54 | Community involvement a priority Richard Loader Tasman Pine FORESTRY Being a landowner and neighbour to a large number of people in the Nelson region, the team at Tasman Pine Forests Ltd places high value on the good relationships they enjoy in the communities in which they operate. A subsidiary of Sumitomo Forestry, Tasman Pine’s 36,600-hectare forestry estate stretches from the Whangamoas through to the Takaka Hill, with a little in the Marlborough Sounds. “We have a contract workforce who, along with our own staff, all live in the area and are part of the communities, so it’s very important that we have a good relationship,” says Chief Operating Officer Steve Chandler. “We also support a number of community activities and our big sponsorship at the moment is the Rescue Helicopter Service and Mako Rugby Team in Nelson.” “Enabling the community to safely enjoy our forest estates is one of the ways we engage with people and we operate a permit system for recreation. There’s a lot of walking, running, mountain biking, horse riding, hunting and motorbiking in our forests. “The permit system is a way for us to manage safety in the forest. “We also support a number of community activities and our big sponsorship at the moment is the Rescue Helicopter Service and Mako Rugby Team in Nelson.” While the forest estates occupy the hills, increasing numbers of lifestyle blocks inhabit the valleys so being sensitive to noise and dust during harvesting operations, or during spraying operations when forests are being re-established, is key to being a good neighbour. “We actively monitor water quality if we’re spraying near streams and have a notification programme to let neighbours know what’s going on. Sometimes we choose not to spray, and manually re-establish the trees, or look at other species which have longer harvest cycles.” Thirty percent of the estate is native conservation and riparian area, which includes totara, matai, rimu, kahikatea, alot of manuka, lower canopy species and beech in the higher country. “Many people don’t realise that a lot of plantation forest owners are some of New Zealand’s biggest private native forest managers,” says Steve. “We manage weed and animal pests and try to protect them from fire and any other environmental damage.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDc2Mzg=