The place of forests in collaborative land use decisionsFriday 31 May 2013 The NZIF conference in Taranaki may seem unusual considering the region contains only just over 1% of the nation’s productive plantation resource. This resource is largely situated in the eastern hill country and southern reaches of the province and supports a timber processing industry of a couple of medium size sawmills and a smattering of smaller wood users. The Port of Taranaki has been a periodic exporter of logs over the past 20 years or so.Why then Taranaki? Taranaki is predominantly a patchwork of intensively farmed dairying land that surrounds the prominent mountain, Mt Taranaki, which lies within the Egmont National park. To the east, the hill country consists of a mix of productive and marginal hill farming country, modified and virgin indigenous forest and a smattering of production plantation forestry. Approximately 300 rivers and streams drain from the mountain to the sea which in combination with the intensively farmed ring plain creates significant challenges for the control of diffuse pollution. The local response to this is Taranaki Regional Council’s riparian management programme. This conference however is not just about riparian’s and water quality; it will explore the ecological changes that have taken place over 200 years of agricultural development. There is acute awareness in this region that problems and land use decision making to protect and enhance this environment require multidisciplinary resources. The need for economic, social and environmental values to be the responsibility of all land users will be a core component of the conference. The fact that these decisions are increasingly made in a collaborative manner to ensure all interests are considered is a feature of the Taranaki approach. Key presenters at the conference include: Minister Jo Goodhew, Associate Minister for Primary Industries, Guy Salmon, Executive director of the Ecologic, Basil Chamberlain, Chief Executive of the Taranaki Regional Council and Al Morrison Chief Executive and Director General of Department of Conservation. Further details on the 30 June -3 July conference can be found on www.nzifconference.org.nz |
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