plug declining age classes in our regions. We look at procurement and are in the market to add established forests or land for new plantings to our estate. We have entered into JVs (Joint Ventures) with Iwi and energy companies in some of our regions.” Rayonier Matarki is a certified member of both the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). Both independently audited and international green certification labels, membership requires adherence to a broad range of principles and practices, including environmental, social, cultural and compliance with the law. “Those principals are the foundations for our company to grow well-managed forests and our customers can be confident that our logs come from responsively harvested and verifiable sources.” Reflecting on the economic and social value that Rayonier Matariki brings to the regions in which it operates Mark says when you take into account the contractors working in the forests each day which in the South Island is up to 200 people, along with Rayonier’s own management teams the impact is significant. On top of that you have a diverse range of businesses within in those regions supporting the contractors. All of that value flows back into the regional economies and social wellbeing of the communities. Employing only forest certified contractors to carry out its operations Rayonier has a symbiotic relationship with its contractor workforce based on trust and mutual respect.
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