Te Hoiere Project has teamed up with the Top of the South Wood Council on a few innovation projects to improve outcomes for the environment, industry and community. From examining sediment before and after harvesting to helping scientists engage with forest owners for research, here is a round-up of just some of the progress under way with our partners in forestry.
Sediment-loading study: This study aims to establish baseline sediment load within plantation forests, prior to earthworks and harvesting activities taking place. In turn, this provides data to measure tangible impacts and, ultimately, contributing to better land-use management. Project managers have worked with local forestry owners to find a suitable site, a plantation on its first rotation that has yet to be harvested. The stream monitoring site has been commissioned by NIWA with equipment installed in mid-June. This project will measure stream turbidity and flow along with other stream health monitoring parameters such as nutrients and macroinvertebrates.
“The site is a typical, small forest tributary stream that we often encounter and work around in our harvest areas,” says Anna Batty, Environmental Manager with M&R Forestland Management, who is leading the project. “The stream has trees planted right up to it, with no riparian or native areas in the catchment. This catchment is 100% plantation pine forest.”
Riparian project: This study tests options for post-harvest riparian native planting, to better understand the factors that contribute to the most successful restorative outcomes. As of this update, project managers have confirmed one forestry site in Te Hoiere with another in the works. (Stay tuned for this one, we hear the project manager is planning to use drones in this project!)
Research access toolkit: This project will help researchers and monitoring teams to engage with forestry owners and managers throughout the catchment. This includes a Forest Access Accord, a document that addresses common industry requirements to access forestry properties, such as health and safety, insurance and fire or natural hazard restrictions. While the document itself doesn’t grant permission to enter private property, it streamlines and guides the conversation between researchers and forest owners/managers when asking for access.
The second part to streamlining forest access for researchers is understanding who they should contact and how. Forestry has teamed up with another Te Hoiere Project partner, Marlborough District Council, to develop a mapping app with property details that researchers and science monitoring teams can request. Access to this database will not be available to the general public.
