Forestry deal for the north

The Government is set to announce it has struck a deal to plant four million trees on Nga¯ ti Hine land in the far North.

The Nga¯ ti Hine Forestry Trust has about 5600 hectares of land centred around the small Northland towns of Moerewa and Kawakawa. Its assets are valued at more than $28 million.

It’s understood Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones will announce a deal between the Crown and trust to plant about four million trees on 4000 hectares of land at a cost of at least $6m to the Crown.

Asked about the deal, Jones, who is also the forestry minister, said ‘‘an announcement is imminent’’.

After launching the Government’s one billion tree scheme, Jones said it would be a ‘‘big boost for the forestry sector and will create more jobs and training opportunities to provinces that have been doing it tough for a while now’’.

The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF), which the Government has committed $1 billion a year to, has $61.7m set aside for initiatives including forestry.

Nga¯ti Hine is a hapu of the country’s largest iwi, Nga¯puhi, which ministers Kelvin Davis and Peeni Henare descend from.

Jones and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters are both from Nga¯ puhi but they don’t belong to Nga¯ ti Hine.

Henare until recently was on the Nga¯ ti Hine Forestry Trust and former NZ First MP Pita Paraone is a current trustee.

As part of the forestry deal with the Crown, the costs of roading, planting and greater infrastructure will be covered.