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Land Land use
Exotic forestry land use
In April 2006, planted forests were estimated to cover 1.8 million hectares of New Zealand’s total land area.
Total land area in exotic forestry in New Zealand between 1991 and 2005 remained higher than that in 1990.
The trend of increasing land area in exotic forestry peaked in 2003, with land area in exotic forestry reducing since that time.
Total exotic forest land in New Zealand, 1990–2005
Data source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Exotic forestry land use is monitored for new plantings and for replantings of harvested plantations. There has been a reduction in new plantings and replantings over the last decade.
In the period from 1992 to 1998, new area planting rates were high – averaging 69,000 hectares per year. Since 1998, the rate of new forest plantings has dropped. In 2005, only 5000 hectares were planted – the lowest level since 1959.
Area of new exotic forestry plantings, 1920–2005
Data source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
The reduction in new plantings since the mid-1990s means that New Zealand’s land area in exotic (commercially planted) forest is no longer increasing. The maintenance of the current area of exotic forestry land will depend on replanting trends, that is, whether forestry land use is maintained after harvest.
Historically, most commercially planted forest was replanted after harvest. However, in 2004, a new trend of not replanting forest after harvesting started to become apparent. In a few cases immature forest has been converted to pasture. The 2006 National Exotic Forest Description survey indicates that approximately 12,900 hectares of forest (33 per cent of the total area harvested) will not be replanted after clear-felling. This compares with an historical average of two to five per cent of exotic forests not being replanted after harvesting.
New plantings and replanting of exotic forestry, 1990–2005
Data source: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
If low replanting rates continue, New Zealand’s total exotic (commercial) forest land area will continue to reduce. A reduction in total exotic forest land area will have implications for the sequestration of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. It may also affect flood management, nutrients and soil health, soil erosion, and ecosystem processes related to the displacement of species living in exotic forest habitats. The impacts of deforestation on the environment will largely depend on the land use that is replacing forestry, how that land use is managed, and the management of the surrounding catchment.
This information has come from the latest national state of the environment report Environment New Zealand 2007.
Last updated: December 2007
