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Local body forest investment pays big dividend

29 September 2015

A joint forestry venture between Palmerston North city and Manawatu district, named after former Palmerston North deputy mayor Gordon Kear has returned more than $4.3 million in profits to the ratepayers, and is still giving.

Prestressed timber technology to be used in Canada

14 September 2015

An innovative Christchurch start-up has signed a lucrative agreement with a Canadian company for its laminated timber technology. The deal could see a product developed by Prestressed Timber after the Canterbury earthquakes used in buildings throughout North America.

Members sought for forest levy board

7 September 2015

Nominations are open for members of the Forest Growers Levy Trust board. There are vacancies for two members representing owners of large forests and one representing owners of smaller forests.

Council resistance to Forestry NES 'puzzling'

29 August 2015

It is acknowledged that the recent high-intensity rainstorms have triggered slips within recently harvested areas of plantation forest. Newly planted trees and decaying logging slash have been deposited into streams and on to beaches on the East Coast, Wairoa and Northern Hawkes Bay.

Forestry NES is about protecting the environment

13 August 2015

The National Environmental Standard on Plantation Forestry is about rules for planting, managing and harvested trees that are aligned to the actual level of erosion, wilding pine or fish spawning. Not on which side of some arbitrary local government boundary you are on, environment minister Nick Smith told the Environmental Defence Society's conference in Auckland.

New NZIF fellows and forester of the year

The New Zealand forester of the year and four new fellows were announced at the NZ Institute of Forestry annual meeting yesterday.

New Forests buys Flight Group's Marlborough estate

6 August 2015

New Forests is to purchase approximately 4,200 hectares of freehold land and radiata plantations in Marlborough from the Flight Group. Completion of the purchase is subject to approval by the Overseas Investment Office 

Where safety is central to forest work

29 July 2015

For Les Bak, forest safety is about respect, sharing knowledge, keeping it simple and getting workmates to look out for each other.  It's a formula that's working. In the 10 years since he joined Nelson Forests, productivity per man has jumped 30 per cent and the lost time injury rate has fallen 80 percent.

New Forest Safety Council meets

29 July 2015

The newly created Forest Industry Safety Council (FISC) held its first meeting on Tuesday. The council was a key recommendation of the Independent Safety Review Panel that released its findings last year after investigating the industry's appalling accident record.