Projects
Restoring the indigeous forests
Summary
Restoring the indigenous forest
NZ Forest Restoration’s programme is designed to re-establish indigenous forest over the long-term, using carbon income to restore an exotic forest – previously destined for harvest – into a permanent, biodiverse environment.
Within an active and adaptive forestry management regime, restoration is a naturally occurring ecological process of forest succession. Fast-growing pioneer trees provide the right conditions for a slower growing and more complex forest, allowing a range of species to become established as part of a biodiverse ecosystem.
To accelerate and support the natural restoration process, we use the exotic trees as a nurse crop, supplemented by native seed sources. In a well-established programme, which is tailored to each individual site, our project manager, NZCF, undertakes careful management and planned interventions to create the environment for the restoration to a biodiverse native forest.
The restoration model is designed to allow the forest to undergo its natural cycle of growth, development and succession – supported by the active management programme. This means the environment can benefit from the rapid sequestration of carbon when it is most needed – over the next 70 years. Then, as the native trees grow and ultimately succeed the faster growing exotics, they will continue to capture CO2 over hundreds of years. This process will balance any release of carbon that occurs as part of the forest’s natural lifecycle.
The Science of Forest Restoration/ Carbon removals and other benefits of the NZ Forest Restoration project
Dr Len Gillman, Professor of Ecology, Independent Advisor on Forest Restoration
Science
The science of restoration
Over 50 years of local scientific research supports the process of restoration. Our project manager NZCF has had an independent team of forest scientists working on its restoration programme for the last five years. Their findings, and the wider research undertaken in a New Zealand setting, is guiding the operationalisation of active management for restoration at scale.
Using the latest technology
To track progress of restoration and measure the carbon sequestration of the forest we utilise the latest available technology – from multi-spectral imaging to LiDAR analysis – to monitor the growth of the forest and plan for specific management interventions. This will better enable the efficient assessment of the forest structure and growth trajectories at different spatial and temporal scales.
The pest and predator control programme is also supported by the use of a range of innovative technologies, including thermal imaging and AI-operated traps, which use machine-learning to recognise target species.