National Environmental Standards for Forestry

As of 3 November 2023, the new forestry legislation being the National Environmental Standard for Commercial Forestry came into force. Make sure you are aware of your responsibilities under the new regulations.

The NES-CF is set to regulate both plantation and continuous cover exotic forests that are deliberately established for commercial purposes, being at least 1 hectare of continuous forest cover. Going forward the NES-CF will manage the core forestry activities. However, if the forest is under 1 hectare it will need to comply with the relevant council plan rules (both district and regional).

We are waiting on the finalised resources from the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) and once these have been received, we will update our website to reflect these changes. In the meantime, still send any notifications to the existing email (RM.Requests@waikatoregion.govt.nz) to ensure you are meeting the new regulations.

Please note there are several changes to the existing regulations and information requirements. You can view the amended changes for forestry activities, here.

There is a transitional provision in place as the sector works through the new regulations:

"The NES-CF come into force on 3 November 2023 and new activities will need to comply with the NES-CF from this date. However, existing activities (such as harvest or earthworks) with management plans that have been submitted to councils prior to 3 November will be able to continue under the existing management plan until that activity is completed or in the case of continuous harvest until the notice expires. If a notice expires prior to 3 April 2024 (for instance for ongoing operations that submit an annual notice) foresters will be able to renew their existing management plan once under the current rules."

If you require any assistance or have any questions regarding the new regulations please feel free to email rudqueries@waikatoregion.govt.nz.

The NES-CF contains rules and compliance conditions for eight plantation forestry activities:

• Afforestation.
• Pruning and thinning to waste.
• Earthworks.
• River crossings.
• Forest quarrying.
• Harvesting.
• Mechanical land preparation. 
• Replanting.

These activities are provided for as either permitted (not requiring authorisation), controlled or restricted discretionary (requiring authorisation).

Risk assessment tools

There are three risk assessment tools that form part of the regulations.

Erosion Susceptibility Classification

Fish Spawning Indicator

Wilding Tree Risk Calculator

Activities not covered by the NES-CF regulations will continue to be managed by regional or territorial authority plans. In the Waikato region, this includes the Waikato Regional Plan and the Regional Coastal Plan.

Refer to the MFE overview of regulations (link at the top of this page) to determine what is in and out of scope.

Waikato Regional Council will implement the regulations of the NES-CF for activities in our region.

Some permitted forestry activities now require notification to us within 10 days of starting an activity. Find out more, including how to notify.

There are criteria identified in Regulation 6 of the NES-CF to retain more stringent rules and to make new rules more stringent. These include giving effect to the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, providing for outstanding natural features and landscapes and significant natural areas, and recognising and managing unique and sensitive environments such as geothermal or karst landscapes.

Where regional rules are retained under Regulation 6, a Schedule 1 consultative process is not to be undertaken. However, where new rules are proposed to be more stringent, these have to go through the Schedule 1 consultative process.

There is one regional rule which has been retained under Regulation 6 – Discretionary Activity Rule 7.6.6.3 Activities in the Vicinity of a Significant Geothermal Feature.

We took a two phase approach in our implementation of the NES-PF.

Phase 1

The first phase was the identification of all amendments that needed to be made, which included rules to be retained under Regulation 6. Section 44A of the Resource Management Act 1991 directs councils to make amendments to RMA plans which can be made without using the Schedule 1 process. This is why there has been no formal notification or consultation processes.

Phase 2

The second phase is to identify, through evidence and monitoring, where new rules to be more stringent will be needed under Regulation 6. If there is justification for new, more stringent rules, this will be undertaken as part of the Waikato Regional Plan review, and will subsequently go through Schedule 1 (formal notification and consultation) of that process.

Through the review and alignment process it has been determined that there are no consequential amendments required to the Regional Policy Statement. However, should new rules be proposed under Regulation 6, amendments to the Regional Policy Statement may be required as part of the Waikato Regional Plan review (Healthy Environments) process.

We have not identified any conflict between the Vision and Strategy for the Waikato River and the NES-PF or NES-CF. However, should conflicts arise, the Vision and Strategy prevails.