Currently around 100,000 hectares of forests are sustainably managed under some 200 management plans. They produce a range of timbers for use in furniture and speciality areas. Approximately 650,000 hectares of indigenous forests have the potential to be sustainably managed. There are currently 55 of these forests throughout the country. As the forests are harvested, the loans will be repaid to the Government.
Harvesting is now underway in some areas.
The Group inspects all forests annually to ensure operations are being carried out satisfactorily. The East Coast Forestry Project was set up by the Government in 1992. Administered through the Group's Gisborne office, the project's objective until June 1999 was to plant 200,000 hectares of commercial forest over 28 years on severely eroding and potentially erodible land in the East Coast of the North Island. Following a Ministerial review this objective has been modified to target 60,000 hectares of the most at risk lands plus immediate surrounding areas. Protecting the land will be achieved mainly through commercial forest planting.