To create a long-term sustainable forest, a good wood type mixture and age classes are as important as profitability. Since the beginning of the 20th Century most of the planted forests in NZ consist of pure Radiata Pine monocultures. This species grows in only 30 years to its optimal size before getting harvested and mostly shipped overseas.
Due to the worldwide problem of global warming single variety forest plantations will start facing a range of problems. To reduce the risk of being exposed too much to the consequences of a single forest variety we decided to plant other species.
We are convinced that natural regrowth is going to be the future in sustainable forestry as the trees grow more stable, the erosion of the soil is fewer, and chemicals can be radically reduced. In the Radiata Pine stands, we will continue to use the clear-cut method but instead of using weed killers before planting we will let the nature do its work and wait for the strong regrowth to emerge by itself.
We use our own carbon credits to compensate voluntarily the emissions of our farming operation.