April 05, 2019
Billion Trees boosts te Uri o Hau prospects
Te Uru Rakau (Forestry New Zealand) has signed a joint venture with Te Uri o Hau to plant 2843 hectares of forest on the Pouto Peninsula in Kaipara.
Forestry Minister Shane Jones says it’s the second largest planting initiative for the One Billion Trees Programme to date.
An agreement was also signed today with Tapuwae Incorporation covering up to 800 hectares in the Tapuwae Forest in Hokianga.
Mr Jones says the total planting area across joint ventures is now 13,000 hectares, over halfway to the target of 24,000 hectares.
He says the Government’s One Billion Trees programme is realising economic, environmental and social benefits across regional New Zealand, creating planting and silviculture jobs and offering landowners, including Maori, the ability to diversify income and improve land productivity.
Also announced today was an investment from the Provincial Growth Fund of up to $18.5 million in community-scale water storage projects to unlock land use potential in the Mid North.
Mr Jones, in his capacity as Regional Economic Development Minister, says more reliable water supply could generate the region up to $150 million in increased horticulture earnings per year and create more than 1000 jobs.
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