Jones waiting to prove sceptics wrong over trees

Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has no doubt that the sceptics who don’t believe a billion trees will be planted over the next decade will one day be eating their words.

“We have a strong base to build on, with the commercial forestry sector projected to plant half a billion trees in the next 10 years, and we’re already seeing private landowners, government agencies, NGOs, iwi, regional councils, nurseries and the private sector working hard to plant the other half a billion,” Mr Jones said.

“Planting will be lower in the initial years, due to natural seedling and land constraints, but will then ramp up quickly.”

Policies were being developed to avoid unintended environmental or economic outcomes, land was being secured, seedlings were being grown, private investment was being stimulated and infrastructure was being developed.

“All of this combined will see us go from 55 million trees this year to 70 million in 2019, to 90 million in 2020. From there we will be aiming for 110 million a year over the next seven years of the programme,” he said.

“This year almost 7.3 million trees, about half of which will be indigenous species, will be planted through various Ministry for Primary Industries schemes.

“We want to enable the planting of a mix of permanent and harvestable forestry, using both exotic and native tree species on private, public and Maori-owned land. Species will include pinus radiata, redwood, totara, eucalyptus, douglas fir and ma¯nuka.

“This is certainly about commercial crops, but it is also about environmental, regional and other gains as well.

“We are finalising an agreement with Landcorp to plant 1 million trees this winter and another million next year, about 2000ha in total, and a review of its portfolio to identify any other potential land for planting. Landcorp are progressive land managers, and have long seen the commercial and environmental benefits of forestry, with 10,000ha planted already. We expect to be able to make more announcements about where trees will be planted this year in the coming months.”

The Government was also inviting applications to the Afforestation Grants Scheme (AGS), which provided $1300 per hectare for new forests of between five and 300 hectares.

“I encourage landowners who are thinking about forestry to apply for grants through the AGS. We want to exhaust the full $6.5 million of available funding,” he said.

“Forestry is a great choice. It will help landowners to diversify their income, invest in their family’s future and improve productivity, as well as help them play their part in economic development and meeting environmental goals, such as tackling erosion,” he added.

Applications to the AGS close on May 14. (Go to www.mpi.govt.nz/ags) for details.

Mr Jones said the planting programme would benefit the provinces, the environment and the people, boosting the forestry sector and creating jobs and training opportunities in provinces that had been doing it tough for some time.

“Our climate change objectives will be advanced and our use of natural resources will be more sustainable and productive,” he said.