The goal, as part of the Right Tree, Right Place philosophy, is for native species to represent two-thirds of the 80m stems, Primary Industries Ministry forestry head Julie Collins said.
This season 60.5m trees were planted to mid-September, which is in line with expectations.
Of those, 6.5m were funded through Government grant programmes, but by 2023 more than $54m will be distributed in planting grants and joint ventures.
By September seven contracts covering about 4600ha in Northland, Wellington, Hawke’s Bay and Bay of Plenty were in place through Crown Forestry joint ventures for this and coming years.
“Six of these are farms integrating commercial forestry planted along with their agriculture enterprise.”
A further 6700ha of joint venture planting is under active consideration or at various stages of contract negotiation while others are at earlier stages.
“Total expressions of interest, including those yet to be assessed for viability and criteria, exceed the target of 24,000ha.”
The launch later this year of the One Billion Trees Grants and Partnerships Fund will provide grants for planting up to 60m trees over the next three years.
“The target is that two-thirds of these trees will be natives.
“Grants will be available to landowners to plant trees across all regions of New Zealand,” she said.
Budgeted Government grants will include $6.9m for afforestation projects for 5.8m trees of various species – $42m for hill country erosion and $5.5m for small community plantings of native species.
The grants and partnerships are designed to increase sustainable regional development through the planting of trees that would not normally happen because of a lack of funds.
“To this end there will be an upper limit for hectares per applicant and links with farm environment plans.”
Collins said there is no shortage of suitable land.
“Achieving the target of one billion trees requires 230,000 to 430,000ha of new land for planting, depending on the species and type of planting.
“Spatial mapping indicates that there is approximately 4m hectares of non-productive or low-producing land, for example, highly erodible land or steep slopes.
“This suggests that there is sufficient land available to meet the tree-planting target by integrating into landscapes without significant economic impact on the pastoral sectors.”
MPI has been working with the Productivity Commission to provide data for analysis.
The billion trees programme is one element of the Government policy of being carbon neutral by 2050.
“The commission’s estimates of the amount of afforestation that would be required to sequester an amount of carbon suggest planting far beyond the scope of the one billion trees we are aiming for, which includes half a billion that was forecast to be planted anyway through existing activity over the next 10 years.
“As the commission notes, the level of afforestation needed will depend greatly on the rate and nature of technology change over the next 30 years.”
Collins said a goal is to help landowners diversify their income through timber, carbon or recreational activities, address issues such as erosion and water quality and to offset emissions.
The Ministry for the Environment’s Zero Carbon Bill Economic Analysis said forestry could reduce nitrogen leaching and soil erosion into waterways and help protect indigenous species facing extinction.
It quoted a study that estimated the ecosystem value of each hectare of plantation forestry is $5600 for one catchment, of which improved water quality made up more than half that value.
Next is biodiversity with benefits valued at $257 a hectare then pollination at $206 a hectare. Erosion control is valued at $121 a hectare.
