8 April 2013

The New Zealand Dryland Forests Initiative will get $216,000 of Sustainable Farming Fund money towards a three-year programme worth more than half a million dollars. 

This is on top of a $399,000 grant in 2010 to pay for planting breeding populations of durable eucalypt species, allowing the project to extend into dryland areas from Bay of Plenty to North Canterbury.

Marlborough-based project manager Paul Millen said the "fantastic" news would see the initiative extended to new landowners and regions, with a focus on species-specific management of the existing and new blocks. The initiative aims to establish forests of genetically improved durable eucalypts in New Zealand's driest regions. 

"The past five years have seen us establish over 120,000 trees in research trials from Bay of Plenty to North Canterbury. The key to this project is in helping our land owners and growers get optimal success from the trees. 

"We want growers to know and understand that they are very different to managing pine trees."

The project will look at the potential of the eucalypt species on various sites to produce pole and post wood from short rotations. One of the aims was to create hardwood posts to replace CCA-treated pine in New Zealand vineyards and orchards. 

The initiative also wanted to diversify New Zealand's timber supply, making high-quality durable hardwood available locally in place of some of the $270 million of hardwoods imported each year. 

The initiative's founding partners include the Marlborough Research Centre, New Zealand School of Forestry (University of Canterbury), Vineyard Timbers and Proseed NZ.

Source: Story by Cathie Bell, Marlborough Express. To read the full story, click here.