27th March 2023 Newsletter

PRESIDENTS COLUMN

It seems there is still confusion around registration and how our scheme and the Crowns interacts. The key point for members is if you are a Registered Member then you will be covered within the Crown Scheme and you don’t need to do anything. We will register you with the crown in bulk. 

If you are not a NZIF registered member but think you may need to be registered under the Crown scheme I encourage you to become a Registered member. Not only will it be cheaper for you, but it also will give you more say in the management of the scheme and any changes to CPD, practice standards etc. 

If you have less than 5 years experience we are putting together a Registered member in training (or something to this effect), this will also automatically register you in the Crown scheme. 

So bottom line. If you are a member (and you must be to be receiving this) and you think you are giving advice please register under the NZIF scheme rather than directly with the Crown.  If you are unsure if you need to be, please contact me. But please don’t delay. Our Registration Board can only process a limited number of people at a time and August is approaching fast! 

Consultation requiring submissions continue to flood us the latest being Forestry in the ETS: Second set of proposed cost recovery fees and charges from MPI Read more This consultation is proposing a $30 / ha / year charge to recover the cost of running forestry in the ETS which MPI tells us is $29.8m!  I have asked MPI to provide us a break down of this extremely large cost. If you have any comments on this please let me know so we can include them in our submission.   There is also MfE’s Review of the ETS Read more which we will submit on. Again if members have thoughts around this please let me know. 

A reminder the ANZIF conference is on the Gold Coast 15-18 October Read more. I encourage you to attend. The organising committee have put together a great program. It would be fantastic to see a large NZ representation there. If you would like to Sponsor please let me know. We still have many sponsorships spaces available. 

We will be holding our own AGM, CPD and awards dinner in Wellington in July. Please see further down in this newsletter for information. 

I am well aware many members are feeling the anger within the community.  If there is anything we can do to help with this please let me know.  I continue to talk to the media, but they still seem hell bent on making forestry the scapegoat, with little understanding.  There are glimpses of some media starting to see another side but it is very slow, however I will not give up trying to get the reality of the geography and geology understood.  

Now more than ever networking is important.  Keep an eye on your fellow foresters and check in.  Feel free to provide views in this newsletter via members voice and please support your institute.  There are many people working on behalf of all members in their free time.  

Thanks 

James

INSTITUTE UPDATE

NZIF AGM and CPD - 08 July 2023

Because this year we have a combined ANZIF conference in Australia from 15-18 October in Coolangatta, Gold Coast, NZIF need to have an AGM before the ANZIF conference to meet the requirements of our Rules.  It is planned to also provide 2-3 sessions of CPD and the Awards Dinner at the same time.

The planned venue is the Wellington Club, 88 The Terrace, Wellington.

The draft programme is:

9am - Registration and coffee/morning tea

9.30am - 11am First CPD session

11am - 12.30pm Second CPD session

12.30pm - 1.30pm Lunch

1.30pm -3pm Third CPD session

3pm - 3.30pm Afternoon tea

3.30pm - 5pm AGM

5pm - 6pm Networking refreshments

6pm Awards Dinner

The Wellington Club has accommodation. 

7 Queen rooms at $195.00 / night and 3 King rooms at $225.00 / night.  Reservations need to be made by contacting Peter Hill ( 021 965 266  or pjint@outlook.com )

I would appreciate any ideas for timely / appropriate CPD sessions.  I have had a suggestion of a session on Mental Health management, this has been used by Future Foresters and comes recommended.  Your thoughts please?

This event will be updated as the programme firms up. When the event is finalised it will open for registration

Peter Hill

Vice President

From the Registrar

APPLICATION FOR REGISTERED MEMBER

The following Members have applied to become a Registered Members:

• Boon Tan of Rotorua
• Zhibin (Denny) Du of Auckland
• Campbell Harvey of Christchurch

SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION FOR REGISTERED MEMBER

The following Members are now a Registered Members:

• Euan Mason of Christchurch
• Sebastian Klinger of Rotorua
• John Eckford of Auckland
• Tim Ross of Auckland

NOTICE OF 5 YEAR REGISTRATION REVIEW

The following Members are due for their 5-Year review of registration in 2023 and have not yet submitted their application;

• Steven Croskery of Masterton
• Erin Jeffrey of Rotorua
• Gareth Buchanan of Rotorua
• Julian Kohn of Gisborne
• Angus Malcolm of Richmond
• Kirsten Stuart of Christchurch
• Brett Gilmore of Napier
• Rene Weterings of Taupo
• Simon Rapley of Taupo
• Jeremy Waldegrave of Auckland
• Dennis Neilson of Rotorua

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 (27 March 2023) 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

27 March 2023

FORESTRY EVENTS

NZ School of Forestry turns 50!

The NZ School of Forestry, Te Kura Ngahere, will hold a celebration mid-April for its 50^th anniversary (the actual anniversary was back in 2020, but the event fell victim to the early days of COVID!). “It is an exciting milestone for us, we have produced many quality graduates and completed a lot of great research work” says Prof Bruce Manley, who has been the Head of the School for 18 years. Over the last 50 years the school has seen more than 1300 undergraduates through our doors, as well as 337 graduate students. Thirty years ago the Forest Engineering degree was added to the program, and 175 engineers have graduated to support our NZ forest industry. We can boast NZ sports representatives, Members of Parliament, leaders in the forest industry and graduates who have ventured further afield, and those who have returned “home” to teach the next generation.

For further information and registration details please visit our website.

Forestry 50th Anniversary | University of Canterbury

Prof Rien Visser

Director of Studies, Forest Engineering

School of Forestry, University of Canterbury

Zoom event - ProSilva webinar. 

Thursday 30th March 16:00 - 17:30 CET (15:00 - 16:30 WET, 17:00-18:30 EET) via Zoom

"Who will determine the forest of the future ?" - Discussion about interest of industry, nature conservation, administration, hunters lobby, forest organizations, (in)dependent forest owners.   

Tāne's Tree Trust is a member of ProSilva - if you can make the early time, the topic is interesting and very relevant to our present situation.

Registration: for online registration go to the Registration Form, only those registered will receive the link.

MEMBERS VOICE

The contribution in members voice from Andrew McEwen last week struck a chord with me. As many will know I have been involved with the NZIF team working with MPI on development of the Registered Forest Advisor (RFA) scheme. This, like much legislation being introduced over the past 4-5 years, has involved countless paid bureaucrats and largely unpaid industry representatives including NZIF members haring around trying to find and then make sense of the problem that this legislation is trying to correct.

To say that this has been a positive and constructive experience has stretched my tolerance of tyrannical sadism to previously unheard-of heights.

Members will be aware of the initial offer in principle from the DG MPI, of delegation of functions of the Forest Authority and to assist by working with MPI to build the required capability. This appeared to be progressing well with regular meetings between the NZIF working party and officials and resulted in good early outcomes particularly regarding the proposed code of ethics, now formalised, and annual registration cost concessions for NZIF registered members.

It is fair to say that there were, and still are differences of opinion on the important CPD and practice standards components of the proposed RFA scheme. To consider that these two important components of any registration scheme can be prescribed and mandated by a government agency is patently absurd in my view. That being so, we were informed later in 2022 that this would be addressed in a consultation process to be undertaken by PWC. At that point all constructive development work that the NZIF working party thought it was part of, ceased. Aside from periodic communication from officials, usually after being prompted, NZIF has not been accorded the courtesy of an explanation, acknowledgement of prior work, or indeed what cross crediting or referencing NZIF members in the RFA scheme actually means.

The contribution from Andrew supports my view that the CPD and practice standards consultation takes much of the NZIF registration scheme procedures developed over 60 years by visionary NZIF members committed to a robust professional registration scheme and seeks wider feedback. So far, great, and supported by a very good submission by NZIF, MPI officials have all the required information they might need. Hopefully that information is interpreted and used in the development of outcomes from the consultation process as the industry has signalled it should be.

I note with concern however that the consultation process includes some information on “pre-consultation” with others, but nowhere is there any acknowledgment of this having occurred with NZIF. In fact, the only reference to NZIF in the consultation document is the valuation standard as an example of a practice standard. Currently I am also unaware of any structured follow-up with NZIF as part of the submissions process. Does this mean that NZIF views and submissions have been diminished in on-going development of the RFA scheme and will our scheme, as we have been led to believe, continue to be able to operate as a largely autonomous scheme for NZIF members, albeit probably with some required changes?

Finally, in support of both our President and registration board calls for NZIF members to seek registration under our scheme, my hope is that we will see a significant rise in numbers. The strength and influence of the NZIF registered member scheme will only grow and prosper if the noise and strength of viable membership numbers is heard. Having a larger block of our registered members recognised as such in the RFA scheme will assist in countering unwelcome and potentially unworkable changes to the RFA as it develops.

While noting that our scheme is not for all members, the fact that it is well established and proven and importantly, is voluntary, demonstrates a level of commitment to professionalism that exceeds that of one where members are legally required to register.

John Schrider

RECENT FORESTRY ARTICLES

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/131519045/government-crashes-major-climate-policy-and-creates-290-million-hole?cid=app-iPhone

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/300830596/essential-service-how-green-space-shrank-as-cities-grew?cid=app-iPhone

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/17/alarming-rate-of-mountain-forest-loss-threat-to-alpine-wildlife-aoe?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/the-economist/saving-the-worlds-remaining-rainforests-would-be-a-bargain

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/131500845/company-boosts-production-of-wood-fuel-made-from-forestry-waste?cid=app-iPhone

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/131574204/morgan-godfery-dont-blame-coasters-for-slash-blame-successive-government-policies?cid=app-iPhone

https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/climate-change/fear-of-ets-failure-spurs-review

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300836705/pinning-blame-for-slash-solely-on-forestry-sector-a-modernday-witchhunt?cid=app-iPhone

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/486581/special-permission-given-for-forestry-vehicles-to-access-flood-damaged-road

https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/climate-change/fear-of-ets-failure-spurs-review

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/486652/tolaga-bay-forestry-waste-inquiry-it-s-not-just-a-mess-it-s-dangerous

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/21/urban-food-forest-dunbar-spring-tucson-arizona-climate-crisis-drought?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/486645/businesses-currently-encouraged-to-offset-emissions-by-planting-trees-economist

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/486345/forestry-company-says-it-s-not-responsible-for-damage-to-gisborne-water-pipeline

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/486279/forest-slash-on-west-coast-radar

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/486178/stuart-nash-demoted-to-bottom-of-cabinet-now-on-his-final-warning-hipkins

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/485990/niwa-scientist-in-no-doubt-climate-change-behind-cyclone-gabrielle-s-intensity