WoodWeek – 5 May 2021
Click to Subscribe - It's FREE! Greetings from your WoodWeek news team.It's “Back to Future” with the return of the NZ Forest Service! Late last week Stuart Nash announced Te Uru Rākau (Forestry New Zealand) will be renamed Te Uru Rākau - New Zealand Forest Service, and will shift its operational headquarters from Wellington to Rotorua. The operational headquarters will be based on the Scion campus in Rotorua in a new wooden building that highlights the potential of timber construction and reflects Rotorua’s central location in our largest plantation forest region. To the markets where China log export shipments or the month ended in March were up 118 percent, compared to March 2020, taking overall log exports up a whopping 84 percent. Logs to South Korea were up 32 percent. With carbon forestry interest at a decade-long high, its reputation was bolstered by a recently released Ministry for the Environment (Mfe)report scoring exotic forestry highly for its low impact on soils. The report identified exotic forests as the land use by far the least affected by low microporosity, an indication of poor drainage. Looking to our next big event in June, registrations are pouring in for our Carbon Forestry 2021 Conference in mid-June. We have over 230 delegates registered now, so we strongly recommend you register now before this event sells out. The pace of discussion on carbon forestry options and best practice is growing and will accelerate when the feedback comes from the first feedback round by the Climate Commission as they refine their planned advice to Government for action. Click here to register yourself or your team for our conference before time runs out. .jpg)
This week we have for you:
NZ Forest Service for Rotorua
A greater role for a public forestry service has been outlined by the
Forestry Minister to drive the
focus on regional economic development, skills training, and a low-emissions
future. Stuart Nash today announced Te Uru Rākau (Forestry New Zealand) will be renamed Te Uru Rākau - New Zealand Forest Service, and will shift its operational headquarters from Wellington to Rotorua. “The operational headquarters will be based in Rotorua in a new wooden building that highlights the potential of timber construction and reflects Rotorua’s central location in our largest plantation forest region. “The name change is small but significant. It signals a more hands-on role for a public forestry service, with specialists and advisors working alongside the sector,” Mr Nash said. “We will lift planning and advisory capabilities within Te Uru Rākau - New Zealand Forest Service so it can offer a professional advisory service and share its forestry management expertise.” “It will provide more on-the-ground support to iwi, private landowners, farm foresters, local councils, timber processors, training institutes, and other forestry organisations. The Forest Service will maximise opportunities for the forestry and wood processing sector.” “Forestry will be a key part of our climate change response. In areas like biofuels, forestry can support our move away from fossil fuels. Innovative building products made from local wood will replace products such as concrete and steel. “For Māori, there is huge potential across the whole forestry system, as landowners, community leaders, investors and guardians of the environment. We will continue to support Māori aspirations for land management, economic development, and job creation.” Read more about the Minister's vision for the Future of Forestry in the document attached to this page: Future of Forestry Booklet. More >> Log export market update
Log exports to China have accelerated in a big way, mainly with the reporting month (March) being the
anniversary of last year's Covid work stoppage. - This week we've got our monthly update from the team
at Champion Freight. The chart shows total log export values to China to the end of March are up 12 percent
year-on-year contributing to overall log exports reducing by 8 percent across all export markets. Log exports
to South Korea were static at 1 percent up while volumes to Japan and India were down 68% and 19%
respectively.For the month ended in March China shipments are up 118 percent, compared to March 2020, taking overall log exports up a whopping 84 percent. Logs to South Korea were up 32 percent.  
Carbon Forestry 2021 - Introducing Blake Holgate
Carbon Forestry Conference 2021 - New Zealand agriculture is currently going through a period of
transformational change, with environmental reforms shaping what, and how, landowners will produce over
the next generation.This will require New Zealand landowners to take into account a new range of considerations as they increasingly incorporate the environmental impact of their operations into their strategic investment decisions. . As a result, carbon forestry is set to play a significant role in New Zealand’s future primary production systems as landowners look to capitalise on their ability to generate revenue from carbon sequestration.. Introducing: Blake Holgate, Head of Sustainable Business Development, Rabobank Presentation: Banking on Carbon Forestry - An agricultural bank's view on the role of carbon farming in future NZ farming systems. Bio: As the Head of Sustainable Business Development, Blake ensures businesses are in the best position to capitalise on opportunities while also balancing increasing environmental, societal and market risks. Blake is a key contributor to Rabobank's primary sector advice to the Government, their regular market analysis reports and agribusiness podcasts. Hailing from a sheep and beef farming family, Blake is passionate about sustainable farming and new products and services aimed at making businesses more commercially and environmentally sustainable. Click here to register >> New report ranks plantation forestry best for land use A recently released Ministry for the Environment
(Mfe)report scores
exotic forestry highly for its low
impact on soils. - The MfE report identified exotic forests as the land
use by far the least affected by
low macroporosity, which is an indication of poor drainage. MfE analysis
found only 11% of exotic forests
were below the macroporosity target range, whereas 75% of lifestyle blocks
had the problem. Likewise, MfE found only 12% of exotic forest soils had higher than a target range of phosphate. This element can have downstream environmental impacts, such as lowering water oxygen levels or promoting toxic algal growth. Forest Owner Association President Phil Taylor also identifies another part of the report which assesses the higher Land Use Capability classes, 1-4 as ‘most productive for pasture and forestry’. “I hope our primary sector ministers take that point on board. They need to realise that forestry is a valid productive use choice for landowners. The ministers’ suggestions during the election campaign that this productivity only applies to farming are quite wrong and so they ought to drop their ideas of preventing productive and profitable forestry on these land classes.” More >> Source: NZ Forest Owners Association Biofuels push by NZ Forest ServiceTe Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service is laying the foundations for a new biofuels industry, to turn forestry waste into a potential billion-dollar industry, and working on a business case with help from global investment experts Indufor Asia Pacific."Establishing a biofuels industry in New Zealand will require significant investment, so we're moving ahead with developing the business case for this investment," says Jason Wilson, director of sector investments at Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service. Mr Wilson says research shows a biofuels industry would help New Zealand to meet its emissions targets and provide jobs and new industries in our regional centres. "Tackling climate change is an ongoing priority for Government. Investigating the potential to manufacture biofuels from New Zealand wood could supercharge our efforts and deliver significant returns for our forestry and wood processing sector, rural communities, and economy." Biocrude, liquid biofuels and solid biofuels are made from the residues of trees milled in New Zealand and can help replace traditional fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum. "A key focus for the forestry and wood processing sector is maximising the economic and environmental benefits from wood through innovation, as it's a renewable and sustainable asset," says Mr Wilson. "The business case will involve significant analysis and will underpin a core part of the Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) for forestry and wood processing currently in development. The ITP will include a focus on the emerging bioenergy role the sector can play." The ITP aims to better utilise New Zealand's forest resources by increasing domestic processing, and a draft of the plan is expected later this year for the sector to consider. It is one of 6 transformation plans launched by Government, aimed at growing more innovative industries in New Zealand and lifting the productivity, sustainability and inclusivity of our key sectors. "We're excited by the potential of producing biofuels in New Zealand, and we are committed towards working with the forestry and wood processing sectors to explore this opportunity, which could have lasting benefits for New Zealand," says Mr Wilson. Background information - Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service has contracted global experts Indufor Asia Pacific Ltd (Indufor) to develop viable business cases for producing biocrude and biofuels in New Zealand. Indufor Asia Pacific Ltd will work with VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, a large Finnish research, development, and innovation institution. Indufor and VTT have in-depth experience in providing advice to governments, investors, and businesses that are seeking investment or transformational change in the forest and wood processing sector. .jpg)
SnapSTAT Long-term log price trends   For more information, click here >> Plantation forestry environmental standards reviewedThe report on the Year One Review of the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry is now publicly available and can be found at: https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/44914-Report-on-the-Year- One-Review-of-the-National-Environmental-Standards-for-Plantation-ForestryPlantation forests continue to play a key role in contributing to New Zealand’s climate change, environmental, cultural, social, and economic aspirations. Ongoing implementation for the NES-PF following Year One review includes: Our transition to a low-emissions future will require plantation forests to play a substantial part, both in removing carbon from the atmosphere and providing fuel for low emissions technologies. Overall, the Year One review found that the NES-PF is effective, but further implementation support for councils and the forestry sector would lift performance and compliance. The key findings of the Year One Review will be considered within the Government’s response to the Climate Change Commission’s upcoming recommendations and wider resource management reforms, to support the right tree in the right place. Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service is happy to receive comments and questions about the Year One review. Please direct enquires to NES-PF@mpi.govt.nz .jpg) Tips for optimising forest models(Remsoft) Three techniques for improving optimisation model performance – There are many variables that can impact the performance of your optimization models. Gain insights from your model faster by applying these best practices. To address complex challenges in your forestry planning and scheduling activities, you rely on a variety of key insights produced from your optimization models for agile and accurate decision-making.Building, managing, and analysing models is a dynamic process. To maximize time for analysis, models must be efficient and run as quickly as possible. While there are multiple ways to improve your model performance in Woodstock, output structure is a key area that will be explored in our upcoming “Debugging and Due Diligence” training. Why is output structure important? – In Woodstock, outputs are the key to analysis and the means of declaring objectives and creating reports, allowing you to interact with and gain insight into the model and its behaviour. You use outputs to declare objective functions and constraints (that is, to describe the characteristics of the desired solution) and for reporting and analysis. Without them, the model would run but would be practically useless. Output structure has the most impact on the size of — and time to build — the matrix, so it is important to be aware that your output formulations can influence the time required for Woodstock to process the model, be it building a matrix or generating reports and graphs. Keep in mind that Woodstock provides a range of detailed reports that you can use to report values of interest, rather than creating separate outputs for various combinations of types, actions, and yields. >When in doubt, simplify > Minimize the number of output nodes >Avoid using summary and mixed-summary outputs > Avoid building outputs that are constants > Look for opportunities to streamline More >> Source: Remsoft Delayed harvesting set to start in Nelson
The harvesting of selected Nelson City Council commercial forestry blocks
in the Brook Valley will begin
mid-May 2021 - Harvesting these blocks was delayed in 2020 to allow
commercial recreation
businesses
that operate either near or within commercial blocks to continue operating
after the COVID-19 lockdown.
Nelson City Council’s contractor PF Olsen will be undertaking a five-month harvesting project in reserves in the Brook Valley. This includes pre-harvest engineering work and post- harvest cleanup operation, with the actual harvesting period expected to take approximately three months. Once the work is complete, all the harvested areas in the Brook will be retired from commercial forestry and replaced with alternative use species. The upcoming harvest will be conducted in three phases and will involve closures of reserves in the Codgers Trails area and the start of the Matai Valley. The harvest is being phased to minimise disruption to reserve users, while ensuring their safety and the safety of those working on site. More >> Source: Nelson City Council FastFACTS: Virtual paper mill now a realityValmet delivers world’s first fully virtual paper mill to Mondi’s mill in Slovakia - Valmet has delivered the world’s first fully virtual paper mill to Mondi’s new production line at the Mondi mill in Ružomberok, Slovakia. Virtual mill is a training simulator and a part of Valmet’s industrial internet and Learning services offerings, and more closely extended reality learning.Buy and Sell
... and finally ... look, it's a sign
Yes, you've figured it out; we've run out of good jokes again: See you again next week. We welcome comments and contributions on WoodWeek. For details on advertising for positions within the forest products industry or for products and services, either within the weekly newsletter or on this web page, please contact us.
Copyright 2004-2021 © Innovatek Ltd. All rights reserved
|
11.gif)
