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2. Location of Forests

2.1 Extent and Location of Productive Forests

This section of the study sets out the location of the main areas of Māori owned indigenous forest and describes the size of the resource along with a discussion on the ability of that resource to sustain production of timber.

A number of key assumptions are required in order to quantify some of the variables. These are discussed, with, where appropriate, some attempt to determine the sensitivity of the variables on the final outcome. Clearly for a study of this nature there will be potential to debate some of the assumptions and the sensitivities. However without having some clear assumptions, the results tend to lose some credibility.

2.2 Methodology

A project such as this requires a number of approaches in an attempt to get the data as robust as possible.

The raw information is stored in a number of formats, locations and agencies, and is generally incomplete. Further, the information that is held, is generally at a macro level and lacks the necessary detail to be of much value in producing site-specific outcomes.

This study has attempted to bring together as much historical data as possible, and to combine this with more recent data, which has been captured through various initiatives.

The most significant and valuable initiative is the Land Cover Data Base (LCDB), (Thompson) which has been used as the basis for this study. This has allowed accurate definition of the area of NZ that actually supports high indigenous forest. The LCDB also has the added advantage of being able to be interrogated, allowing parameters to be adjusted, and hence providing some measure of the sensitivity of the information.

Cadastral information has then been overlaid to define the areas of the natural forest estate that are in Māori ownership.

From this base of knowing the areas where Māori land supports indigenous forest, the study then considers factors that impact on the ability of those forests to be managed for a harvest of timber.

The LCDB was a project initiated by the Ministry of Forestry in the 1990s to quantify the vegetation cover of New Zealand through the capture of satellite images, which could then be interpreted through ground truthing and other techniques. This provides a very recent snapshot of the vegetation cover of New Zealand at a macro level. The project defined areas of natural forest, pasture, planted forest etc. Within each of these broad classifications, further refinement was possible, such as for example classifying planted forest by age class and species.

The result of the project is that the vegetation cover of the country is known with a high level of confidence. However, within each classification the desire and ability to further refine vegetation types is variable. For assets of economic significance, there are strong economic reasons for providing greater detail within each broad classification. This is further assisted by the simplicity (in an ecological sense) of most of our economically significant vegetation types. For example, most agricultural and planted forestry crops consist of one or a very small number of species. This makes interpreting the satellite images reasonably straightforward. On the other hand, natural ecosystems such as indigenous forest tend to have a much more diverse range of species in generally uncertain proportions, or even in a continuum of species mix, that makes a mockery of arbitrary categorisations. There has been less financial support so far, for more specific refining of the LCDB for areas considered to have relatively low economic importance.

This results in the necessity to use other techniques, including simple ground and aerial truthing of LCBD information, seeking expert advice about specific forests, and comparative studies of other areas with known parameters.

2.3 Location of Māori Owned Forests

This section examines the physical location of the Māori owned indigenous forest estate by region. For ease of analysis, Regional Council boundaries have been adopted as logical regions. While there may be cases where a given area of land is split between two regions, the incidence of this is not considered to be high and therefore the impact upon the outcomes of this study is very limited. Further, the Regional Council boundaries are generally established along major catchment boundaries, and these often also form legal land boundaries.

Table 2.1 provides the areas of Māori owned forest in each of the regional council boundaries along with the percentage of the region this area represents. This is a gross figure that has been captured in the 1990s from satellite imagery, and can be considered to be reasonably accurate.

The satellite analysis was down to an area of 1 hectare, so all areas of significance that supported indigenous forest have been captured. There is however the matter of definition of indigenous forest.

The LCDB categorised indigenous vegetation into five categories, being high forest, scrub, tussock, wetlands, and mangrove. The areas classified as wetlands and mangrove have little bearing on this study and therefore are not considered in any depth. The other categories are the focus of this study.

There may be some blurring of the boundaries between tussock and scrub, however the definition of forest versus scrub has always been open to debate and is usually a reflection of the position of the people debating the matter.

As discussed above, the LCDB used satellite imagery to classify the vegetation covers. In order to do this, the categories had to be readily distinguishable from each other in the imagery. To accommodate this requirement, the classifications used were biomass driven rather than botanically driven, and were derived for ease of interpretation.

The definition of indigenous high forest was: "forest cover dominated by indigenous tall forest canopy species". Thus to be classified as high forest the area had to consist of greater than 50 percent tall canopy species.

Scrub was defined as: "woody vegetation in which the cover of scrub and trees in the canopy is greater than 20 percent, and in which scrub cover exceeds that of any other growth form or bare ground".

Given the above definition, the forest area is shown below, followed by a brief discussion about each region.

An analysis of the information available shows the extent of Māori land in the South Island that supports indigenous forest to be very limited. When areas that are classified as SILNA lands are removed, along with those areas that support non-commercial indigenous forest, the potential resource falls close to zero.

For this reason, the South Island does not feature in the results of this study

Table 2.1 – Area of Māori Owned Forest, Total Regional Area and Percentage of Region that is Māori Owned Forest

Region	Nthlnd	Aklnd	Wkto	BOP	Gisbn	H/Bay	Tnki	Mwtu/ Wang	Wgtn	Total
Area (ha)	76,185	2808	120,802	193,771	93,347	99,405	3520	68,288	4163	662,289
Total Regional Land Area (ha)	1,269,000	1,614,100	2,500,000	1,300,000	826,500	1,416,000	723,610	2,217,900	813,000	12,680,110
% of region that is Māori-owned forest	6	<0.1	5	15	11	7	0.5	3	1	5

As can be seen from Table 2.1, some regions have very substantial areas of Māori land supporting indigenous forest, while in others the areas are relatively small. The narrative below provides brief details of each of the regions under consideration.

2.3.1 Northland

Kauri and other softwoods originally dominated the forests of Northland. Following the arrival of European settlers, the value of kauri timber was quickly recognised and an extensive industry developed around the harvesting and processing of these trees.

So thorough was the exploitation of kauri that today little forest remains unmodified by harvesting. The pursuit of land for agriculture also contributed to the forest loss in Northland, as it did elsewhere in the country, but it was the desire for kauri that really drove the forest removal.

The result is a relatively small area of indigenous forest, of which approximately 76,185 hectares is on Māori owned land. Much of the forest remaining in Northland is second growth forest, with some of this already almost capable of supporting a small but sustainable harvest. Further, this regenerating resource can be expected to significantly increase the potential size of any sustainable harvest in the future, provided it is properly managed.

2.3.2 Auckland

As in Northland, the pursuit of kauri timber impacted severely on the forests of what is now the Auckland Region. This region is relatively small in terms of land area and is even less significant in terms of both indigenous forest area and Māori owned indigenous forest area.

The expansion of the Auckland urban area has been a significant driver of forest removal in earlier times, and while today there is general public support for the retention of indigenous forest, this has not always been the case. Clearance for agricultural land close to the early-established towns and ports has left the region with relatively limited natural forest. The urban population increasingly values these forests for non-economic reasons.

This region is unlikely to be the source of any significant timber industry.

2.3.3 Bay of Plenty

The Bay of Plenty region has the largest area of Māori owned indigenous forest of any of the regions in New Zealand. The region can be split into three distinct areas, generally based upon topography and land use. Generally the low-lying plains have been almost completely cleared of indigenous forest and now support intensive agriculture and horticulture. These same areas were in many cases alienated from Māori ownership through confiscation following the land wars in the 1860s.

The second significant areas are the inland plateaux and associated valley systems that proved unsuitable for agriculture in the early days due to (at that time undiscovered) cobalt deficiency. These areas now support the extensive plantation forests of the region.

The third area is the hill country that supported extensive indigenous forest. These forests have remained to the present day albeit in a modified form in many cases. Some areas were cleared for agriculture, but the majority of the modification came in the form of harvest of timber, and in particular removal of the softwood element.

Within this hill country there are large areas of land in public ownership, including Te Urewera National Park and Whirinaki, Kaimai-Mamaku, and Raukumara Forest Parks. Interspersed in these areas, and in particular within the Urewera Tract, are considerable areas of Māori Land, many of which support indigenous forest. Appendix 1 contains photos of some areas of indigenous forest found in these areas.

In the past, the topography has restricted the opportunities for some of these areas to be harvested, which is why they have endured to the present. The restrictions were both of a physical nature and legal constraints such as soil and water protection requirements. It is these areas that offer some of the best potential to develop a sustainable yield of indigenous timber from Māori land.

2.3.4 Waikato

The Waikato region extends from south of Auckland to the central North Island and from coast to coast. As a result it encompasses a wide range of land types and where present, indigenous forest covers. The region also has a significant area of Māori owned indigenous forest.

The landforms are in many cases similar to those found in the Bay of Plenty, with a similar resulting pattern of land use. Much of the Māori land supporting indigenous forest is found in the more remote hill country of the region and especially in the west coast areas, east and west Taupo, and in Coromandel.

While many of these forests have been logged at some point, many have a significant residual timber volume as most of the initial harvest was for softwoods, while others have significant levels of regeneration occurring.

2.3.5 Hawkes Bay

Much of the original forest in Hawkes Bay was removed prior to the arrival of European settlers, who then rapidly removed much of the reminder. This left a pattern of forest cover existing predominantly on the ranges, with the lowland having been converted to agriculture.

This region has a significant area of Māori owned indigenous forest, with the majority of it located in the main ranges between Napier and Taupo. This area, by virtue of its large, almost contiguous nature, offers some potential for management.

2.3.6 Gisborne

Unlike most other regions, Gisborne does not have extensive lowland areas. Almost the entire region is hill country, with reasonably difficult access. This would have made timber extraction a less attractive option than in other parts of the country.

However the entire East Coast area was extensively cleared for agriculture in the early1900s, which has resulted in the majority of the remaining natural forest being restricted to the more remote and difficult parts of the region, or to areas that have reverted from earlier farming attempts. In some parts of the region such as around Ruatoria, there are large areas of reverting farmland, much of it on Māori land.

The difficult soils and underlying geology may have also had some effect on the pattern of residual forest distribution, through the difficulty of access and the need to protect soils from erosion.

In terms of percentage of the region in Māori owned forest, this region is second only to the Bay of Plenty.

2.3.7 Manawatu-Wanganui

This region in the lower North Island consists of a range of land types including the axial ranges and extensive areas of very broken hill country in the inland Wanganui area. Most of the remaining indigenous forest is restricted to the hill country and the ranges due to the difficulty of access in the past.

There is a significant area of Māori owned indigenous forest within the region totalling over 68,000 hectares, much of which is located in the upper Wanganui River area and around Taumaranui.

2.3.8 Taranaki

The Taranaki Region is characterised by the volcanic cone of Mount Egmont and its associated ring plain. The mountain itself is contained within a National Park, while the ring plain has been almost entirely converted from forest to agricultural use.

Inland from these features there is an extensive area of broken hill country, much of which has been cleared for farming, but much also continues to support indigenous forest. There are large areas of Māori land in the region, but only a relatively small area supports indigenous forest.

2.3.9 Wellington

The Wellington Region also has extensive areas of indigenous forest with a significant proportion in public ownership. The area of Māori land supporting indigenous forest is relatively small at 4163 hectares. These forest areas are located predominantly around the southern coast area.

2.4 Ownership Patterns

The data presented in Table 2.1 provide the gross area of Māori owned indigenous forest. This however gives little indication of the ownership parameters for this land. Table 2.2 below shows the number of individual land "titles" in which this area is held, and the average size of those holdings.

Table 2.2 – Number of Titles and Average Area of each Title

Region	Nthlnd	Aklnd	W'kato	BOP	Gisbn	H/Bay	Tnki	Mwtu/ Wang	Wgtn	Total
Area (ha)	76185	2808	120,802	193,771	93,347	99,405	3520	68,288	4163	662,289
Number of Blocks	4667	194	6783	10599	5648	2953	359	3854	335	35,392
Average Area per Block (ha)	16.3	14.4	17.8	18.3	16.5	33.7	9.8	17.7	12.4	18.7

As can be seen from the table, there are large numbers of individual Māori land holdings that support indigenous forest, which in turn gives rise to a very low average land area per holding. These values indicate that a significant number of blocks are likely to be very small in area, and that there are likely to be a relatively small number of large land holdings.

What this data does not tell is the commonality of ownership between blocks. For example it is not uncommon for several blocks (which could all be adjoining) to have a degree of common ownership. This could be a significant issue worthy of further investigation.

No attempt has been made to quantify either the commonality of ownership or the actual distribution of title sizes. This becomes a more significant matter when an individual block is considered for the development of a Sustainable Forest Management Plan.

Section 3 describes the potential size of the forest resource, and in doing so removes blocks that are less than 10 hectares in extent, as these are considered to be too small to support a Sustainable Forest Management Plan. If however, a number of adjoining sub-10 hectare blocks with a commonality of ownership could be managed as a single "forest", the justification for a Sustainable Forest Management Plan would be enhanced.

The total forest area where this could occur is not, however, considered to be significant, and is unlikely to materially alter the findings of this study.

Contact for Enquiries

Policy Analyst - Forestry
Innovation and Research
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND

Tel: +64 4 894 0100
Fax: +64 4 894 0741
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