The total land area of New Zealand is 27,053,000 hectares, slightly larger than the United Kingdom and slightly smaller than Japan. As temperate island nations these three have a reasonable degree of geophysical similarity. However, New Zealand's markedly lower population density, one-twentieth of that of the United Kingdom and almost one-thirtieth of that of Japan, means generally less pressure is applied to New Zealand land and natural systems in meeting the variety of demands of its population. Nonetheless, settlement by Maori and later colonization by Europeans have had profound impacts on the pattern of land use in New Zealand. In its pre-human state, New Zealand had almost 80 percent forest cover. One-third of this forest was cleared during an estimated thousand years of pre-European settlement. A further third has been cleared in the past 150 years following European settlement.
The arrival of Europeans saw New Zealand rapidly converted into an economy and landscape dominated by agriculture. New Zealand became the "food basket of Britain", and this role remained pre-eminent until Britain entered the European Common Market in the early-1970's. The past 25 years, since the dissipation of the British market, have seen considerable diversification in the New Zealand economy. While agriculture remains the dominant land-use, raising sheep is no longer the staple of the New Zealand economy. A range of new agricultural and horticultural products have been established in New Zealand ranging from kiwifruit and deer-farming, to orchids and alpacas. Tourism is now New Zealand's largest foreign-exchange earner, followed by dairying. In 1996 forestry has drawn level with the meat industry to become the equal third largest source of foreign exchange.
Nonetheless, as Figure 1 shows, more than 50 percent of the land remains in agricultural and pastoral uses. The closed natural forests, a reasonable proportion of which are virgin forest, cover 23 percent of the land, including particularly large tracts in the west and south of the South Island. The planted forests presently cover around 5 percent of land, and "Other Land"; including urban land, mountains, scrublands and other non-pastoral wooded or grass lands, rivers, lakes and swamps; makes up the balance.
In the absence of a major natural disaster it is unlikely that there will be enormous changes in these land use proportions over the next 15 years. However, some trends are likely to dominate. Harvesting in natural forests is now controlled and in most, by law, must be on a sustainable basis. Consequently, the natural forest area should not decline and some areas of marginal agricultural land, in the process of regenerating into natural forest, will mature sufficiently to enter this class. Planted forests are likely to continue to expand with scenarios of up to 100,000 hectares of new forest plantings being touted. A recent survey proposed an average level of planting of around 60,000 hectares through to 2010 and this probably forms an optimistic bound. By 2010 it would be realistic to expect planted forests to cover around 7 percent of New Zealand's land area. This expansion will be at the expense of both Pasture and Arable Land and Other Land classes. By 2010 it should be expected that almost all potentially productive land (in the Other Land class) to be either in agricultural or forestry use. Future expansion by one of these sectors will necessarily be at the expense of the other.
Figure 1: Land use in New Zealand (1994)
Source: NZMOF
New Zealand's forest resource can be conveniently divided into two distinct estates. The first, a natural forest estate is comprised of species indigenous to New Zealand and consists of either virgin or regenerated forest. The second is the plantation forest estate comprising exotic species which have generally been hand-planted. In addition to the obvious biological differences between the two types of forest, in recent years New Zealand has moved toward separating the estates in terms of their legal, institutional and functional dimensions.
From 1919 to April 1987 the New Zealand Government's forestry operations, in common with those of many countries, were conducted by a single agency, the New Zealand Forest Service. The primary objective of the Forest Service was to produce and profitably market forestry products. However, in attaining this objective other factors had to be taken into consideration, including policies and directives to undertake afforestation in regions requiring economic development, to provide employment, to utilize land with low productivity, and to plant and manage trees to achieve environmental ends. Prior to 1990 the Government owned about half the planted resource and maintained a proportion of the natural forests (the majority) similar to its present day holdings.
The New Zealand Government recognized in the early-1980's that the Forest Service's multiple objective mandate was less than ideal. It was obvious that where conflicts arose between various objectives the need to find a balance between the objectives was compromising the organizational efficiency of the Forest Service. Consequently, in 1987 the New Zealand Forest Service was disestablished with a view to enhancing the transparency and accountability of Government forestry operations. The major objective in the restructuring process was to isolate the Forest Service's commercial activities and confine these to a newly established State-owned enterprise, the New Zealand Forestry Corporation. A clear uncluttered commercial focus was regarded as a prerequisite for the Forestry Corporation to effectively compete with the private sector. The non-commercial functions of the Forest Service were transferred to two new Government departments; the Ministry of Forestry, which assumed responsibility for policy, research, training, advisory and regulatory functions; and the Department of Conservation, which was assigned protection responsibilities for the natural forests.
In real terms the New Zealand Government effectively separated its two forest estates and defined specifically different roles for each estate. The establishment of two Government agencies, the Ministry of Forestry and the Department of Conservation, each with administrative responsibilities predominantly relating to, respectively, planted forests and natural forests, formalized the generally commercial raison d'être for the planted forests and the predominantly conservationist values attached to the natural forests.
The planted forests took on a "cropping" aspect, in that they are grown to be harvested, and became the primary focus of a Ministry of Forestry tasked with promoting sustainable development and economic growth. The Department of Conservation's concerns related more to the protection and preservation of New Zealand's natural resource heritage. This institutional separation helped to establish a general acceptance that commercial utilization of planted forests, by substituting for natural forest exploitation, is a method of conservation. There remains, of course, a role for planted forests in terms of conservation and social goals, particularly watershed management, land stabilization and employment. Equally, natural forests continue to supply small volumes of timber to commercial processing operations. However, in the main, the two types of forests are fundamentally differentiated in purpose, and the institutional goals of the two Government agencies reflect this.
In 1993 a legal dimension further reinforced the duality concept. The Forests Act 1949 was amended to require that areas of privately owned natural forest be managed in a way that maintains their ability to provide products and amenities in perpetuity while retaining natural values. The amendments were designed specifically to define and implement principles of sustainable management in New Zealand's natural forests. Sustainable resource utilization in New Zealand is targeted by the Resource Management Act 1991 which defines a general standard applicable to most sectors of the economy. Specifically targeting the natural forests for additional control in a far more prescriptive manner, applying harvesting, processing and export controls, raises additional barriers to entry and discourages the industrial utilization of the natural forests.
The natural forests of New Zealand are complex and have been described in as many as 94 separate types. However, at a very simple level the forests can be can be broadly divided into two main types; the beech forests, dominated by one or more of the four indigenous species of Nothofagus; or the conifer-hardwood forests dominated mainly by Podocarps, but also occasionally by Kauri (Agathis australis) and cedar species. At the beginning of European settlement (c.1840) the podocarp-hardwood forest type covered much of the lowland North Island and were mixed with beech in the east of the South Island. Beech forests occurred in the North Island mountain ranges and dominated along all of the main ranges in the centre and west of the South Island. Today the only large tracts of undisturbed forests occur in the west and south of the South Island, with pockets in a number of other areas.
Data on the natural forests is less comprehensive than that available for the planted forests. It is estimated that two-thirds of New Zealand's original forest cover has been cleared, and a good proportion of the remainder has been degraded, both by harvesting and through the introduction of animals, most notably deer species, goats, pigs and the Australian brush tailed possum. However, the last comprehensive survey of the natural forest resource was carried out in 1956, though an extensive revision of this work was done in 1974. Subsequent revisions estimate New Zealand presently has 6.4 million hectares of natural forest. Figure 2 shows the ownership and allocation of the natural forests.
Figure 2: Ownership and allocation of New Zealand's natural forests
Source: NZMOF
As shown, the Department of Conservation holds more than 4.9 million hectares of natural forest in National parks, scenic reserves, forest parks and other protection areas. A further 650,000 hectares is privately owned protected forest. Discounting inaccessible areas there is effectively less than 300,000 hectares of natural forest available for wood production. Under the 1993 amendments to the Forests Act 1949, these areas can only be logged if they are subject to a Government-approved sustainable management plan or unless they are already subject to the West Coast Forest Accord, covered by the Landless Maoris Act 1908, or planted indigenous forest.
In effect, there is limited scope for further human degradation of the natural forests. The major source of degradation, barring catastrophe, is likely to be the brush-tailed possum. An estimated 70 million possums live in the forests causing extensive defoliation. While efforts are being stepped up to combat this problem, resources are still far below those necessary to manage this pest. Over the coming 5-10 years this growing issue is likely to capture further Government attention and see significant efforts made to bring possum numbers under control.
The establishment of New Zealand's planted forest resource began in the 1870's with trialling of species by a number of forestry enthusiasts. In fact, even at this point concern regarding the depletion of New Zealand's natural forests was evident. A number of small groups advocating the need for preservation of the country's natural forests, were finally rewarded by the appointment of a Royal Commission on Forestry. The Commission reported to the Government in 1913. The report recognized that the natural forest not inexhaustible, the existing methods of use were wasteful, and that natural forest species were not commercially suitable for afforestation. The Commission recognized that future needs would have to come from imports, or from large scale planting of introduced tree species.
In response to the findings of the Commission a review of the country's natural forest estate was undertaken. The results of this survey, produced in 1925, confirmed the fears of the Royal Commission. Balancing the expected future total wood production from natural forests against anticipated future domestic requirements for timber revealed that the supply from natural forests would be exhausted by 1965 - 70. The remedial action put to the Government by the Director of Forests was to mount an extensive afforestation programme to increase the area of State planted forests from 26,000 hectares in 1925 to 120,000 hectares by 1930. In fact extensive afforestation continued through until 1936 by which time the New Zealand planted forest estate totalled 320,000 hectares. However, new forest plantings between 1937 and 1960 averaged only 2,900 hectares each year and were mostly State plantings in local supply forests. This slowdown coincided with labour shortages, especially during World War II.
After 1961 the planting rate increased steadily through until the mid-1980's. This was driven by renewed recognition that forestry has the potential to be among New Zealand's most important export based industries. In 1985, 56,000 hectares were planted. Unlike the first planting boom (which was concentrated around the Bay of Plenty of the North Island) afforestation in this second boom was more widely dispersed. This resulted in most regions of the country carrying some planted forests. However, the economic restructuring of the late-1980's affected forestry planting to the extent that only 15,000 hectares was planted in 1991.
Since 1991 the New Zealand forestry sector has entered its third planting boom. Excitement generated by the log price boom of 1992, in tandem with the New Zealand Government's removal of a tax disincentive to forest growing, stimulated a dramatic turnaround in new planting activity. The annual rate of new planting has increased from 15,000 hectares in 1991 to 98,500 hectares in 1994. Early in 1996 the New Zealand Forest Research Institute prepared a report forecasting new areas of planting to 2010. The report provides a medium term forecast describing the five years out to the year 2000. The report estimates new planting to be between 44,000 hectares and 95,000 hectares per year during this period with a best estimate of 68,000 hectares.
In the longer term, from the year 2001 to the year 2010, the report expects new planting to be between 37,000 and 92,000 hectares with a best estimate of 56,500 hectares per year. While, intuitively, these best estimates seem more likely to comprise an upper bound, even the minimum estimates will be sufficient to expand New Zealand's planted resource to around 1.9 million hectares by 2010. Figure 3 shows a comparison between historical planting rates and the forecast rates.
Figure 3: New Planting Actual And Forecast
Source: NZFRI, NZMOF
The New Zealand planted forest resource is presently overwhelmingly dominated by radiata pine. Of the 1.5 million hectares of planted forests, 90 percent is radiata pine. Figure 4 shows species distribution in New Zealand's planted forests.
Intensive tending regimes are the norm in New Zealand. More than 60 percent of the resource planted since 1970 has been pruned and this proportion will increase as recent plantings reach a pruneable age. The majority of these trees will be raised according to the "direct sawlog" regime, designed to produce a 5 metre pruned buttlog for sawing or peeling, and a lower quality toplog which might be sawn for low quality uses or pulped.
Extensive mensuration work and grade studies through the 1960's and early-1970's produced several radiata pine regimes which promised, other things being equal, the best returns on investment of any species grown commercially in New Zealand. In 1973 the optimal radiata pine regimes were yielding an (exceptional) IRR of 13 percent compared with a New Zealand Douglas fir IRR of 3.5 percent. (More generally an IRR of 7-8 percent is standard practice for application to a radiata pine forest). Nonetheless, new questions are being asked in New Zealand as to the efficacy of radiata's dominance in the planted estate. The increasing importance of composite wood products and improving technologies associated with these may, at some future point, significantly reduce the importance of conventional sawn timber. Substitution toward very high quality, special-purpose species, or peeler species for veneer, in tandem with ultra-fast growing, short rotation and coppicing species for fibre production may be appropriate. Although, already several companies are moving toward the development of limited eucalyptus estates for pulp production, it is unlikely that serious consideration will be given to a major departure from the current regimes during the next 5-10 years. Depending on technology development the issue could take on increased importance toward the end of the next decade.
Figure 4: Species Distribution in Planted Forests as at 1 April 1994
Source: Turland et al.
