Agenda of Forestry Subcommittee

Notice of the Ordinary meeting of

Forestry Subcommittee

Te Kōmiti Āpiti, Ngahere

Date: Wednesday 23 June 2021

Time: 1.00p.m.

Location: Council Chamber
Floor 2A, Civic House,
110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson

Agenda

Rārangi take

Chairperson Mr John Murray

Members Her Worship the Mayor Rachel Reese

Cr Kate Fulton

Cr Tim Skinner

Independent Forestry Expert Peter Gorman

Group Manager Infrastructure Alec Louverdis

Officer Paul Harrington

Quorum: 5, comprising the Chair and two elected member (decision makers), plus one Council officer and the independent forestry expert (for advice only)

Pat Dougherty

Chief Executive

Nelson City Council Disclaimer

Please note that the contents of these Council and Committee agendas have yet to be considered by Council and officer recommendations may be altered or changed by the Council in the process of making the formal Council decision. For enquiries call (03) 5460436.

Excerpt from Nelson City Council Delegations Register(A11833061)

Forestry Subcommittee

This is a subcommittee that reports to Council.

Areas of Responsibility:

· All matters relating to the commercial forestry operational portfolio including environmental and recreational issues

Powers to Decide:

· In accordance with Council’s Annual Plan and Long Term Plan:

o Approval of forestry and harvesting management strategy and plans

o Approval of the engagement of contractors/consultants and forestry tenders

Powers to Recommend to Council:

· Any actions relating to the oversight of all matters relating to the commercial forestry portfolio, falling outside the powers to decide, including:

o Approval of forestry related budgets; and

o Any other matters relating to continuing commercial forestry operations.

For the Terms of Reference for the Forestry Subcommittee please refer to document A1739267.

Minutes of a meeting of the Forestry Subcommittee

Held in the Council Chamber, Floor 2A, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson

On Tuesday 23 March 2021, commencing at 1.05p.m.

Present: Mr J Murray (Chairperson), Her Worship the Mayor R Reese, Councillors K Fulton, T Skinner, Independent Forestry Expert P Gorman, and Group Manager Infrastructure A Louverdis

In Attendance: Team Leader Parks and Facilities Activity Management (P Harrington), PF Olsen representative (S Nuske), LandVision Ltd representative (L Grant), Governance Adviser (J Brandt) and Governance Support (P Boutle)

Apologies : Mayor R Reese (early departure)

1. Apologies

Resolved FS/2021/001

That the Forestry Subcommittee

1. Receives and accepts the apology from Her Worship the Mayor R Reese for early departure.

Skinner/Murray Carried

2. Confirmation of Order of Business

There was no change to the order of business.

3. Interests

There were no updates to the Interests Register, and no interests with items on the agenda were declared.

4. Public Forum

Tom Kennedy and Roger May, of Friends of the Maitai, tabled a supporting document (A2598435) and spoke to their submission.

Attachments

1 A2598435 - Friends of the Maitai - Presentation to NCC Forestry Subcommittee 23Mar2021

5. Confirmation of Minutes

5.1 1 December 2020

Document number M15312, agenda pages 5 - 9 refer.

Resolved FS/2021/002

That the Forestry Subcommittee

1. Confirms the minutes of the meeting of the Forestry Subcommittee, held on 1 December 2020, as a true and correct record.

Skinner/Her Worship the Mayor Carried

6. Chairperson's Report

There was no Chairperson’s report.

7. Forestry Update - Number 14

Document number R22589, agenda pages 10 - 25 refer.

Team Leader Parks and Facilities Activity Management, Paul Harrington, presented the report.

It was noted that the harvesting date for the Tantragee Block was being brought forward to May to September 2021. Originally, harvesting was going to be July to September 2021 to allow works to follow the proposed Brook Harvesting. A minor amendment was made to the resolution to reflect that it was a revised date.

It was noted that Nelson City Council had achieved Forestry Stewardship Council accreditation. The Subcommittee expressed their thanks to PF Olsen and everyone who had helped achieve this milestone.


Resolved FS/2021/003
	*That the Forestry Subcommittee* *1. Receives the report (R22589) and its Attachments (A2582672, A2577989 and A2578176); and* *2. Agrees on a revised harvesting date for the Nelson City Council owned Brook blocks to be May to September 2021.*
Skinner/Fulton Carried

There being no further business the meeting ended at 1.58p.m.

Confirmed as a correct record of proceedings:

Chairperson Date

Item 7: Forestry Update - Number 15

Forestry Subcommittee

23 June 2021

REPORT R23768

Forestry Update - Number 15

1. Purpose of Report

1.1 To provide an update to the Forestry Subcommittee on forestry activities undertaken since Council adopted the Forestry Review recommendations in September 2016, and since the March 2021 update.

2. Recommendation

That the Forestry Subcommittee

1. Receives the report Forestry Update - Number 15 (R23768) and its Attachments (A2669723, A2669570 and A2679734).

3. Harvesting

Bridges

3.1 An update of the progress with the bridges is shown below.

Maitai	Work is nearing completion
Roding	Work is about to commence

Brook harvesting

3.2 Brook harvesting is scheduled to commence in mid-June following a month’s delay in securing the necessary resource consents. This is not expected to have any impact on the planned end date.

3.3 Information on reserve closures due to the harvest is available on Council’s website (https://shape.nelson.govt.nz/harvesting-our-forests) and stakeholders have been regularly updated. The public were informed through media articles following a press release on 29 April 2021. Articles were also included in the printed newsletter delivered to all households and on social media.

3.4 Phase 1 involves harvesting stands in or near Atmore Reserve (blocks 22-8 and 22-2), Phase 2 relates to the Tantragee Block (Block 1-1 and 1-2, see below for more information) and Phase 3 will harvest blocks 22-6 and 22-5, which are situated above the P51 mountain bike trail and include the Viral Flow trail.

Tantragee Block harvesting

3.5 Harvesting of these trees will follow the Brook harvesting work mentioned above. This is the last stage of the progressive removal of trees above residential properties, which has included the successful poisoning of trees closest to residential properties.

3.6 Directly affected residents have been aware of this plan for over a year as the harvest was originally planned for 2020 before being delayed due to COVID-19. All residents were contacted in April by way of letter drop and invited to a public meeting on 11 May 2021. Individual meetings with residents, as the team works through the Health and Safety Plan, have been undertaken in a collaborative spirit.

3.7 Whilst the steep terrain carries a very low risk that logs may move downslope during harvesting, a detailed health and safety plan has been prepared by PF Olsen, which is being both reviewed independently and by Council’s Health and Safety Adviser. No harvesting works will commence prior to the Council and its contractors being confident that planned safety measures will mitigate the potential risks from the harvest.

3.8 Measures include ensuring that residents temporarily vacate their houses between 9am and 3pm during the works. There is one resident that unfortunately cannot leave their property for extended periods and plans are been put in place to provide safety through additional barriers. There are also a small number of night shift workers that will require alternative accommodation for a short period of time.

3.9 This work will commence on 28 July 2021 and is expected to take no longer than two weeks. For this two-week period, Brook Street along this section of trees, will also be subject to one-hour closures to expedite the works and to minimise the disruption to residents needing to be out of their properties. All affected residents in Brook Street will be advised of this through a letter drop and through Council’s normal media channels including radio.

Maitai harvesting

3.10 Harvesting in the Maitai Valley is scheduled to begin in August 2021 and continue into early 2022. Various stands are planned for harvest which are generally located upstream of the Poleford Bridge. Further details will be reported to the next Subcommittee meeting.

4. Tasman Pine Forests and Waahi Taakaro harvesting

4.1 When Tasman Pine Forests Ltd harvest the block adjacent to the Waahi Taakaro Golf Club, the work will also include harvesting the small area planted by them on Council land. This work is expected to take one month, and PF Olsen will monitor the work to ensure that the trees on Council owned land are harvested to the required standards. The small area will be replanted with indigenous species.

5. Health and Safety

5.1 A Safe Work Observation (SWO) was conducted in relation to the Maitai Bridge project on 2 June 2021. This was attended by council officers, PFOlsen staff and the Chair of the Forestry Subcommittee.

6. Finance

6.1 An updated summary of Council budgets to March 2021 is appended as Attachment 1 and PF Olsen’s Quarterly Report to March 2021 is appended as Attachment 2.

7. Alternate Uses

7.1 Council agreed to retire approximately 140Ha of forestry and consider alternate uses and an Alternate Use Plan has been approved. Refer to Attachment 3 for an update. Lachie Grant (Landvision) will be in attendance to update the Group further.

8. Alternative Commercial Harvesting

8.1 Council set aside funding in Y1 of the 2021-31 Long-Term Plan (LTP) to consider the feasibility of alternative commercial species (other than pinus radiata). That work is schedule to commence in the new financial year and will be reported back to the Subcommittee.

9. Forestry webpage

9.1 A page is now live on the Council’s website providing general information about the Council’s forestry estate, forestry operations and Forestry Stewardship Council accreditation: https://www.nelson.govt.nz/environment/sustainable-land-management/productive-land-use/forestry/

Author: Paul Harrington, Team Leader Parks and Facilities Activity Management

Attachments

Attachment 1: NCC Forestry Accounts Summary at 31 March 2021 (A2669723) ⇩

Attachment 2: NCC PF Olsen Forestry Quaterly Report - Q3 - 2020/21 (A2669570) ⇩

Attachment 3: Alternative species update June 2021 (A2679734) ⇩

Important considerations for decision making

1. Fit with Purpose of Local Government

The regular updates support the effective and efficient management of Council’s productive forests and through best practices and sustainability contributes to Local Government well-beings of social, economic, environmental, and cultural.

2. Consistency with Community Outcomes and Council Policy

The Group aligns with the following outcome: “Our Council provides leadership and is supported by an innovative and sustainable economy”.

3. Risk

The Subcommittee has been set up to specifically have an oversight on all things relating to forestry to reduce the risk to Council.

The key risks identified in this report relate to harvesting in the Brook, which are adequately mitigated by the planned safety measures.

4. Financial impact

The Subcommittee has been set up to monitor forestry activity and to manage income and expenses accordingly. Any expenditure recommended in this report is in line with this oversight.

5. Degree of significance and level of engagement

The report deals with several matters that have required individual engagement with individuals/groups.

6. Climate Impact

Commercial pine forestry and harvesting is a sustainable practice and contributes positively to climate change mitigation.

7. Inclusion of Māori in the decision-making process

Iwi have not been consulted in the preparation of this report but have been consulted on separately with respect to the FAMP.

8. Delegations

The Forestry Subcommittee’s areas of responsibility include:

Areas of Responsibility:

· All matters relating to the commercial forestry operational portfolio including environmental and recreational issues

Powers to Decide:

· In accordance with Council’s Annual Plan and Long-Term Plan:

o Approval of forestry and harvesting management strategy and plans

o Approval of the engagement of contractors/consultants and forestry tenders