Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment - Te Kaitiaki Taiao a Te Whare Pāremata

Report summary

A follow up report to assess the response by Timberlands West Coast Limited to recommendations made by the Commissioner in a 1995 review of Timberlands draft beech management plans; and to promote informed debate about the future uses of New Zealand native forests. The report focuses on the ecological sustainability of the proposed harvesting regimes.

Commissioner's preface

It is important that New Zealand makes progress towards multiple use indigenous forest systems given the extensive areas of such forests in private ownership. There is enormous opportunity to develop more sustainable systems provided there is progress on:

• the science
• information exchange/education
• trust
• dialogue.

There are major challenges in New Zealand to developing indigenous forest harvest systems that can provide conservation and timber products over a long period; i.e. that are ecologically sustainable.

Executive summary

This assessment of Timberlands West Coast Limited's (Timberlands) plans to log beech forests on the company's estates is a follow up to a substantive review of Beech Management Prescriptions carried out in 1995. The intent of this review is to promote informed discussion of the wider management framework and ecological principles within which Timberlands and private indigenous forest owners operate, to ensure future native forest uses are sustainable.

The original review, and this follow up, focus on the adequacy of Timberland's plans in terms of the ecological sustainability of the proposed harvesting regimes. An examination of the consultation process used by Timberlands and ongoing environmental auditing to be carried out forms a substantial part of this review.

The plans prepared in 1998 show strong evidence of uptake of previous PCE recommendations, and are an improvement on the 1995 prescriptions - they contain extensive information on ecological management matters and display an awareness of the principles of sustainable management. However much of the reference material is not publicly available, and therefore not verifiable. This inability to access and verify supporting information is of particular concern when considering the adequacy of consultation and the public participation processes undertaken by Timberlands. In fact Timberlands appears reluctant to include public and tangata whenua consultation in its process. There is also a lack of specific details as to when, how and by whom an environmental audit will be conducted of Timberlands operations, or if the outcomes of the audit will be publicly available.

Findings & recommendations

The Timberlands West Coast Ltd plans for the harvesting of beech represent considerable progress in seeking to provide timber products while maintaining ecological sustainability.

However there are two main areas of concern:

• The need for a thorough consultation process was stressed by the PCE in 1995. The consultation conducted since then is not seen to be adequate. Approximately half of the reference material cited in the plans is unpublished and not readily available. In addition important statements are not referenced. Therefore public scrutiny of all of the available information is not possible preventing adequate consultation.
• A lack of specificity over what an environmental audit of Timberlands West Coast Limited will cover, and whether the results will be able to be scrutinised by the public.

This report recommends that the Minister of State on Enterprises:

• Extend the time allocated for public comment on the beech management plans
• Appoint an independent auditor to carry out an annual audit of the impacts of Timberlands West Coast Ltd have on beech forest ecosystems with the results publicly reported
• Facilitate the development of a programme to improve public understanding of indigenous forest utilisation issues, where both production and conservation goals are sought.