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Plantation Forestry

The proposed National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry (NES) was released in September 2010 for consultation.

During September 2010 six consultation workshops were held to inform people about the proposed NES.

The period for submissions closed on 18 October 2010. 117 submissions were received on the proposed NES. View the submissions.

In response to submissions and further analysis, a revised NES proposal was released in May 2011 and comments were sought from existing submitters. The Ministry received 62 comments. View the comments. This process is described in more detail below.

This page includes information on:

Update – final assessment of costs and benefits of the proposed NES

The Ministry has considered comments that relate to the high level policy (activity status, ability to be more stringent and scope). The Ministry is still working through comments on the more detailed policy (terms and conditions).

Following on from the comments phase on the revised NES proposal, the Ministry has considered the costs and benefits of the proposed NES. The cost-benefit analysis has identified gaps in the data that requires further investigation.

The Ministry is working with a group of key stakeholders to complete this work. The policy proposal may change as a result of this process.

The revised NES proposal (2011)

Since the public consultation on the proposed NES the Ministry established five working groups, including four subgroups and a main working group. The subgroups were established to provide feedback to the main working group on some of the more technical issues raised by submitters, while the main working group focused on more generic, high-level issues. This main working group has recommended changes to the original proposed NES.

To read more about the revised proposed NES and the comments on it:

Important aspects of the policy include:


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Erosion susceptibility classification

A key component of the original NES proposal was the development of an erosion susceptibility classification, used to identify land where forestry activities would be permitted or require resource consent.

The project was undertaken by University of Canterbury’s School of Forestry and underwent a rigorous validation process, by land management experts, regional council staff and an independent expert peer review panel. 

The School of Forestry developed both three and four tier classification systems.  These were evaluated and it was decided the four tier system best suited the policy framework, and as such has been included in the revised NES proposal.

The classification uses colour coding (green, yellow, orange and red) to group land into low, moderate, high and very high erosion susceptibility classes. These classes have been used to inform the activity status for various forestry activities.

View the erosion susceptibility classification maps by area:

Alternatively the GIS map is available for download through Koordinates.com.

For higher resolution maps please email standards@mfe.govt.nz indicating which map/s you want.

The Ministry for the Environment welcomes queries and questions on the classification system. Whilst we have used our best efforts to ensure that the development and review process has been as robust as possible, due to the nature of the underlying data, inconsistencies in the classification may have occurred. 

Please let us know if you have queries or questions on how it was developed, the rational for classification of individual units, apparent inconsistencies, and/or how it will be used.

However, because of the nature of the underlying data, we will not be able to resolve some issues such as:

  • scale, for example where a larger scale is requested.  Validated mapping data only exists at 1:50,000 at this time.
  • Mapping boundaries of individual LUC units.  It is not able to adjust polygon boundaries.

If submitting questions or queries, please include a brief explanation and the outcome that is sought.  If it relates to specific LUC units, reference to those would be useful.
For more information on the process for developing the erosion susceptibility classification:

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Assessing the Status Quo – Review of Authority Rules (ROAR)

Many submitters raised concerns about how the proposed NES would affect particular districts or regions. In response, the Ministry has undertaken a survey of local authorities' resource management plans to determine what rules currently exist for plantation forestry activities. This survey compares the stringency of the policy in the proposed NES to existing rules in regional, unitary and district council resource management plans. All regional and unitary authorities have been surveyed, but only 23 district councils were looked at, as these councils contain roughly two-thirds of New Zealand's plantation forest area.

The assessment involved comparing conditions for all plantation forestry activities in the proposed NES one by one against existing rules (and terms and conditions) in each plan. If a condition in a plan is more or less stringent, it is accordingly assigned a positive or negative value. The scores were tallied in spreadsheets to give a total stringency score for each council. Only rules in rural zone were considered. Reasons for difference between authorities (e.g. land classes, receiving environments) were not considered. Once confirmed, these scores will be able to show where the proposed NES sits in terms of the status quo.

Establishing the status quo allows the Ministry to:

  • determine how the conditions of the proposed NES compare to existing plans (see whether they are more or less stringent than the status quo)
  • find gaps in proposed policy
  • compare revisions of the policy
  • estimate the likely uptake of the 'ability to be more stringent' exceptions
  • inform the final cost−benefit analysis process
  • have a snapshot of plan rules so that the effectiveness of the policy can be monitored.

The second comments phase provides an opportunity for councils to ground-truth the Review of Authority Rules (ROAR) analysis. We would like your feedback on how accurate the analysis has been in your region/district. Please view the spreadsheets before answering question 9 in appendix 5 of the information book on the revised proposal.
To use the ROAR system, open the spreadsheet for either district, regional or unitary authorities. The first worksheet(s) contain summary tables of overall stringency, lists of plans analysed, the methodology and assumptions. The following worksheets (coloured tabs at the bottom) look at each forestry activity addressed by the proposed NES and compares to council rules. The score for each activity's worksheet is tallied in the summary tab to give the overall stringency score.

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Brief summary of the original proposed NES (2010)

The Government is proposing a national environmental standard (as regulations under the Resource Management Act 1991) for plantation forestry.

The intent of the proposed standard is to improve national consistency in local authority plan rules relating to plantation forestry and certainty for those involved in the management of plantation forests.

This proposed NES:

  • covers  the activity status and conditions that might apply to  eight plantation forestry activities (afforestation, replanting, mechanical land preparation, harvesting, pruning and thinning to waste, earthworks, quarrying and river crossings)
  • does not cover some associated forestry activities (e.g. agrichemical use, milling, and processing of timber)
  • allows local authorities to retain control over how local natural and physical resources are managed in some circumstances
  • proposes an erosion susceptibility classification system for determining the activity status for some plantation forestry activities.

The NES would require all local authorities to give effect to and enforce its requirements.


To read more about the proposed NES and the process of developing it:

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Process - where we are at

The Ministry is currently in the redesign stage of the policy process.

The diagram below outlines the process for developing a national environmental standard. The highlighted section indicates which stage of the process we are at.

Figure 1: Process for developing a national environmental standard

Figure 1: Process for developing a national environmental standard

Read a description of this figure

Figure 1 depicts a flow chart showing the process of developing a national environmental standard.

1. Define

    • Define the problem
    • Indentify the policy context
    • Identify opportunities
    • Decide whether a NES is the most appropriate tool (key decision point)

2. Design

    • Convene stakeholder advisory groups
    • Design the policy
    • Prepare preliminary cost-benefit analysis
    • Prepare discussion document
    • Cabinet approval to consult (key decision point)

3. Consult

    • Public notification
    • Public workshops / hui

4. Redesign

    • Analyse submissions
    • Revisit and redesign policy
    • Prepare final cost benefit analysis
    • Cabinet approval to draft regulations (key decision point)

5. Deliver

    • Prepare drafting instructions
    • Finalise draft regulations
    • Cabinet approval of final regulation (key decision point)
    • Governor-General approval of NES (key decision point)

6. Implement

    • User's guides
    • Information
    • Workshops

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Further information


Last updated: 7 September 2011