Visualising Forestry Harvesting Cycles

Future risk planning through the visualisation of forestry harvesting cycles.

For full information see the programme website

Pine forest near Wakefield in the north of the South Island. Photo: John Carnemolla / Shutterstock

Project Details Ngā taipitopito

Project Status:

Completed

Challenge funding:

$700,000

Research duration:

July 2023 – June 2024

Collaborators Ngā haumi

What are we doing?E aha ana mātou?

Local councils, landowners, and the forestry sector are working to enhance their management and mitigation of future environmental impacts. Central to this effort is the ambition to improve access to vital information about forestry stand locations, recent harvests, and forthcoming harvesting schedules.

The project aims to create an online spatial decision support tool to help visualise forestry stand age data and predict risk profiles in catchments of different sizes. This involves visualising future intergenerational harvesting cycles, downstream risks, and the natural susceptibility of areas typically prone to erosion.

This approach aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of harvesting cycles on a catchment scale, which is essential for proactive environmental stewardship.

The methodology will be completed by mid-2024. After this, the web-based tool will undergo further refinements in five targeted regions: Te Tauihu (Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough), Te Matau-a-Māui (Hawkes Bay), and Tairāwhiti (Gisborne), with the goal of expanding deployment throughout Aotearoa.

How can the research be used? Ka pēhea e whai take ai te rangahau?

Users of the tool will be able to see a consistent and accurate baseline of plantation stand age that can be used as a proxy for likely harvesting activity.
Visualisations of data will use a time slider and heat mapping to highlight catchments and forested areas needing greater attention to help focus management efforts into the future.
Users will be able to visualise and understand the evolving risks associated with forestry activities in different catchment areas.
The results from this project could ultimately provide a common medium to enable open and transparent landscape-scale management conversations to flourish to futureproof communities, infrastructure and the sensitive receiving environments downstream.
This project will surface data and information that is currently inaccessible to many due to resource limitations, empowering the forestry sector to showcase progressive and proactive catchment planning with regulators, empower tangata whenua to protect cultural heritage, and encourage other land users to think holistically.

Participation & engagement Te hunga i whai wāhi mai

A stakeholder analysis will be undertaken to deeply understand needs, pain points and opportunities.
The research team will work with Māori stakeholder groups, predominantly through te Taiao teams within post settlement governance entities and representatives from iwi commercial boards that hold forestry interests, to ensure that their needs are well understood and accounted for in the design of the tool.

Research team Te hunga i whai wāhi mai

Project Manager

Mark Spencer

GeoInsight

Architect/Software Lead

Robert Besaans

GeoInsight

Science Lead

Brenda Rosser

GNS Science

Pete Watt

Indufor

Mark Bloomberg

University of Canterbury

Tools & resources Ngā utauta me ngā rauemi

Guidance

Forestry Catchment Planner: User Guide

The User Guide provides a comprehensive overview of the Forestry Catchment Planner app‘s interface and key features. It helps users understand how to effectively navigate…

View Guidance

Interactive Tool

Forest Catchment Planner app

The Forestry Catchment Planner provides a comprehensive and intuitive platform for understanding plantation forestry harvesting cycles in a geospatial context within New Zealand’s vulnerable landscapes.…

View Interactive Tool

Method

Forestry Catchment Planner documentation website

The documentation site for the Forestry Catchment Planner app is designed to provide users with clear, accessible information on the project’s methodology and data analysis.…

View Method

Summary

Project Summary – Future Risk Planning Through The Visualisation Of Forestry Harvesting Cycles

The project team engaged an extensive audience through the project including iwi, councils, forestry industry, subject matter experts, scientists and public in order to deeply…

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Summary

Visualisation Of Forestry Harvesting Cycles: Wairoa Catchment Case Study

The case study illustrates how the Forestry Catchment Planner app could assist various stakeholders in the forestry sector by offering detailed insights into land vulnerability…

View Summary