The planting native forests toolkitProject Status: Completed
This four year project was completed and is now available online via the TTT website https://www.tanestrees.org.nz/resources/native-forest-toolkit/. The project was funded jointly by the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Farming Fund and TTT with co-funding from The Tindall Foundation as part of the Normalising Native Forestry programme.
The calculators for planted native forests
This free online toolkit comprises four calculators that have been developed to assist those planting and managing native trees to meet multiple objectives from environmental restoration to sustainable production. The toolkit draws on scientifically robust data from the Tāne’s Tree Trust Indigenous Plantation Database to provide foresters, farmers, iwi, environmental NGOs, community groups and individuals with realistic expectations for their plantings. This includes the option of continuous cover forestry to provide a sustainable supply of specialty timber from appropriate sites planted with natives.
1. Planting and Budgeting Calculator
Want to calculate the number of plants you will require for your restoration project, and the costs of the project? This calculator can be used for any restoration project and by anyone who wants to plant natives. Users can access a menu that they can easily follow to enter their data or use default values by clicking the “Next” button to work through the steps. Once these steps have been considered and data entry completed, of which not all are mandatory, then you simply press the “Submit” button to generate a one-page report online or as a printed PDF listing the user inputs and then the calculated costs for each, along with a total figure for planting their site. A per hectare cost can also be generated.
2. Growth and Yield Calculator
This calculator allows you to estimate the growth and yield of a planted native forest at various ages since planting. These models provide realistic estimates of growth and yield for planted native forests, for landowners and managers evaluating land-use options. The calculator allows users to account for site quality by specifying the site as Poor, Average or Good. Alternatively, users can enter their own stand measurements. Graphs of changes in stocking, height, diameter, basal area, volume, and carbon at stems per hectare basis are generated, along with a growth and yield report based on user selected planting age and area of their planting site.
3. Economics Calculator
If you are wanting to develop a business plan for planting a native forest, then this calculator allows you to input the establishment and management costs and can provide you with an estimated return from potential income streams. Revenue options include carbon sequestration, and longer term, potential sustainable timber production. While valuing the non-timber benefits and the wider ecosystem services can be challenging, the calculator also allows users to input their estimated or actual costs and revenues, or a rating for what they consider a priority, such as biodiversity, landscape, cultural and social benefits of establishing and sustainably managing native forests.
4. Carbon Calculator
The Carbon Calculator helps you determine how many native shrubs and trees you need to plant, over a defined period of time, to off-set your carbon footprint. It also allows you to work out how much carbon your planted native forest is storing over a defined period of time. The actual amount of carbon sequestered by a particular stand can vary from the calculator predictions, and is dependent on site quality and the stand characteristics and management. Some examples are provided of how many planted native trees are required to offset emissions from common activities such as air travel, household emissions, and average annual use of the family car.
