9 October 2012
They were planted initially to stop hillside erosion and then they were seen as a way of bankrolling the city's costly wastewater treatment scheme but either way trees harvested in a joint Wanganui local body forestry enterprise has earned $11.6 million in the past 15 years.
Those figures are the latest available from the forestry holdings of which the Wanganui District Council holds 97 per cent. Ruapehu and South Taranaki district councils hold the remaining 3 per cent, according to the Wanganui Chronicle.The original involvement in forestry was through the former Wanganui County Council's plantings at Kaiwhaiki and Wanganui City Council's at Waitahinga.
Today the forest estate covers 1066 ha and consists mainly of pinus radiata but there are small areas of macrocarpa, eucalyptus and acacia.
Councillor Nicki Higgie chairs the council's joint forestry committee and she said the main driver for the then Wanganui City Council was the impending costs of the city's wastewater scheme.
"The councillors saw it as an opportunity to gain government funds through the Forest Encouragement Loan scheme which allowed a loan of up to $1200 per hectare at 4.5 per cent interest until the trees were harvested," Mrs Higgie said.
Those initial parties to the agreement were the Wanganui City Council, Waitotara, Wanganui, Waimarino and Rangitikei county councils, along with the Raetihi, Ohakune, Taihape and Patea borough councils, and the Rangitikei Wanganui Catchment Board.
After local government reforms of 1991 and a series of amalgamations, several smaller holdings, such as the coastal soil conservation forest at Nukumaru, were melded into one management structure. That 43 ha forest at Nukumaru was previously part of a huge area of exposed sand country.
Mrs Higgie said apart from the land use initiatives, there was a high component of encouraging employment and many schemes were used ranging from the PEP scheme through to becoming NZQA registered.
"Many years were spent training forestry workers, many who are still employed locally in the harvesting of the district's forests today," she said.
Rowan McGregor, the council's property manager, told the Chronicle that as at June 30, 2011, the tree crop in the forests was worth $3.9 million and the land valued at just under $3 million.
In terms of current harvesting operations there was 200ha in the Tauwhare forest that was being completed as well as the salvage operation at Nukumaru Domain Board land which suffered severe wind damage in early March.
The next forest coming on stream is the 120ha McNab Forest on the Paraparas and harvesting was expected to start in 2014.
Then there's the vexing question about carbon credits in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Mr McGregor said the district council embarked on registering its pre-1990 forests for carbon credits, with the first allocation received in October 2011. Some forests have still not been completed because of inconsistencies with titles.
"The peak of prices for credits before our council received its first allocation was $20 per tonne but that had collapsed since then down to $6.50.
"No credits have been sold and there is concern that the Government is trying to renege on its second allocation due early next year," he said.
In the meantime, the council has agreed to examine the possibility of selling a proportion of the ETS units should they get back to $15. To that end it had sought professional advice on the issues driving the ETS market and was prepared to take a medium-term position to the sale of the units.
"We're also looking at the possibility of using the credits to help attract new business to Wanganui or to lease them," he said.
By John Maslin, Wanganui Chronicle. To read the full story, click here.