| 53 T T Kim Newth Canty tops for tree owners Jimmies Creek Partnership. Forest Management Ltd specialises in all aspects of forest management. FORESTRY Forest Management Ltd Forestry plays a significant role in the New Zealand economy, with MPI figures showing the sector contributes around $6.6 billion in annual gross income. Forestry and wood products are our fourth largest export earner. Supporting the sector’s ongoing growth and development are specialist companies like Forest Management Group, which operates from Napier all the way south to Invercargill. Co-founded by Glenn Moir and David Janett in 1992, Forest Management Group offers ‘best service for the best clients’ across all aspects of commercial forestry from pre-planting to harvesting and marketing. A forestry and commerce university graduate, Glenn Moir also brings decades of experience to his current role as a Director of Forest Management Group. He suggests Canterbury is uniquely well-placed from a forestry investment perspective. “Growth rates are slower in Canterbury than in other regions, particularly places like Hawke’s Bay and the East Coast. However, harvesting is easier as there are not so many big steep hills, plus there is a really good roading infrastructure. Another big advantage is having well-run, locally-owned sawmills so you can harvest and sell trees without necessarily having to go to export. These are huge benefits for the region. Canterbury may not be the best place to grow trees but it is one of the best places to own them.” Forest Management Group has itself invested up and down the forestry chain in Canterbury, holding their own regional forests as well as owning shuttle trucks at port to service export log ships. “Our four income streams in the region are harvesting and marketing; planting and silviculture (pruning and thinning); Emissions Trading Scheme advice and sales and consulting; and port operations.” He suggests that Canterbury is already well down the road on achieving the Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) that former Forestry Minister Stuart Nash laid out at the 2022 Canterbury West Coast Wood Council (CWCWC) Awards. The plan sought to drive up value-add in the sector, by pivoting more towards domestic processing. Glenn chairs the CWCWC, which represents the forest and wood products industry throughout Canterbury and the West Coast. “The forestry industry is going through a downturn at the moment but it is not affecting us as much here in Canterbury due to the relationships we have with the local processors,” he observes. From a planting perspective, he says there is plenty of activity in the region with around 5000 hectares of new land being planted in forest every year. Forest Management Group has been contributing around two-thirds of this new planting over the past three years, (on top of areas being replanted after harvesting). “We’re using the Emissions Trading Scheme to drive that too. It has given our farming clients a way to get some additional revenue; it has been good for them.” Forest Management Group has a team of 26 full-time staff working from their Christchurch office – including University of Canterbury Forestry graduates – and employs nine contract logging crews, with some 200,000 tonnes of logs harvested a year in North Canterbury alone, (with a similar tonnage also out of South Canterbury). “We also have two full-time silviculture crews.” Of that 200,000-tonne harvest, only around 25% is exported as logs. The rest is processed locally. For example, high quality farmed logs go to the West Coast to be made into plywood or get cut into timber for lucrative European and North American markets. Local forestry also supports the construction and landscaping sector in New Zealand and Australia, as well as driving sustainability via clean-burning bio fuels. “Biofuel will become the norm, particularly in regions like Canterbury as heavy industrial convert to it for energy. “There are currently so many uses for wood and wood products with new uses being discovered, from construction and energy to perfume scents and food fillers. The future is positive as we increasingly move towards a cellulose economy.” Blue Mountain Pest Control SOUTHLAND / OTAGO Chris Freer Principal Contractor Proudly supporting Forest Management Ltd 0274 382 194 bluemtpestcontrol@xtra.co.nz Proudly supporting Forest Management NZ YOUR LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED FENCING SPECIALIST TIMBER, POST AND MILLING SERVICES 03 688 2591 www.pointlumber.co.nz 0800 4posts (0800 476 787) www.greatsouthern.net.nz GROUP No1 FOR POSTS AND TIMBER Suppliers of : Posts • Poles • Piles • Farm Buildings Small Buildings • Dog Motels Concrete Troughs • Bulding Supplies Wooden Gates • Fencing Supplies Proud to support Forest Management Ltd Phone: 03 327 8843 Email: sales@sutherlandtimber.co.nz
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