PRESIDENTS COLUMN

It is pleasing to see a members voice comment in this weeks newsletter. Please keep them coming. Debate between members grows us all and as previously mentioned it is the best vehicle for council to understand what members expect of us.

Your council, Raewyn and Jay are working hard preparing for the AGM and CPD session prior to the AGM. I encourage as many of you as possible to attend both the CPD and AGM. The AGM is your chance to give direct feedback to the council and to suggest improvements or changes in direction. There will be some motions to vote on which will be sent to all members this week. You really need to be there to vote. The CPD and AGM will be held at the Miramar Golf course (right next door to the Wellington Airport) on Saturday 26th September.

We will be making our awards of Forester of the Year, Kirk Horn and Sustainability cup at the AGM as we have no conference this year. We will also be announcing any new Fellows. For this reason alone it would be good for as many of you to be there as possible. The awardees are well deserved and it would be nice to have as many members as possible at the AGM to support the awardees.

The CPD sessions will not only get you up to speed on items such as the Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Bill, but will also include a section on code of conduct and have asked MPI to give an update on the ETS.

Another date for you to be aware of is Tuesday 6th October. We have organised for a backbencher type Q&A session with all of the Forestry spokespersons. We have representation from Labour, National, New Zealand First, Greens, ToP and awaiting a response from ACT. This event is to be held in the Backbencher pub and I encourage you to come along, bring a mate and have a beer and a meal. The event is free to attend, but beer and meals are paid for by you. I have promised the representatives at least 50 people and closer to 100 so round up anyone you know with a forestry interest and come on down.

We want the format to be casual and have encouraged the representatives to stay on and have a beer with us. We will ask each representative to give a 5-10 min speech and then open to the floor for any questions, so please make sure you come with questions ready. This event is open to anyone so encourage non-members to attend. We have notified FICA, FFA, FOA, WPMA. Beware though, I will encourage non-members to join NZIF.

We are looking at ways to allow attendance at the AGM and the Q&A night via Zoom. At this stage we have not got this 100% sorted. Keep an eye on your inbox and future newsletters for confirmation if we can do this.

Finally I would like to acknowledge FICA, WPMA, FOA, NZFFA, FISC, FTMA, FF, NZFWSF, LTSC, NZTIF for coming together in very short notice and working together to produce two letters to Ministers (and MPs), communicating the sectors need to continue working at Level 4. While it now looks like L4 may not occur in the immediate future, this was a great example of how the whole sector could come together and within 24 hours agree to a letter and distribute it to over 34 MP’s. I often hear the sector is fragmented, and I agree at times it is. But if a number of us hold regular informal communication and catch ups it is much easier for us to work together quickly when required as we understand the issues and problems facing each group. I do not feel we would have been able to produce this letter in such a short period of time without the informal weekly catch ups attended by many of the above groups. As our PM has shown us, clear, regular and candid communication enables progress.

I look forward to hearing from you in future members voice or directly. Remember the Institute is yours, it is up to you to guide it.

Have a safe week.

 Thanks

James

MEMBERS VOICE

Kia ora koutou

In his President’s Column in the 10 August Newsletter James lamented the lack of member’s ideas and posed a long list of issues which might be addressed.  This followed his 21 July Column about “rifts, splits and anger” amongst members, and who might bring the various forestry sector groups together when required.  I can think of a few of my younger colleagues who could do that but I’m a bit out of touch with other leading lights.

I prefer the revised Newsletter format after the long-winded “world forestry” news we had before.  I think we should largely stick to our domestic knitting, bearing in mind Chris Perley’s plea for embracing the bigger picture of resources and people.

For many years John Purey- Cust and I as rural recipients of the nationally distributed “Farmers Weekly” tussled to win the “Best letter of the week” for “sticking the knife” into foolish farming practices and opinions.  I won 3 pocket knives for letters championing forestry in the face of silly farming criticism.  There have been some very good forestry articles in recent Farmers Weekly’s however from Forest Owners, Farm Foresters and others.  Nothing from NZIF.  On the other hand “Rural News” of 11 August has an article “The ugly side of forestry clearly exposed for all to see” by a John Jackson, farmer of Te Akau.  It is illustrated with a graphic photo of logs and slash in Tolaga Bay.  Johnson has an Ag. Commerce degree from Lincoln and a BA (Philosophy. Politics, Economics) from Oxford!  He is quite sceptical of forestry.  Rather than NZIF take on precious and biased outfits like “50 Shades of Green” we need to get regular and helpful forestry stuff into these farmer’s newspapers.

Our August Journal of Forestry has an excellent Editorial, articles and “Last word”.  I was most impressed with the Hawkes Bay papers.  The note from Hawkes Bay Regional Council CEO James Palmer should be read by all farmers, though I doubt that conservative H B farmers would take that lying down.  Likewise the credentials and papers of authors Clark, MacGillivray, Tither, Taylor, Harnett, Urlich and Page should be shared with farmers too.  Some of Chris Perley’s “pearls of wisdom” might be too high brow for some farmers but we need to help them sort out land-use practices.

I’ll write again sometime and will hope to repeat one of my favourite whakatauki, “Mā pango, mā whero, ka oti te mahi”

Ka huri

Dave Field, Rotorua

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Have your say!

Have something to say? comments? or just want to exchange idea's, then send an email to admin@nzif.org.nz 

INSTITUTE UPDATE

From the Registrar

APPLICATION FOR REGISTERED MEMBER STATUS

The following Member has applied to become a Registered Member:

• Grant Rowe of Mangawhai

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 (24 August 2020) of the notice in this newsletter, specifying the grounds for the objection.

SUCCESSFUL 5 YEAR REGISTRATION REVIEW

Continuing Registration:

• Allan Laurie of Waimate
• Brian Johnson of Auckland
• John Hornby of Rotorua (2 years)

REGISTRATION REVIEWS 2020

The following members are due for 5-year review of their status as a Registered Member during 2020 and have not yet applied;

• Peter Brown
• Brian Rawley

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Council Member

Bridget studied Forestry Science at the University of Canterbury, before heading to Rotorua where she worked for Fletcher Challenge Forests as part of the forest management team. She then moved to Wellington where she has worked for a number of government agencies including the Statistics NZ, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and, her current employer, the Ministry for the Environment, where she has worked on climate change and freshwater management. She has been a member of the NZIF since 2002 and thinks the main roles of the Institute are to advocate for our sector and to provide members access to information and context about our operating environment to use for decision making.

Council responsibilities are: Membership, Website

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Latest NZ Journal of Forestry is On-line

Find latest journal here

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Changed Address?

It is important NZIF has up-to-date contact details for members so we can stay in touch and keep you informed of news, events and our journal.  If you have changed your residential and/or postal address, or any other contact details, please let the office know. You can email us at admin@nzif.org.nz

FORESTRY EVENTS

NZIF Annual CPD workshops in conjunction with AGM 

We will be running 2 x CPD workshops on Saturday 26^th September along with our AGM at the Miramar Golf Links conference rooms.  Starting at 10am.  Further details around the CPD, costs etc to be announced asap.  Numbers will be limited.

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Maximising Benefits of Mechanical Processing

Date: Thursday 27^th August 2020

Time: 5:30 - 7:30pm

Venue: Room O3, Toi Ohomai Forestry School Building, Rotorua

There will be drinks and nibbles from 5:30pm and the speaker will start at approximately 6pm.

We would like to extend a warm welcome to the next NZIF Central North Island local section evening. Hancocks Forest Management NZ’s Harvesting Forester, Thornton Campbell will present on “Maximising Benefits of Mechanical Processing.”  

For multiple reasons mechanised log processing has been increasingly popular over the last two decades. However these systems are not without issues and difficulties, resulting in  maximising value being an ongoing process.

The study focused on identifying and reducing the number of out of spec logs produced direct from the processor, with the aim of increasing the value available from mechanised systems. It was conducted by Hancock Forest Management NZ in 2019-2020 and captured three rounds of 27 individual crews, encompassing over 120,000 logs.

The study was a success, with three key failure areas and causes identified. The identification of these issues, and appropriate training resulted in failure rates decreasing from 7.4% to 4.6% to a last assessment level of 3.3%. This has had health and safety, production and value recovery benefits, and the continuation of this program aims to further maximise the value available from mechanical processing.

Please note; if level 2 is extended we will be postponing the event to a date tbc. If we go into level 1, then it will go ahead as planned?
 

Please RSVP to Hazel Swanson  Hazel.Swanson@tll.co.nz 

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Institute of Chartered Foresters: Introducing CPD September

We are excited to bring you #CPDSeptember, giving you the opportunity to access a wide-range of free, daily, online content for the entire month of September.

You can enjoy a number of live online events, or you can watch them back on the Members' Area at your leisure. We'll also be signposting relevant articles and papers to enhance your knowledge. 

Bookings will open on Monday 10 August and we we hope that you can take advantage of what #CPDSeptember has to offer. Read more

IN THE NEWS

Forestry company appeals fine of $124,700, claiming it was unfairly singled out 

A forestry company that claimed it had been unfairly singled out for its contribution to flood damage near Gisborne in 2018 storms has appealed a $124,700 fine.Read more

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Deforestation

Deforestation is rising sharply in the Brazilian Amazon, in large part because of policies and actions by Brazilian President Bolsonaro.  The leading journal Science has just published three brief Letters that highlight critical elements of the deforestation crisis and discuss actions to help stem rampant forest loss. 

The three Letters are attached in a single PDF: 

1. Ferrante, L., and P. M. Fearnside.  2020.  The Amazon’s road to deforestation.  Science 369: 634.
2. de Oliveira, G., et al.  2020.  Smoke pollution’s impacts in Amazonia.  Science 369: 634-635.
3. Nazareno, A. G., and W. F. Laurance.  2020.  Investors can help rein in Amazon deforestation.  Science 369:635-636.  Read more