26 August 2013

Every Marlborough ratepayer has a reason to be pleased about the current rate of return from logging, says district councillor Francis Maher in an opinion piece in the Marlborough Express.

"We are all shareholders in some big forestry blocks in this region and the returns help defray the cost of our rates. Forestry and logging generate a large share of Marlborough's economic wealth and every Marlborough ratepayer has a stake in those returns, through the forestry blocks held by the Marlborough District Council."

Put it into more direct terms: the returns from ratepayer-owned logging helped pay for the upgrade of Picton's sewerage system in the 1990s and the upgrade of Renwick's sewerage in the early 2000s.

It funded the feasibility studies that allowed us to get the Southern Valleys Irrigation Scheme up and running, it provided building block funding for the Marlborough Convention Centre and it will hugely subsidise planned water supply upgrades for Renwick and the Awatere in the not-too-distant future.

About 3000 planted hectares of pine forests, most of it between Blenheim and Picton, will net us all about $2 million this financial year.

But forestry is not a short-term, get-rich-quick investment. Logging prices go up and go down like any commodity. Forests also cost money to manage - even when trees aren't being felled. And of course there are particular environmental challenges around forestry.

However, on balance, returns should further improve in the future (providing log prices hold), as the council's forests enter their second tree crop rotation. Costs incurred in the first rotation include the establishment of an extensive network of roads and skid sites.

Forest estates are also a recreational asset offering large spaces for trampers and walkers, cyclists and horse trekkers. Hunting and firewood gathering are permitted on obtaining permission.

Source: Marlborough Express. To read the full story, click here