29th September 2022 Newsletter

PRESIDENTS REPORT

I would like to thank the organising committee of Jeremy Keating, Phil Elworthy, Sheridan Ashford, Lily Marshall, Murray Parrish, Natalie Keller and Jay Matthes for the fantastic conference they set up and ran for us two weeks ago.  I have only received positive feedback with particular emphasis on the quality of the speakers and the great debate had throughout the conference.  Thank you all on behalf of all  the members.

It was also with great pleasure we awarded the Kirk Horn award to Ian Page, the Forester of the Year award to Don Hammond and the Prince of Wales Sustainability Cup to Jack Palmer.  Each awardee has given so much to the sector and the Institute and it was a privilege to be able to give them their awards.  

One important announcement from the conference was received from Minister Stuart Nash, who informed the conference NZIF Registered Members will only need to pay 10% of the Registered Forest Advisors fees and be automatically on the register (subject to police check).  This is fantastic news as it allows us to continue to be in control of our registration scheme and have it promoted as the best of the best.  I encourage all members who will need to be registered in the Forest Advisors scheme to consider becoming NZIF registered.  Our scheme will be considered of a higher quality than the MPI one and the cost of registering with NZIF is less then the cost of registering in the Forest Advisors scheme (if you are already an ordinary member).   I am aware some members are worried abut having enough CPD to register under our scheme; the Registration Board will be putting out some comments around this, however I am confident most of you would have completed enough CPD during the course of your work over the last three years.  You just need to record it. 

We are still not recommending members sign up for the Registered Forest Advisors as the scheme continues to be unclear on many requirements.  The team working with MPI on this has presented a straw man on the way forward to the Minister and the DG MPI.  Our understanding is this has basically been accepted, however we have had no formal feedback this is the case. We will be meeting with officials next week to seek clarity on this. 

Our next conference will be and ANZIF conference to be held in Coolangatta 15 - 19 October.  I encourage you to plan to attend.  We will also hold a one day CPD session, AGM and awards dinner probably in Wellington around June  / July 2023.

Once again I would like to thank the conference organising committee.  They were all volunteers doing their bit to help all members.  Next time you see one of them, buy them a coffee to say thanks.  

Your council will be meeting next week.  If you have anything you wish for the council to consider, please let me know.  In the meantime consider becoming NZIF registered, it is probably the cheapest and most effective way of ensuring you are legally able to operate. 

Thanks

James

INSTITUTE UPDATE

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Requirements

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Requirements if applying to be a Registered Member of the New Zealand Institute of Forestry

Dear Members

The Minister of Forestry, Stuart Nash, made a very strong endorsement of the New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) Professional registration scheme at the recent August NZIF conference in Auckland.  He also indicated that NZIF registered members would have simplified access to the statutory registered forestry adviser regime at a concessionary rate (he said no more than 10% of the full cost for non NZIF registered members).  On this basis we suggest you should give serious consideration to applying for NZIF Registered Member status.  NZIF registered members may also put RMNZIF after their name. Note as per the NZIF Presidents Newsletter of 29 August 2022, the Institute’s advice to members is not to sign up to the statutory registered forestry adviser regime, at this time. You do not have to do so (if you are required to under the Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Act 2020 Act) until 6 August 2023.

In the interim members of the New Zealand Institute of Forestry who may wish to apply to be a NZIF Registered Member may have noted that one of the requirements in the NZIF registered member application is that you need to have undertaken 60 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the prior three years, of which 30 hours must be structured.

The NZIF CPD categories ‘” structured” and “unstructured” relate to training and education relevant to you in your professional role/ job.  It does not need to be technical forestry CPD.  For example, those in management roles can claim CPD for seminars, webinars (internal and external) in relation to say IT systems, H&S, new laws and regulations, management processes, business management, accounting and finance, and a range of conferences and seminars, all of which are captured by the Institutes CPD policy.  Specific CPD requirements are in the NZIF CPD Policy available at:

https://www.nzif.org.nz/about-us/governing-documents/

Registration Board members find that many people overlook what they have been doing. In our experience when you talk through CPD with members, you find they are often not aware that what have they been to or participated in over the last 36 months, i.e., seminars and webinars from accountants, lawyers, property people and others may be relevant CPD.  Note internal employee courses can all count towards NZIF CPD as can specific briefings on specialist topics if the event can be documented.  They find they soon quickly start clocking up CPD hours.

The Board hope this note is of assistance to those members considering applying for NZIF Registered Member status.

On Behalf of the Registration Board

New Zealand Institute of Forestry

Peter Casey

Chair

Conference Presentations

To see the conference presentations Read more

From the Registrar

Any member of the NZIF has the right to object to an application. Any objection should be lodged with the Registrar registrar@nzif.org.nz within 20 working days of the first appearance (29 September 2022) of the notice in this newsletter, specifying the grounds for the objection.

SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION FOR REGISTERED MEMBER STATUS

The following Members are now Registered Members:

• Lawrence Rehutai of Masterton
• Philip Orme of Timaru

APPLICATION FOR REGISTERED MEMBER

The following Member has applied to become a Registered Member:

• Gottfried Kenda of Invercargill
• Rob Van Rossen of Whakatane

REGISTRATION REVIEWS 2022

The following members are due for 5-year review of their status as a Registered Member during 2022 and have not yet submitted their application;

• Kevin Reardon
• Mark Morice
• Mort Shepherd
• Vern Harris
• Kenneth Tsang
• Paul Molloy

You are responsible for ensuring that your review is completed by

31 December 2022.

Any member of the NZIF has the right to object to an application. Any objection should be lodged with the Registrar registrar@nzif.org.nz within 20 working days of the first appearance (29 September 2022) of the notice in this newsletter, specifying the grounds for the objection.

Alan Bell, Registrar 
NZIF Registration Board

registrar@nzif.org.nz

+64 27 444 7779

MEMBERS VOICE

Change the climate or our relationship with land?

The late John Holloway, part of an illustrious forestry dynasty, was forever pointing out to young foresters that “The first objective of forest management is soil and water protection!” While Director of Management in DOC this advocacy continued; “The first objective of conservation management is soil and water protection!!”  However, since the mid 1980’s the unifying theme of soil and water protection in land management has given way to the secondary objectives of wood production and biodiversity protection. Whether soil and water is better protected under these enlightened new certainties is debateable. We’ll probably never know because any increase in flooding and soil erosion can now be attributed to climate change.

Both the latest Journal of Forestry (August 2022) and more recent newsletters have been very focused on climate change and what ‘forestry’ (or the ‘forest Industry’) might contribute to carbon offsetting. I have thoroughly enjoyed the articles, as well as member’s comments in the newsletter. But I worry about the framing of the ‘forestry’ contribution and the focus on sequestration. Having worked with the RMA for the past 30 years I’m all too aware of the downsides of ‘offsetting’ and the failure to account for ‘cumulative effects’.  We continue to sustain one place (including the community/culture) at the expense of another.  The RMA has ‘failed’ because sustainable resource management continues to be compromised to meet cultural demands. Climate change is the outcome; too much ‘culture’ at the expense of ‘nature’.

We have vast areas of land desperately in need of woody vegetation, areas that until relatively recently were covered in forest. With climate change and the extremes of weather we are now experiencing the need is to build resilience back into our landscapes. This means removing stock and pests from critical areas and re-establishing a cover of woody vegetation, or protecting the health of what already exists. We must first manage the carbon already embedded in soil and woody vegetation. Extending the cover of woody vegetation to enhance local resilience needs to be the primary objective for forestry.  Contributing to the reduction of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere will follow.   

In my view the NZIF should frame the contribution professional foresters have to make in the broader context of land management, a context within which resilience must become the unifying theme. There are a number of professional foresters already working in this space, notably Tane’s Tree Trust.  Those in the corporate sector need to get on board.  So too should those in the conservation space;  more than 70% of the water we use originates on conservation land. Without soil and water management as our primary objective across all land no amount of carbon sequestration will sustain us.

Clive Anstey

I just read the link kindly provided by our Fellow Andrew McEwen via personal communication in the previous Members Voice. Fascinating. I reject the earlier correspondent’s concept of four quadrants in its entirety. I prefer a 6 faceted quadrant, you can introduce quantum mechanics as that allows more dimensions to be considered. The premise raised is that member McEwen is following a doctrine that is pompous and colonial, and that the supplied quadrant theory can place us personally in a self-referential matrix that ranges from deranged to mis-informed. I enjoyed the post in the sense that members are a diverse bunch, however none of it can be taken seriously. Native reforestation may not be a commercial solution, but it’s certainly  a popular idea and worthy of our attention.  And I enjoy a laugh as much as the next guy, but calling one of our fellows a sheep is bit much (it’s in the matrix post).

Regards Bert Hughes

RECENT FORESTRY ARTICLES

Point of no return: crunch time as China tries to fend off property crash

Timber cities ‘could cut 100bn tons of CO2 emissions by 2100’

‘I’m glowing’: scientists are unlocking secrets of why forests make us happy

New Zealand reports warmest and wettest winter on record

‘Last-chance saloon’: race to wreck the Amazon as prospect of Bolsonaro defeat looms

The world's loneliest tree has things to teach us

I have had a stroke. Believe me, you do not want one 

Kawerau Mill strike: The cracks that can't be papered over 

The hybrid tree that conquered the world 

House built from piles to watertight in 13 hours ready to live in

Slip that cut city water supply line was on clear-felled council forestry land 

Logging slash hangs in trees, when will forestry change, flood-hit residents ask 

Forestry needs an urgent reset

‘This is what a river should look like’: Dutch rewilding project turns back the clock 500 years

Papatipu Rūnanga create a 'template for restoration' 

Indigenous leaders urge businesses and banks to stop supporting deforestation 

Ginseng - digging new roots in NZ

1.4m hectares protected from wilding pine

Climate Change Commission chair Dr Rod Carr calls for reform of emissions trading scheme 

‘It’s a miracle’: Gran Abuelo in Chile could be world’s oldest living tree

A Ponzi scheme by any other name: the bursting of China property bubble