BREAKING OUT
Some 55,000 hectares of Lakes District Mahu Whanua high country is earmarked for native beech reforestation. Planting seeds rather than cuttings will quicken things up. Fungi play a fascinating role and there will be opportunities for skilled forestry workers.
NELSON FORESTS HAS REBRANDED ITSELF AS ONEFORTYONE New Zealand and restarted activities in its forest estate and Marlborough’s Kaituna Sawmill to help fuel the region’s economic recovery.
The company has more than 80,000 productive hectares of plantations in the Nelson-Marlborough region as well as the Kaituna Sawmill, near Blenheim.
It employs around 120 people full time and about 300 contractors, producing 1.2 million cubic metres of logs and 55,000 cubic metres of timber annually.
Australian company OneFortyOne purchased Nelson Forests and the sawmill in 2018 and in March this year, Nelson Forests adopted the OneFortyOne brand – though the rebranding project began before the coronavirus pandemic emerged.
Over 50% of the timber from the Nelson Forests estate is delivered to the domestic market and 60% of its timber customers are Australasian.
“OneFortyOne’s new brand encouraged us to think about wood fibre, rather than just logs which means we are ready to think about innovative products that meet future customer needs,” says Executive General
Manager NZ, Lees Seymour.
The company has begun replanting 2000 hectares of hill country in the top of the South Island, signalling its ongoing confidence in the forestry industry and delivering high quality wood products to the domestic market, he says: “What this means for our business is strong integration with the domestic economy and other New Zealand businesses that support this country’s recovery, resilience, and growth. It also means we have an existing clear line of sight and deep, functional relationships between those who grow our trees, those who harvest them, those who mill them, and those who market our wood fibre products.”
However, Mr Seymour says that the export market has an important role to play in terms of spreading risk due to cyclical downturns in the domestic market.
“It diversifies customer opportunities, offers alternative markets for products that are not in demand from our domestic customers and provides a channel for salvage from fire or pests, as well as securing ongoing job opportunities,” he says.
Worker safety, environmental guardianship, and community engagement are also priorities: “As an example, we protect the more than 9000 hectares of indigenous vegetation reserves within the plantation, including wetlands, and other forest areas that provide habitat to New Zealand’s fauna and invest more than $200,000 in community projects every year.”
Mr Seymour believes that as the wider forestry industry approaches challenges posed by COVID-19 it can look to the lessons businesses such as OneFortyOne New Zealand have learned over the years: “There is a lot of experience and knowledge in our industry that can be constructively supported by work on domestic market development. Now is the time to get alongside one another, share our expertise, and work together to make the most of our industry as a key provider of economic recovery and growth.”
NZL