East Coast Forestry Project Grant Guidelines
About the ECFP grant
The ECFP grant can be used to control erosion on the worst eroding or erosion-prone land in the district (MAF refers to this type of land as target land). The ECFP provides a grant for establishing an effective tree cover through planting or encouraging natural reversion to native bush.
Who can apply for an ECFP grant?
Applicants for an ECFP grant must own or have an interest in target land. This includes a lease on the land or a forestry right that applies to the land. A trust or incorporation can apply for a grant on behalf of a group of people who own or have an interest in target land.
Anyone who intends to purchase, or gain an interest in, severely eroding land may also apply for a grant. In this situation, the application must include written evidence of the applicant’s intention to purchase, or gain an interest in, the land in question.
What land is eligible for a grant?
Target land and adjacent land
An ECFP grant can be used to prevent and control erosion on untreated target land and other essential untreated land adjacent to the target land. The adjacent land must meet the following criteria:
- effective erosion control on target land requires the treatment of the adjacent land
- the adjacent land is not Class I, II, III or IV land
- the adjacent land is in the same watershed as the target land.
| What is target land? |
|---|
| Target land is land in the Gisborne district that is identified in the New Zealand Land Resource Inventory* as Class VIIe 18, 19 and 21-25 and Class VIIIe 2-9. Target land can be assessed at either of the following scales:
* Landcare Research and Ministry of Works & Development (1999) New Zealand Land Resource Inventory - Gisborne East Coast (2nd edition), Landcare Research report no 28, Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln. |
Overlay 3A land
The Gisborne District Council Sustainable Hill Country Project has identified land requiring erosion treatment as Overlay 3A land. The Gisborne District Council has notified a variation in its Part Operative Gisborne Combined Regional Land and District Plan that requires effective tree cover on Overlay 3A Land by 2021.
ECFP grants can also be used to control erosion on Overlay 3A land, the same descriptions are used as the basis of Overlay 3A as for target land.
Size and make-up of land
The proposed grant area must be at least five hectares, but the area can include one or more blocks of land. For example, a proposed grant area can be made up of a block of land that is four hectares and another block that is two hectares. The minimum block size is two hectares.
What land is not eligible for a grant?
Areas of indigenous scrub and native forest, Sites of Special Wildlife Interest, Recommended Areas for Protection and archaeological sites are not eligible for a grant. However, land around these areas may be eligible.
Areas of indigenous scrub and native forest
An ECFP grant is not available for areas of Closed Canopy Indigenous Scrub (CCIS) over one hectare or any area of native forest, because this vegetation cover already provides effective erosion control. (CCIS is indigenous scrub or tree vegetation that is at least two metres tall and has touching or interwoven branches.)
Clearance of CCIS may require resource consent and should be discussed with the Gisborne District Council. Grants cannot be used for areas that have been cleared of CCIS since 1999.
Please contact the Gisborne District Council for information about resource consent requirements for vegetation clearance.
Sites of Special Wildlife Interest and Recommended Areas for Protection
All Sites of Special Wildlife Interest (SSWIs) and Recommended Areas for Protection (RAPs) are not eligible for an ECFP grant. If the proposed grant area includes an SSWI or RAP, MAF will consult with the Department of Conservation on the boundaries of areas to be excluded from the grant area.
Archaeological sites
An ECFP grant cannot be used on archaeological sites. Once MAF has provisionally approved an application, MAF will research the Heritage Alert Layer and the Known Archaeological Site Schedule from the Part Operative Gisborne Combined Regional Land and District Plan.
If there are known archaeological sites in the grant area or if the proposed grant area falls within the Heritage Alert Layers, the applicant will be required to employ an approved archaeologist to survey the proposed grant area and mark out any archaeological sites present. These sites will then be excluded from the grant area. The archaeological survey must be undertaken before the grant will be paid.
What does the grant pay for?
ECFP grants cover a portion of the costs of implementing an erosion control treatment. Applications may be made for a grant for projects starting in any nominated year or years up to three years after the application date. MAF will calculate the total amount of grant applicable to any proposal.
A grant is paid out in instalments in accordance with the approval certificate describing approved erosion treatment and the agreed work plan and payment schedule. Generally, for grant payments to be made, treatments need to start in the year that the application states the treatment will start in.
A grant will generally cover the cost of some, but not all, of the costs of erosion treatments. The proportion of the costs covered, except for pole planting, will depend on the:
- grant rate - that is, the amount of money per hectare paid to the landowner for erosion treatments (MAF sets the rate annually)
- type of erosion treatment to be undertaken:
- the forestry treatment (planting radiata pine, Douglas fir or poplar) will be given an additional top-up, if the grant area is over 80 kilometres from the Port of Gisborne and/or includes high priority gullies over two hectares
- the reversion treatment will be given a top-up if it includes high priority gullies over two hectares.
The grant for pole planting (poplar or willow) treatment will be equal to 70 percent of the actual and reasonable cost.
A grant can also be used to assist with the cost of new fencing around areas of indigenous forest and to exclude stock from areas containing young trees. A grant will provide funding for the final thinning of closely planted trees to maintain stand health for the benefit of long-term erosion control. Where the final thinning is not required, a portion of funding will be retained until a field audit can be carried out to assess whether livestock has been excluded (if required in the approval certificate) and if good progress has been made towards adequate indigenous cover capable of providing effective erosion control.
Applicants can undertake pruning with no restrictions, but this is at their own cost.
| What is high-priority target land? |
|---|
| High-priority target land is land that contains active gully erosion. Landcare Research has identified active gullies in the Gisborne district. Preference will be given to applications that include these gullies because the gullies produce the majority of the sediment in the district and cause costly effects beyond the landholders’ property boundaries. |
Grant rates and other climate change initiatives
The Government is considering a range of forestry climate change initiatives. These include an Afforestation Grant Scheme (AGS) and Devolved Credits and Liabilities (DCL). The Government is also finalising details of the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI).
At this stage, ECFP grantees are eligible to also generate carbon credits under the PFSI for grants approved in the 2007 application round. In future, the grant rates may be adjusted depending on the nature of decisions taken in respect to other initiatives and whether landowners choose to receive carbon credits.
Options for erosion treatments
MAF will approve a grant for work that is expected to be cost-effective in controlling or preventing erosion.
Experience has confirmed that a cost-effective erosion treatment on the worst country in the Gisborne district is to plant closely planted species such as radiata pine and Douglas fir. Depending on the features of the eroding land and the severity of erosion, it may be more appropriate to plant other species or to allow the land to revert to native bush. Options for erosion treatments are discussed in the following sections.
Applications will be treated on a case-by-case basis, and approval for types of erosion control treatment will depend on individual circumstances.
Forestry treatments - closely planted radiata pine, Douglas fir and poplar
Forestry treatments will have regular initial planting stocking densities. A grant area planted in radiata pine and Douglas fir is to be planted at a minimum stocking rate of 1250 stems per hectare. Thinning is allowed within the following parameters:
- the mean tree height must be five metres before thinning can occur
- when the mean tree height is between five and 12 metres, the stocking rate must be at least 500 stems per hectare
- when the mean tree height is 15 metres or more, the stocking rate is to be between 250 and 500 stems per hectare.
A grant area planted in poplar species, as a closely planted forestry treatment, will have an initial stocking rate of at least 500 stems per hectare. When the mean height is 12 metres or more, the trees may be thinned to at least 250 stems per hectare.
Pole planting - wide-spaced poplar and willow poles and wands
Where planting of poplar or willow poles and wands is appropriate (for example, to control earthflows, linear gullies and slumps), the indicative spacing in the table below will apply.
Pole planting is not suitable for the treatment of large and/or deeply eroded linear gullies or for amphitheatre-shaped gullies.
Indicative spacing for widely spaced poplar and willow poles and wands
| Erosion feature | Planting location | Poles | Wands | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spacing at establishment | Thinning | Spacing at establishment | Thinning | ||
| Moderate earthflow | Unstable part of flow | 7-10 metres (10-12 metres if blanking* is to be undertaken) | 10-12 metres at 10-20 years | 5-7 metres | 10-12 metres at 10-20 years |
| Severe earthflow | Unstable part of flow | 7-10 metres | None | 5-7 metres | None |
| Moderate linear gully | Watercourse | 6-8 metres | 10-12 metres at 10-20 years | 2-4 metres | 10-12 metres at 10-20 years |
| Gully walls | 7-10 metres (10-12 metres if blanking* is to be undertaken) | 10-12 metres at 10-20 years | 5-7 metres | 10-12 metres at 10-20 years | |
| Severe linear gully | Watercourse | 6-8 metres | None | 2-4 metres | None |
| Gully walls | 7-10 metres | 5-7 metres | |||
| Moderate slump | Unstable part of slump | 7 metres | 10-12 metres at 10-20 years | 5 metres | 10-12 metres at 10-20 years |
| Severe slump | Unstable part of slump | 5 metres | None | 5 metres | None |
* Blanking is replanting poles that do not survive.
Reversion to native bush
A grant area can be allowed to revert or retire to native bush through natural processes, or the reversion process can be actively managed by planting indigenous trees. The area must be fenced to prevent livestock entering the grant area, and feral goats and other pests must be controlled within the grant area.
To be eligible for this treatment, the area should already contain around 50 percent scrub cover to provide for a seed source. The scrub cover can be either CCIS or scattered indigenous scrub but CCIS will not qualify for grant payments.
If there is insufficient existing seed source, MAF will consider proposals that provide a realistic management plan to physically establish indigenous tree species where tree stocking is low or does not exist.
Internal gullies
Gullies over two hectares in size may require erosion control that differs to the erosion control undertaken in the surrounding area (for example, stream channels may need treatment with willow poles, while the surrounding area is planted with radiata pine).
MAF will take advice from MAF-approved land use consultants as to whether internal gully treatments will be required, and if so what type of treatment is required. For example, some planting may best be carried out when the surrounding treatment has had a chance to slow down debris movement in the stream channel.
Alternative treatments - other species
Any effective erosion control treatment is eligible for funding. Applications for other treatments and species will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The applicant should discuss the proposal with MAF, who will assess the proposed species and stocking rate for the particular site.
Information about the location of active gullies and target land is available from MAF's ECFP office and the Soil Conservation Section of the Gisborne District Council.
How does MAF decide which applications to approve?
Submitting an application does not automatically mean a grant will be approved. Each year, a certain amount of money is available for grants. Grant applications will be prioritised according to the presence of active gullies (high-priority target land) and then the percentage of target land. This prioritisation will not affect the value of the grant.
MAF's objective is for 50 percent of the total grant area over five years to be target land, as assessed at the regional scale. While this is not an individual grant requirement, applications that have a higher percentage of target land will receive priority for funding.
Information about the location of active gullies and target land is available from MAF's ECFP office and the Soil Conservation Section of the Gisborne District Council.
Contact for Enquiries
East Coast Forestry Project
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Cnr Grey St & Childers Rd
1st Floor ZGFM Building
PO Box 2122
Gisborne 4040
Tel: +64 6 986 8691
Fax: +64 6 986 8697
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