forest talk
Forestry registration soon underway FROM 6 AUGUST THIS YEAR, LOG TRADERS AND FORESTRY ADVISORS operating in New Zealand will be required to register under a new regulatory system being developed by MPI under the Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Act. The launch of the registration system will be a significant milestone for the forestry and wood processing sector and the businesses and people who work, invest, trade, and provide advice across the sector, says Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service, adding, “It is a step forward in strengthening the integrity of the forestry supply chain and enhancing transparent and openness for those in the sector”. The registration system aims to ensure logs grown in New Zealand are bought and sold in a transparent and professional manner. Registration will be a legal requirement for any business acting as a log trader and individuals providing forestry adviser services. People operating in these areas should be aware of the benefits of being registered, as well as their obligations. The range of forestry matters covered in the Act include advice on the establishment, management, or protection of a forest, management or protection of land used for forestry, appraisal, harvest, sale, or utilisation of timber or other forest produce, and the application of the emissions trading scheme to forestry activities.
According to MPI, those required to register under the Act will need to pass a fit and proper person test and comply with regulations and practice standards to support a more transparent and open market for log sales and professional advice. This also aims to provide investors and forest owners with greater confidence in the forestry sector, including in the advice they receive on the management and valuation of their forestry assets. Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service is currently working on developing the registration system, including building the core IT infrastructure and portal for lodging and processing of registrations. For the purposes of the registration a log trader is a person, in trade, buying, or exporting logs grown in New Zealand, processing logs they have grown themselves, or a person acting as an agent for another person doing any of those things. Forestry advisers are individuals who in the ordinary course of business provide advice on one or more of a range of forestry matters. They may also act on behalf of another person in relation to the sale and purchase of timber, or other forestry products, make inspections or prepare reports in connection with a forestry advisory service. There is a one-year transition period for log traders and forestry advisers to get registered before penalties will apply from 6 August 2023. NZL
IKEA converting NZ land for plantations INGKA GROUP, THE LARGEST FRANCHISEE OF IKEA STORES internationally, has received consent to buy more sheep and beef farming land in the South to convert to forestry. The Overseas Investment Office’s April decisions include a successful application by Ingka Investments Forest Assets NZ and Ingka Investments Management NZ, from the Netherlands, to acquire some 1118 hectares of land in Koneburn Road at Waimumu. The applicants are owned by Ingka Investments BV, the investment arm of Ingka Group, one of 12 different groups of companies that own the Swedish furniture and homeware giant. In a statement, the company stressed the property — like its other two New Zealand acquisitions — would be planted in plantation forestry, not used for carbon farming.
4 NZ LOGGER | July 2022
Koneburn, owned by Brian and Dawn Copland, has been in the Copland family for four generations. For the past 27 years, it has been leased by Mr and Mrs Copland’s daughter, Deborah, and her husband, Jon Wood. The sale price was withheld. The decision summary said the applicant had been granted consent to acquire the land under the special test relating to forestry activities. The summary said the company intended establishing and maintaining plantation forest — predominantly radiata pine — over parts of the land at Koneburn assessed as being best suited to forestry. The company estimated new planting of about 977ha of the land which was best suited to planting after allowing for infrastructure (4.9ha), native plantings (52.5ha), unplantable (43.3ha) and various setbacks (31.3ha). It has proposed subdividing and selling about 9ha, including a house and three sheds. Last year, it got consent to buy 5500ha sheep and beef station Wisp Hill in the Owaka Valley and it acquired the 610ha Old Hill Rd property in Central Hawke’s Bay in April. At Wisp Hill 300ha of gorse has been removed. The first 274,000 of three million seedlings have been planted — including more than 40ha of manuka with the potential to support up to 200 beehives — and 20km of new, all-weather roading have been laid. NZL
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