Field day looks at forestry planting
Farmers and other land owners are invited to learn about trees with the potential to grow more profit than pinus radiata at a field day at Kerikeri on Sunday.
Dean Satchell, recently named the North Island Farm Forester of the Year, will conduct the field day at the Horowai Trust’s 150ha plantation forest, comprising radiata, eucalypts and cypress.
Mr Satchell, the immediate past president of the NZ Farm Forestry Association, who has a tree nursery at Kerikeri and is a consultant on sustainable land management, has been involved with the Horowai Trust since its inception more than 20 years ago. He is passionate about forestry and, in particular highvalue species and specialty timbers.
Field day visitors would be guided through an innovative forest enterprise that operated outside the square, he said, with the focus on lessons learned during the pioneering journey toward high-value timber production.
With the Government’s One Billion Trees programme, along with the Northland Regional Council’s push for more tree planting for environmental outcomes, especially on erosionprone land, Northland land owners were showing renewed interest in planting.
“This is an opportunity for them to see what’s happening at the cutting edge,” he said.
Northland had a great environment for trees, and highvalue species that did not grow in other regions could flourish in the North. Diversifying the region’s forest estate also presented an opportunity for economic growth, but it needed to be done right.
“It’s all about getting the right tree species in the right location,” Mr Satchell added, explaining that genetic improvement over the past 50 years had focused on radiata, and little knowledge was available to land owners about naturally durable and high-value alternative plantation species as an economic land use.
“I set about to change that 25 years ago with research trials and plantings aimed at improving our knowledge and providing options that are profitable land uses,” he said.
“The winners for me have been some species of durable eucalypt and cypresses. They grow fast and produce valuable timber, with ready markets. These species do not compete with radiata pine, but provide appearance timbers, with natural properties such as strength and durability.”
The learning curve had not just been on selecting species, but also growing regimes customised to the species.
“Doing it wrong ends up a waste of time and money,” he added.
“I don’t want to see the same mistakes I made repeated again and again. We need to collectively move forward and produce a plantation forest resource at the right scale to market at a premium. This means collective action.”
The tour of the Horowai Trust forest, at 759 Purerua Rd, Kerikeri, will begin at 10am. Participants will need stout footwear, lunch and raincoats, and must know that at times they will be near beehives.