Foresters growing less pruned wood
Foresters growing less pruned wood
December 19, 2011
Forest owners are moving away from production of
pruned logs, says
the Ministry for Primary Industries
(MPI).
MPI has released the 2012 annual National Exotic
Forestry Description
(NEFD) report, which gives a
snapshot of the area and make-up of New
Zealand’s
planted production forests.
According to this year’s
report, the net area stocked with planted
production
forest has remained at 1.72 million hectares. When
areas
that have been harvested but are still awaiting
either replanting or
an alternative land-use decision are
included (60,000 hectares), the
total exotic forest area
is estimated to be 1.78 million hectares.
An estimated
12,000 hectares of forest were established on new
areas
(where planted production forest did not previously
exist) in the
year to December 2011. The 2012 provisional
estimate for new area
plantings is 18,500
hectares.
Approximately 23.3 million cubic metres of logs
were harvested during
the year to March 2012 from felling
of 44,100 hectares of planted
forest.
The NEFD survey
showed that 58 percent (899,000 hectares) of
forest
planted in the main species radiata pine is being
pruned – down
from 67 percent 10 years ago. “There is
a general trend towards
less pruning, due partly to the
decline over recent years in the
value of pruned logs
relative to unpruned logs,” says Lisa
Winthrop,
Forestry and Plant Sector Policy Manager.
The NEFD
reporting is being evaluated as part of a wider review
of
MPI’s statistical reporting. MPI will run a user
information needs
survey and discussions with key
forestry stakeholders during the
coming year. “The key
questions will be whether the NEFD is meeting
users’
needs and whether there are more efficient ways of
obtaining
the data,” Ms Winthrop says.
View the full
2012 NEFD report in the Publications section of the
MPI About
the National Exotic Forest Description: The NEFD is an
annual report on the national planted production To compile
the report, MPI gathers high-level information from
forest The survey design is intended
to show trends over time, and as such END
website
.
forest
resource, described by age and species. It is an
official
“Tier 1” Government statistic.
owners, surveying large forest owners (over 1000
hectares) every year
and both large and smaller forest
owners (40 hectares to 1000
hectares) every second year.
The survey is well supported by forest
owners, with a
response rate of 85 percent.
it cannot be used
to show detail of what has occurred in specific
locations
or give accurate year-on-year
comparisons.