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Transitioning plantations to native species, especially on fragile land types, provides a major opportunity to protect and enhance native ecosystems and biodiversity. There are some sites, such as steepland, duneland and riparian corridors, where transitioning to permanent native forest will bring most biodiversity benefits.

Establishing new native forests can be difficult, more so in some parts of New Zealand than others. Exposed, dry conditions without overhead shade favour more aggressive weed species which outcompete native species; browsing pests are attracted to environments where native species could otherwise regenerate.

The forest cover of Ōtautahi-Christchurch City has been evolving for some 6000 years. Here Colin Meurk tracks relatively recent changes since settlers arrived, and presents an optimistic picture of native species making a comeback in and around the ‘Garden City’.

New Zealand is one of the world’s most urbanised countries, with some 86% of the population living in urban areas. Urban trees provide a myriad of environmental, cultural and well-being benefits, many of which are highly valued by urban dwellers.

Urban trees in open spaces and streets are the responsibility of local authorities and provide well-recognised environmental and social benefits. Historically, however, they have been undervalued in New Zealand.

Access to forests for urban communities is vital for well-being, including cultural well-being in Indigenous peoples. There are often fewer forests, trees and green spaces in lower socio-economic communities.

Forests are under threat globally from the slowly accelerating impacts of climate change. New Zealand’s forests are no different, with predictions of more frequent, severe droughts, more intense storms, and increasing pest and disease incursions amongst the biggest risks.

Native forests are likely to be encouraged as a way to help New Zealand meet its carbon emissions reduction targets. It is important to understand the rate at which these forests remove carbon from the atmosphere over time, and store it in their woody biomass.

On some sites and for some purposes, exotic species have a valuable contribution to make. These species include pines, eucalypts, cypresses, acacias and others.

Early settlers who arrived on land cleared of native forests soon began planting exotic tree species for multiple benefits. These exotics continue to dominate tree cover on farms today.

Nature-based forestry is ‘a blend between art, culture, and science’, where forests are managed on a continuous cover basis and allowed to reach their full potential in terms of the holistic services they can provide, including timber.

Planting programmes like The One Billion Trees fund present incredible opportunities for the native nursery industry. However, they also present challenges that will need to be carefully considered by all who are involved in the industry, be they producers, specifiers or users of plant material.

If New Zealand’s existing and new native forests are to ever reach their full biodiversity potential, mammalian predators need to be eliminated. Predator Free 2050 Ltd is the government-owned agency charged with leading work on predator control.

A Northland whānau looks back over four generations and plans its forest management strategy 750 years into the future. The whānau’s vision is to manage the land in perpetuity, and to combine modern science and technology with traditional values of caring for Papatūānuku, restoring cultural practices and providing for their extended whanau.

Successful establishment of native forests requires forest managers to ‘think like a forest’ and apply lessons from nature. This requires knowledge of the ecology of different species, and where possible, mimicking natural conditions in which each species would regenerate.

The language of New Zealand’s native forests has been dominated by the word ‘bush’ for more than a century, a word which historically was linked to forest clearance.

The loss of native forests since humans first settled in New Zealand around 800 years ago has been a disaster for hill country soils, water quality and biodiversity. Evidence of soil movement and its eventual loss into waterways and the sea is widespread.