Tairāwhiti native forests grow fast - check the Waikereru data!
The Bioeconomy team (formerly Manaaki Whenua) who set up growth plots to measure the carbon in our dated plantings at Waikereru have sent us their findings.
It looks as though puriri trees at Waikereru grow at rates competitive with pine, while the growth rates for most other indigenous trees are about twice those for native forests in the Emissions Trading Scheme look-up tables.
This has a major economic impact.
If this is true across Tairāwhiti, those who regenerate and restore native forests should be getting at least twice what they are currently receiving from the ETS.
Sadly, though, those rates have just plummeted as a result of government policies that deny the devastating impacts of climate change.
Given billions of dollars of damage and the huge harm caused to lives, livelihoods and landscapes in regions like Tairāwhiti, Hawkes Bay and Nelson, this is difficult to understand.
