"This strategy marks a way forward for an industry that suffered years of broken promises and neglect under the previous Labour Government," says Mr Carter. "The aim to have Crown-owned West Coast forestry break even within five years is huge progress, given the mess that this Government inherited."

The release of the strategy follows a full review of the forests and supporting industry undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Crown Forestry unit. This was on the back of the transfer of the former Timberlands West Coast forests to the Crown in January 2009 after the State Owned Enterprise's Board advised the previous Government it could no longer operate profitably. "Currently 65 percent of logs from West Coast forests leave the area unprocessed. The strategy aims to improve that situation so that jobs and profit can be retained on the Coast," says Mr Carter.

"Crown Forestry is required to maintain a fully commercial focus in its forestry activities, so there will need to be changes to the way forestry processing happens at present."
The strategy includes improving financial returns through increased on-Coast sales of unpruned logs, rationalisation of the estate to remove the most remote and least productive areas, and investigating outright sale of these forests in conjunction with landowner Ngai Tahu, which has a right of first refusal."This may well mean some rationalisation of sawmilling occurs, but the overall aim is to make West Coast forestry economically sustainable, preserving livelihoods in the long term," Mr Carter says.

Source: NZ Government media release