Forestry

New Zealand has a total land area of 26.9 million hectares, of which an estimated 1.79 million hectares is planted in exotic production forests. Most forests are planted with pinus radiata.

Trees reach maturity in 25 - 30 years, faster than anywhere else in the world.

Forestry has four main sectors. They are:

Planning
Before a new forest plantation is established a significant amount of planning has to take place. This includes considering road and track layout, species selection, desired end product when the forest is harvested and infrastructure. Environmental impacts will also need to be considered.

As the forest grows, data is collected before and during each operation, to enable efficient management and to measure results.

Establishment
The establishment of a new plantation involves many tasks – from building roads and planting seedlings to weed and predator control.

Silviculture
A plantation forest needs regular maintenance to maximise the value of the forest when it is eventually harvested. Tasks include pruning, thinning and protection from diseases and pests.

Harvesting
When trees are ready for harvesting, a variety of specialists are required to drop the trees and move them to the processing area. Harvesting operations consist of a series of elements including planning, felling, delimbing, extraction, log making, fleeting, loading and transportation to log yards for further processing.