Opportunity, frustration in timber resource

14-07-2010 | Not Specified

A sustainable management plan to take 1000 cubic metres of timber from native beech forests on Waipuna provides an opportunity as well as a degree of frustration for the Fergusons.

So far this year they have milled about 300 cubic metres of mainly beech trees including hard, silver and red, sold to a local mill. The frustration lies with marketing what Ken Ferguson describes as desirable native timber struggling to compete with New Zealand's infatuation with rimu.

They work hand-in-hand with the local mill to create markets for the beech, but while Ken says there is potential for the native forest to contribute $100,000 in income, it's about $20,000.

"We've got a resource there that we are growing perpetually, but we need to be able to harvest it economically and at a volume that is worthwhile," he says.

It also grates that native forest earns no carbon credits even though it is constantly replenishing.

"The way we treat our native forest and the way we treat our exotic forests are completely different."

As a resource, the native forest offers other opportunities that the Fergusons have yet to explore, such as trials of crops of shitake mushrooms or the golden seal herb on the forest floor.

They have little enough time as it is to tackle all the jobs on the farm, but it's an idea they may try if they find a keen student who wants to take it on as a project.

Meanwhile, the price of gold is climbing and the Fergusons plan to get a new licence and resource consent to mine again. In a way they were forced into goldmining in the 1980s when the law at the time meant that someone else could mine their property if they chose not to. The alternative was having another mining company working wherever there was gold on the property without having to restore the land afterwards.

So they got a licence, bought an extensive array of machinery needed for goldmining and dug for gold. When the price is down, they lease the gear to mining companies until the price warrants taking out another licence.

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