“We have lost a month when we would have been doing ground preparation and spraying. We have the staff to go and work but they can’t get out until that work is completed, “ he said.
The planting window for Northland will not extend much beyond late September but is dependent on how dry conditions are and much of that region remains in near drought conditions.
While tree supply is generally good the dry conditions mean they are still not in ideal condition for transplanting.
Restarting harvesting operations is also challenging, despite operators often working in equipment with a cab, in remote locations.
“We need to get our gangs to locations and you can’t have more than two in a car. Not all will have drivers’ licences so this is proving a real challenge to manage.”
The industry is launching a planting recruitment campaign this week.
Forest Industry Contractors Association chief executive Prue Younger said there could be 800-1000 jobs available over the coming months throughout NZ.
The industry has worked with Ministry for Social Development through its Work the Seasons job portal.
While physically tough the work gave a chance to earn up to $300 a day once planters are up to speed. Younger said the planting opportunities stretch over much of the country and in general there is a good supply of seedlings.
But Ihaka cautioned it is critical forestry takes a measured approach to manning operations in coming months and avoids a boom-bust rush.
“If we rush a lot of new people into planting trees we may get a lot in the ground but established businesses could be forced from the sector by cowboy operations.”
Meantime, the supply lines look clear for good log flow once operators are up to speed again.
“There is good demand in China now and the ports here were cleared of logs prior to the lockdown so there is space to handle the logs here,” Younger said.
Forest Owners Association president Phil Taylor said there were usually 1-1.5 million cubic metres of timber on NZ wharves but that is only 200,000-250,000 cubic metres now.
“And prices are looking good at the moment.”
The impact of the Chinese shutdown then the covid lockdown has varied depending on the size of the forest the contracting companies work in.
“By and large the larger forest owners have been more resilient in this so contractors working with them will be looking to come out of this better on the whole than those contracting to smaller forest operations.
“Along with planting the seedlings this year one of the other concerns is lifting them when they get transplanted. We would generally take on itinerant workers for that.”
Ihaka said the delays mean the sector is now competing with horticulture for staff and time pressure to get trees in the ground will only increase.
Meantime, the Government’s Billion Trees project is entering its second full planting season. Last season finished up short of the extra 50,000ha required to fulfil the Billion Trees target, with about 30,000ha of new land planted.
Taylor said covid problems notwithstanding, it could also be a tall order to hit 50,000ha this year.
“Replacement planting should be okay.”
But the question will be finding enough labour to plant the new land.
A more integrated approach between pastoral farmers and forestry means there is still a chance to meet the target but the sectors need to co-operate.
