Clarky's Comment - October 2014
Since our September edition of Wood Matters we have had 2 big things take place in New Zealand. The first is a general election.
READ MORESince our September edition of Wood Matters we have had 2 big things take place in New Zealand. The first is a general election.
READ MOREThe big news story is Red Stag's announcement to build a new $60m sawmill on its Waipa site in Rotorua.
READ MOREThe Journal of Sustainable Forestry recently published an article on how effective wood as a building material is at mitigating both greenhouse gas emissions and use of fossil fuels (see Carbon, Fossil Fuel, and Biodiversity Mitigation With Wood and Forests).
READ MOREIt has come to our attention that some people think that PF Olsen has become a log exporter as part of the PF Olsen Market-Direct programme.
READ MOREIn less than 2 years time the current FFR steep land harvesting research programme supported by the industry members and the Government's Primary Growth Partnership comes to an end.
READ MOREWith the result of the General Election returning the National Party to Government, and Tim Groser as Minister for Climate Change, the carbon market carried on as before.
READ MOREIt is too early to determine whether NZ plantation forest safety and the focus by WorkSafe and forest owners/managers over the past 12 months is yet impacting on the forest industry's safety performance.
READ MORESeptember saw another export log price increase, building on what is becoming a strong rebound from the dramatic slide in prices during the April to July 2014 period.
READ MOREIn January of this year the new forest growing levy commenced.
READ MORESam manages the trucking operations for Ken Holmes and both of them serve on the Zero Tolerance Scheme – which is a sub-committee (working group) under our PF Olsen, Central Safety Committee. Recently Sam put together a Photographic Survey detailing Safe Driving Behaviour especially as it relates to dealing with large vehicles on forestry roads.
READ MOREIt's pretty easy to get despondent about public policy and a negative public perception regarding forestry.
READ MOREIn the Ministry for Primary Industries latest Sustainable Forestry Bulletin, improvements in the East Coast Grant Scheme were explained.
READ MOREThe New Zealand general election is due to be held on the 20th September. Here is a brief summary of the general climate change policies of each of the main political parties.
READ MOREUnited Forestry Group's launch of a vehicle to "maximise the value of output from small forests" has some laudable objectives, but is unnecessarily dismissive of the current make up of the industry and could also miss the mark in terms of its espoused solutions.
READ MOREBack in June of 2013 (Issue 54 of Wood Matters), Peter Clark pondered why, despite very compelling economic and environmental attributes, there is a trend of divestment in forestry – both in forest growing and the processing of forest products in New Zealand.
READ MOREI have just returned from the Forest Stewardship Council General Assembly in Seville, Spain where I was honoured to be invited to speak on one of three CEO discussion panels on the issue of "Good Investment".
READ MOREIn last month's Wood Matters, it was stated that the Zero Tolerance Scheme to improve safety of log loading was conceived by PF Olsen's Central Safety Committee.
READ MOREHenry Morris who commenced as Harvest Supervisor in Northland.
READ MOREThis month the National government announced a reinstatement of the (prior) Afforestation Grant Scheme (AGS) – with a few changes.
READ MOREStephen Hunt from Hunt Contracting is utilising a log shear to remove the roots of wind blown trees.
READ MORE