Adaptive management of coastal forestry buffersProject Status: Completed
Sand dune exotic forests typically have a sacrificial exotic forest buffer zone providing critical salt and wind shelter to production stands landward.
This project is focused on the upper North Island as a pilot study exploring practical options to transition failing exotic buffers to resilient permanent buffers comprising indigenous coastal forest species based on an adaptive management approach. It involved a review of existing experience, field surveys and planting trials in collaboration with the forest industry, iwi, landowners, councils and communities in development of preliminary guidelines.
The indigenous buffers will assist FSC-accredited forestry companies meet their Representative Sample Areas and various biodiversity and other requirements through enhancement of biodiversity, ecosystem, amenity and natural capital values. Indigenous coastal forest buffers will provide more sustainable and effective protection to the production forests with application to other productive land uses on our coasts and in the face of expected impacts of climate change.
Final outputs
This Preliminary Technical Guideline series covers:
Section One - Introduction - The biophysical functioning of dunes, the importance of dune vegetation, and the value of transitioning exotic duneland buffers to native coastal forest;
Section Two - Planting Natives in Coastal Pine Buffers - Results from field planting trials exploring plant survival on open dunes, in gaps within pine buffers and under pine buffer canopy;
Section Three - Role of Natural Regeneration in Transitioning Coastal Exotic Buffers to Native Forest - Results from surveys of coastal forest remnants, past plantings and natural regeneration within pine buffers;
Section Four - Climate Change - How climate change will affect current forest transitioning planning and future management; and
Section Five - Summary - Of the outcomes from the Coastal Buffers project.
Contacts for this project
- Meg Graeme, Natural Solutions: Enable JavaScript to view protected content.
- TTT Executive Officer: Enable JavaScript to view protected content.