Minutes of a meeting of the

Forestry Subcommittee

Te Kōmiti Āpiti, Ngahere

Held in the Council Chamber, Floor 2A, Civic House, 110 Trafalgar Street, Nelson on Wednesday 1 December 2021, commencing at 1.04 p.m.

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

In Attendance:    PF Olsen representative (S Nuske), LandVision Limited representative (L Grant), Governance Adviser (K Redgrove) and Governance Support Officer (A Bryce-Neumann)

Apologies :          Councillor K Fulton (for lateness)

1.       Apologies

Resolved FS/2021/009
	That the Forestry Subcommittee 1. Receives and accepts the apology from Councillor Fulton for lateness.
Murray/Her Worship the Mayor 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

There was no public forum.

5.       Confirmation of Minutes

5.1      29 September 2021

Document number M18974, agenda pages 5 - 7 refer.

Resolved FS/2021/010
	That the Forestry Subcommittee 1.    Confirms the minutes of the meeting of the Forestry Subcommittee, held on 29 September 2021, as a true and correct record.
Skinner/Her Worship the Mayor Carried

6.    Chairperson's Report

There was no Chairperson’s report for this meeting.

7.       Forestry High-level Review – Costs

Document number R26263, agenda pages 8 – 13 refer.

Group Manager Infrastructure, Alec Louverdis, presented the report and  confirmed its purpose was to give effect to the Council resolution of 24 June 2021.  There were two proposed workstreams that he considered would achieve that.

He explained that the outcomes from both those workstreams would be independently peer reviewed and confirmed those independent parties had already been contacted and were available.   He considered the process outlined in the report offered the best value for money, with checks and balances in place to ensure transparency and independence.

He confirmed that the outcomes from the proposed workstreams would be reported back to the Subcommittee to guide the next Forestry Activity Management Plan and the Long Term Plan.   

In the meantime, forestry blocks would continue to be harvested and replanted with pinus radiata.   

Mr Louverdis noted that the reports would address effects on the supply chain climate leadership.

Attendance: Cr Fulton joined the meeting at 1.30 pm.

Resolved FS/2021/011
	That the Forestry Subcommittee 1. Receives the report   (R26274); and 2. Endorses the recommended approach as detailed in report (R26263) to fulfil the requirements of the high-level forestry review requested by Council; and   3. Approves the next steps of appointing the suite of consultants (along with independent peer reviews), as detailed in Report (R26263), to undertake a high-level review of commercial forestry at an estimated cost of $73,500 (excluding peer reviews).
Skinner/Her Worship the Mayor Carried

8.       Forestry Activity Management Plan 2021-31

Document number R22592, agenda pages 14 - 63 refer.

Mr Louverdis described the recommendation as a procedural step towards referral to Council and highlighted items had recently been added to the Plan.

The Subcommittee agreed to include the 17 November 2021 resolution with respect to the Emissions Trading Scheme and eligible Council owned and managed land, including exotic forestry.

Resolved FS/2021/012
	That the Forestry Subcommittee 1.    Receives the report Forestry Activity Management Plan 2021-31 (R22592) and its Attachment (A2072414); and 2.    Approves the Forestry Activity Management Plan 2021-31 (A2072414) as the version to be forwarded to Council following approval of the Long-Term Plan 2021-31, subject to the minor amendment as noted in the minutes.
Her Worship the Mayor/Fulton Carried
Recommendation to Council FS/2021/013
	That Council  1.    Adopts the revised Forestry Activity Management Plan 2021-31 (A2072414).
Her Worship the Mayor/Fulton Carried

9.       Forestry Update - Number 17

Document number R26274, agenda pages 64 - 82 refer.

The meeting adjourned at 2.18 am and reconvened at 2.27 pm.

Mr Louverdis introduced the report.  Sub-Committee members were pleased to note the Maitai bridge has been completed and noted the Roding bridge work will start once necessary consents had been granted.    

Mr Nuske answered questions relating to consenting timeframes which had been delayed and had caused additional costs.

The meeting was provided with an update on the Marsden harvesting noting that the harvest would be delayed until mid February 2022, with limited access over the Christmas break.

He reported delays in resource consenting considerations applicable to the Marsden forestry block had meant harvest crews were currently ‘parked up idle’.   Mr Louverdis confirmed he would make enquiries of the Group Manager Environmental Management and bring back responses to this Sub-Committee.   

LandVision Limited representative Lachie Grant provided an overview of the programmed planting.   In response to a question raised, he clarified that the terminology ‘native’ was more commonly used in the industry than ‘indigeneous’.   

Resolved FS/2021/014
	That the Forestry Subcommittee 1.    Receives the report   (R26274) and its Attachments (A2779103, A2762279, A2788214 and A2783310).
Skinner/Murray Carried

There being no further business the meeting ended at 2.53 pm.

Confirmed as a correct record of proceedings by resolution on (date)

Resolved FS/2022/001
	That the Forestry Subcommittee 1.     Confirms the amended minutes of the meeting of the Forestry Subcommittee, held on 1 December 2021, as a true and correct record.