Notice of the Ordinary meeting of
Forestry Subcommittee
Te Kōmiti Āpiti, Ngahere
|
Date: Tuesday
20 September 2022
Time: 9.00a.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
Councillor
Kate Fulton
Councillor
Tim Skinner
Independent
Forestry Expert Peter Gorman
and
Group Manager Infrastructure Alec Louverdis
|
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
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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.
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.
20
September 2022
Page
No.
1. Apologies
An apology has been received from
Her Worship the Mayor R Reese
2. Confirmation
of Order of Business
3. Interests
3.1 Updates
to the Interests Register
3.2 Identify
any conflicts of interest in the agenda
4. Public
Forum
5. Confirmation
of Minutes
5.1 22 March
2022 6 - 8
Document number M19338
Recommendation
|
That the Forestry Subcommittee
1. Confirms the minutes of the meeting
of the Forestry Subcommittee, held on 22 March 2022, as a true and correct
record.
|
5.2 21 June
2022 9 - 9
Document number M19570
Recommendation
|
That the Forestry Subcommittee
1. Confirms the minutes of the meeting
of the Forestry Subcommittee, held on 21 June 2022, as a true and correct
record.
|
6. Chairperson's Report
7. Forestry Update -
Number 19 10 - 23
Document number R27034
Recommendation
|
That the Forestry Subcommittee
1.
Receives the report Forestry Update - Number 19 (R27034)
and its attachments (A2896464, A2896757 and A2897597).
|
8. Forestry Update -
Number 20 24 - 92
Document number R26970
Recommendation
|
That the Forestry Subcommittee
2.
Notes the damage incurred to Council’s
blocks following the August 2022 extreme weather event; and
3.
Approves that approximately 24Ha of commercial
forestry recently harvested in the Maitai block be retired from commercial
forestry for the reasons provided in report R26970.
|
Forestry Subcommittee Minutes - 22
March 2022
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: Councillor R Sanson, and Governance Advisers (A
Fon, K McLean)
Apologies : Nil
1. Apologies
There were no apologies.
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 1
December 2021
The minutes were updated to
reflect the correction to Item 9 page 7 – he reported delays in health,
safety and recreational considerations, should read ‘he reported delays
in resource consenting considerations’
Document number M19127, agenda
pages 4 - 7 refer.
|
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.
|
|
Murray/Her Worship the Mayor Carried
|
6. Chairperson's Report
There was no Chairperson’s
report for this meeting.
However, the Chairperson
indicated that Mr Sam Nuske would be including information on current
operations and markets.
7 Forestry Update
- Number 18
Document number R26482, agenda pages 7 - 22 refer.
Group Manager Infrastructure, Alec
Louverdis, presented the report and answered questions on ungulate control,
Marsden, Maitai and Roding harvesting, Forestry High Level Review, carbon
credit potential and budgets.
PF Olsen representative, Mr Sam
Nuske, presented the quarterly report and noted that although the domestic and
export log market was strong that this was balanced by high fuel costs and
demand for ships.
Mr Nuske answered a question
regarding disposal of slash, confirming that where practical the slash was
diverted to other use such as landscaping supplies or bio fuel. If it was
uneconomic to remove, then it was stockpiled away from waterways and will over
time breakdown into mulch.
Landvision Limited representative, Mr Lachie Grant,
updated the subcommittee on replanting alternative species.
|
Resolved FS/2022/002
|
|
|
That the Forestry
Subcommittee
1. Receives
the report (R26482) and its attachments (A2853830, A2853822 and
A2823832).
|
|
Skinner/Fulton Carried
|
There being no further business
the meeting ended at 1.40pm.
Confirmed as a correct record
of proceedings by resolution on (date)
Forestry Subcommittee Minutes - 21 June 2022
In
Attendance: Team Leader Governance (R Byrne) and Governance Advise
(T Kruger)
Apology: An
apology has been received from Her Worship the Mayor R Reese and a late apology
from Councillor K Fulton
Because of the late apology from
Councillor Fulton (due to COVID) quorum, which must include two Elected
Members, was not met therefore the meeting lapsed.
|
Adjourn item of business
|
|
|
That the Forestry Subcommittee
1. Adjourns
the items Confirmation of Minutes 22 March
2022 and Forestry Update – Number 19 to be considered at the Forestry
Subcommittee meeting to be held on 20 September 2022 at 9.00a.m. in the
Council Chamber.
|
Confirmed as a correct record of proceedings by
resolution on (date)
Item 7: Forestry Update
- Number 19
|
|
Forestry Subcommittee
20 September 2022
|
REPORT R27034
Forestry
Update - Number 19
This
item has been deferred from the Forestry Subcommittee meeting of 21 June 2022
as quorum was not met and the meeting was not held.
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 2022 update.
2. Recommendation
|
That
the Forestry Subcommittee
1. Receives the report Forestry Update
- Number 19 (R27034) and its attachments (A2896464, A2896757 and
A2897597).
|
3. Harvesting
Bridges
3.1 Roding
bridge – work commenced on site in March.
Maitai harvesting
3.2 Harvesting
in the Maitai Valley is almost complete.
Marsden Harvesting
3.3 Harvesting
of Block 42.05 (around 15Ha) is complete.
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. PF Olsen will monitor this 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. No date has been provided by Tasman Pine
Forests for the harvesting.
5. Health
and Safety
5.1 No
Safe Work Observations (SWOs) were conducted by NCC between January to March.
PF Olsen continue to undertake regular internal SWOs.
6. Other
matters
Forestry High-Level Review
6.1 All
consultants have been appointed with peer reviews underway to progress the work
to guide the high-level review. All work, once peer reviewed, will be presented
to the Subcommittee as a package for review with that work guiding development
of the next Forestry Activity Management Plan.
Carbon
Credit Potential from Council Indigenous Forests
6.2 Council
resolved on 17 November 2021 as follows:
Resolved
CL/2021/245
That
the Council
2. Agrees
to undertake a detailed assessment of all Council land under ownership and
management for eligibility in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS); and
Resolved
CL/2021/246
That
the Council
3. Requests
that eligible Council owned and managed land (including exotic forestry) be
registered into the Emissions Trading Scheme before 1 April 2022.
6.3 As
noted previously, updates on this matter will be reported to both this
Subcommittee and the Council. Council has engaged PF Olsen to do the detailed
eligibility assessment (assisted by the 1989 aerial photography held by
Council) and to manage the registration process as Council’s authorised
representative.
6.4 The
exotic forestry application was submitted in March, but is still to be
registered by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) (who has advised that
applications submitted before 30 April 2022 have a reasonable chance of being
registered before 31 December 2022).
6.9 With respect to the indigenous forestry application the
application has not been submitted by PF Olsen yet as they are dealing with a
backlog within their spatial team. Once submitted it is unlikely to get
registered by 31 December 2022 due to the delays from MPI. The number of units
that could be earnt from the indigenous area over the current 5-year period is
not large and depends on the area that MPI accepts. Other providers are also
busy submitting applications, and Council would still face MPI's backlog
regardless of which provider Council used. Officers are liaising with PF Olsen
to move this matter forward and to give Council priority on this matter.
PF
Olsen contract
6.10 PF
Olsen’s initial term ends on 30 June 2022 and includes an extension term
of five years. A forestry high level review is underway but irrespective of the
outcome of that work, a contractor is required to manage Council’s
forestry.
6.11 PF
Olsen are performing well under the contract and their performance has been
reviewed by the independent forestry expert and following discussion with the
Chair the contract has been extended for a further 5 years.
7. Finance
7.1 An updated summary of Council budgets to December 2021 is
appended as Attachment 1 (A2896464). PF Olsen’s quarterly report January to March 2022 is
appended as Attachment 2 (A2896757).
8. Alternate
Uses
8.1 Council agreed to retire
approximately 140Ha of forestry and consider alternate uses and an Alternate
Use Plan has been approved. Refer to Attachment 3 (A2897597) for an update.
Lachie Grant (Landvision) will be in attendance to update the Subcommittee
further.
Author: Alec
Louverdis, Group Manager Infrastructure
Attachments
Attachment 1: A2896464
- Q3 Report Budget Summary 2021-22 ⇩
Attachment 2: A2896757
- PF Olsen NCC Quarterly Report - Q3 - 2021-22 ⇩
Attachment 3: A2897957
- Alternative Species Update 25 May 22 ⇩
|
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. Key risks identified in this report relate to harvesting in the
Brook and Maitai, which are adequately mitigated by 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.
|
|
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
|
Item
7: Forestry Update - Number 19: Attachment 1
Item
7: Forestry Update - Number 19: Attachment 2
Item 7: Forestry Update - Number 19:
Attachment 3
Item 8: Forestry Update
- Number 20
|
|
Forestry Subcommittee
20 September 2022
|
REPORT R26970
Forestry
Update - Number 20
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 June 2022 update.
2. Recommendation
|
That the Forestry Subcommittee
1. Receives
the report Forestry Update - Number 20 (R26970) and its attachments
(1833911234–19, 1833911234-20, 332184083–4470, 1133911234-21, and
1986768459-1897); and
2. Notes the damage incurred to
Council’s blocks following the August 2022 extreme weather event;
and
3. Approves that approximately 24Ha of
commercial forestry recently harvested in the Maitai block be retired from
commercial forestry for the reasons provided in report R26970.
|
3. Forestry
update – Report number 19
3.1 This
report is to be read in conjunction with the previous report (number 19), that
was earmarked for the 20 September 2022 Forestry Subcommittee. That meeting did
not take place due to a lack of quorum.
4. August
2022 Severe Weather Event
4.1 The
Top of the South experienced a severe weather event in August 2022 with
substantial damage to the region and its infrastructure. This damage to
NCC’s infrastructure has impacted on Council’s current and future
harvesting as detailed below:
|
Block
|
Damage
|
Comment
|
|
Brook
|
Minor mid-slope failures
|
Low priority
|
|
Roding
|
Old slips on Smelter Road have opened up and slash trap
washed out. Culvert crossing on Summit Road damaged.
|
Repairs underway
|
|
Marsden
|
Old slips on Glider Road opened up. New slip on Fincham
road.
|
Repairs underway
|
|
Maitai
|
Two major internal slips.
|
See below
|
4.2 The Maitai Valley
Road, the main access to the Maitai Dam and Maitai forestry blocks, has been
severely damaged in multiple locations. This damage is currently being assessed
by Council officers. However, 4WD access has been restored. Work is ongoing
that will allow logging truck access to resume later in September. The harvesting
crew has commenced clean-up work within the forest and will work to finish the
Maitai harvest program as soon as is practicable.
5. Other
harvesting matters
5.1 It
is anticipated that the Roding bridge will be completed in October
2022.
5.2 5ha
of windthrow was salvaged in the Marsden Valley in August.
6. Future
Harvesting
6.1 The
Roding and Marsden forests both have harvest scheduled within the next two years.
Whilst the Roding forest was scheduled to be undertaken before the Marsden
blocks, Marsden may need to be brought forward due to higher wind risk. Work is
ongoing to assess this risk.
7. Proposal
to retire three Maitai block commercial forestry –
7.1 Three
recently harvested Maitai blocks (approximately 24ha in total), as shown on
Attachment 1 (1833911234–19), are recommended to not be replanted in
commercial pine forest, but instead to be converted to alternate species. The
reasons for this, for each area, include:
7.1.1 Area
1 (16.5 Ha) – This area of harvesting has yielded poor commercial
returns, primarily due to the lack of road access and skid site infrastructure,
and the work required to address its close proximity to the water pipeline, powerlines
and Maitai River, which all negatively impacting productivity. The retirement
of this area will create a larger buffer against the river on the West side
which will reduce the environmental impact of subsequent harvesting in
remaining stands.
7.1.2 Area
2 (5 Ha) – This small area is surrounded by native vegetation seed
sources and retiring this area would improve connectivity of native areas.
7.1.3 Area
3 (2.5 Ha) - The proximity of this area to the water pipeline and the Maitai
River make this a difficult area to harvest. Retiring this area would provide a
buffer against the pipeline and river for future harvesting.
7.2 As
the Subcommittee is aware, a high level review of forestry is underway (refer
item 10) and whilst a proposal has been prepared for alternate species of these
three blocks (refer to attachment 2) - it is proposed that any decision in this
matter wait for that review as that review will consider possible alternative
species for commercial blocks that may be retired.
7.3 However,
as these blocks have been harvested a decision from this Subcommittee on
retiring these three Maitai blocks from commercial productive forestry is
deemed prudent (for the reasons provided), as the next Subcommittee (should it
exist in this form) may well be some considerable time off in the new Council
triennium. A decision will mean that these blocks are not planted in pine, but
will be sowed in grass to reduce risk of erosion.
7.4 In
addition, the cost to replant these three blocks in alternative species is not
currently included in the current 10 year LTP replanting and weed control
budgets, which sit in and under the control of the Parks and Reserves
operational activity. Currently $252,000 (for weed control) and $876,00 (for
replanting) is provided in the LTP 2021/22 to 2030/31. Waiting on the outcome
of the review will also allow those budgets to be revised/refreshed as part of
the next Annual Plan/LTP.
8. Tasman
Pine Forests Ltd and Waahi Taakaro harvesting
8.1 When
Tasman Pine Forests Ltd harvests the block adjacent to the Waahi Taakaro Golf
Club, the work will also include harvesting the small area planted by Tasman
Pine Forests on Council land. PF Olsen will monitor this 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.
8.2 Tasman
Pine Forests has advised that it does not intend to harvest this stand of trees
in the foreseeable future. This matter will be removed from future reporting.
9. Health
and Safety
9.1 No
Safe Work Observations (SWOs) were conducted by NCC between June and September.
PF Olsen continues to undertake regular internal SWOs.
10. Forestry
High-Level Review
10.1 All
consultants have been appointed with peer reviews still to be finalised. A
separate workshop will be scheduled with the new Council to consider those
reports with a view to guiding the direction and development of the next
Forestry Activity Management Plan.
11. Carbon
Credit Potential from Council Indigenous Forests
11.1 The
17 November 2021 Council meeting resolved:
Resolved CL/2021/245
That the Council:
2. Agrees
to undertake a detailed assessment of all Council land under ownership and
management for eligibility in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS); and
Resolved
CL/2021/246
That the Council:
3. Requests
that eligible Council owned and managed land (including exotic forestry) be
registered into the Emissions Trading Scheme before 1 April 2022.
11.2 Council
has engaged PF Olsen to do the detailed eligibility assessment (assisted by the
1989 aerial photography held by Council) and to manage the registration process
as Council’s authorised representative.
11.3 The
exotic forestry application was submitted in March. The application is still to
be registered by the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI), which has advised
that applications submitted before 30 April 2022 have a reasonable chance of
being registered before 31 December 2022. MPI is experiencing issues with
processing a large amount of applications and has advised via its website as
below:
“Te Uru Rākau
– New Zealand Forest Service has received an unprecedented volume of
applications to register post-1989 forest land. This is driven by the high
price of New Zealand Units (NZUs), the upcoming introduction of averaging
accounting and the current mandatory emissions return (MER) period ending on 31
December 2022. In our March newsletter, we advised that we are aiming to
finalise processing of all complete applications received by 30 April 2022
before the end of the MER period. Particularly given that we received
applications for some 67,000 hectares in April alone, processing of many of
these applications may not be completed until towards the end of the year. We
will endeavour to also process applications submitted after 30 April 2022
before the end of the year. However, given the volume of applications already received,
it is more likely these applications will be processed in 2023”.
11.4 With
respect to the indigenous forestry application – work on ageing of the
native trees is complete, showing that the native blocks investigated (a total
of 26.5 hectares) would likely be eligible for ETS registration. The
application submission is imminent. However, as Te Uru Rākau is currently
processing the ETS application for NCC’s post-1989 exotic forest blocks
they have advised that they cannot process more than one application at a time
for the same participant. NCC is dependent on MPI timelines in addressing all
applications, but it is unlikely that the native forest application, once
submitted will be registered by 31 December 2022.
12. Finance
12.1 An updated summary of Council budgets to June 2022 is
appended as Attachment 3 (332184083
– 4470)
12.2 PF Olsen’s Annual report to end of September 2022 is
appended as Attachment 4 (1833911234-21).
13. Valuation
13.1 The
annual valuation is appended as Attachment 5 (1986768459 – 1897). As at
30 June 2022, PF Olsen assessed the market value of the standing trees owned by
NCC for the financial reporting purposes at $5.846 Million plus GST (if any),
down by 20.2% from $7.326 Million at 30 June 2021. The decrease in value is
mainly due to the significant area harvested in the 2021-22 year. The valuation
methodology applied meets New Zealand Accounting Standard NZ IAS 41 and PBE
IPSAS 27, Agriculture, and was prepared following the New Zealand Institute of
Forestry Forest Valuation Standards.
14. Alternate
Uses
14.1 Council
has approved an Alternate Use Plan for approximately 140ha of land it has
agreed to retire. The Parks and Reserves team, at their request, will be
undertaking the planting and management of blocks going from production
forestry to alternative species (excluding the first weed spray after
harvesting) going forward.
Author: Alec
Louverdis, Group Manager Infrastructure
Attachments
Attachment 1: 1833911234-19 -
Maitai Map ⇩
Attachment 2: 1833911234-20
- Alternative Species Update June-Aug 22 ⇩
Attachment 3: 332184083-4470
- Forestry Actuals vs Budget Operating Income ⇩
Attachment 4: 1833911234-21
- PF Olsen NCC Forestry Annual Report ⇩
Attachment 5: 1986768459-1897
- NCC Forestry Tree Crop Valuation ⇩
|
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. Key risks identified in this report relate to harvesting in the
Brook and Maitai, which are adequately mitigated by 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.
|
|
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
|
Item
8: Forestry Update - Number 20: Attachment 1
Item
8: Forestry Update - Number 20: Attachment 2
Item 8: Forestry Update - Number 20:
Attachment 3
Item
8: Forestry Update - Number 20: Attachment 4
Item 8: Forestry Update - Number 20:
Attachment 5
