Home Page

Re-foresting New Zealand

STRAND 4: Ngahere Ki Te Rangi

C-neutral farming and

C-offsetting urban emissions

"...is a pragmatic approach to creating community effectiveness in restoring the natural character of our most threatened terrestrial ecosystems..." P. Lawless

STRAND FOUR: Carbon-neutral farming and C-offsetting urban emissions.

Indigenous Afforestation is the most pragmatic and effective solution to achieve Carbon-neutral farming and to offset urban C-emissions in New Zealand. Pre-requisites to achieve optimal indigenous C-sequestration rates are implemented as part of this programme:

1) Access to high quality native timber seed sources (STRAND TWO). 2) Site-specific bare-land afforestation designs to fast-track ecological succession and C-sequestration (STRAND THREE). Together they achieve the best possible mean annual increment for indigenous trees and at a stocking density of 100 veneer quality trees per hectare, also the best possible C-storage per hectare, both in terms of biomass and soil-humic matter.

STRAND FOUR achieves this by providing reliable financial support to the forester throughout the forest's establishment early succession period. This covers much of the exponential growth and associated C-sequestration phase of the young forest until permanent-canopy ecological silviculture yields cover and exceed forest management costs heralding the beginning of STRAND FIVE.

Vigorous Puriri saplings (Vitex lucens), competing for a canopy gap, regenerating and synergising a forest ecosystem. Inspected by John Crawford of the Far North.