New Zealand forestry in 2050 - a backwards look into the future

Authors: Peter Clark
Publication: New Zealand Journal of Forestry, Volume N.Z.J.For. 2017, Issue N.Z.J.For. 62(4) 2018, pp 3-4, Jan 2018
Publisher: New Zealand Institute of Forestry

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Abstract: It is the year 2050. NZIF President Thomas Berg, whose grandfather was recognised for services to forestry in 2004 with an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit, is interviewed on the journey of the forestry sector over the last 30 years. Thomas Berg is the grandson of Peter Berg ONZM who was President of the NZ Institute of Forestry from 1998 to 2002. In the year 2017 Thomas was 19 years old and studying IT Engineering at Victoria University. So why is forestry such a major land use for our non-arable productive land? I recall when I was a teenager that the forestry sector did not have its own ministry and that lots of landowners did not pay much attention to the importance of trees on their farms. Of course, we got our own Minister in Cabinet when Labour/NZ First/ Greens took power in the 2017 election and separated both forestry and fishing out from the Ministry for Primary Industries.

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