Key performance indicators

By 2020, Scion, in collaboration with key industry, Māori, and government stakeholders will have initiated an R&D portfolio that achieves impact through accelerated propagation from tissue culture and nursery practice, and productivity gain and greater resilience from genetics and tree improvement.

Achievements

Scion worked through a One Billion Trees (1BT) project to test and demonstrate application of new propagation options for indigenous forest species. Results showed that for some species it is possible to grow a healthy and vigorous plant in <12 months, and the survival and early growth of these plants can be equal or more successful than the current industry standard. Many solutions found indicate that the cost to establish indigenous forests can be reduced significantly, helping New Zealand meet its goals for a carbon-neutral future.

Scion partnered with the Chatham Islands community to propagate both exotic and indigenous plants for a 1BT project restoring forests across the land. Scion propagated many plants, with the first 1000 repatriated and established during 2021. Further plants are expected to be repatriated over the next 3 years.

By 2021, Scion will have a research platform to accelerate the delivery of ecosystem services from production and conservation forests through sustainable vegetation management practices that support continuous licence to operate. We will partner with key stakeholders Te Uru Rākau (TUR), Forest Owners Association (FOA), LandCorp, Māori, Department of Conservation (DOC) and regional councils to enable the success of a range of tree establishment programmes.

The 1BT Native Tree Propagation Project developed novel methods to overcome the slow and expensive production of indigenous nursery plants. This work enables secure establishment of future indigenous forests, both for new timber-based industries and traditional non-timber benefits. Extension of this project focuses on commercially scalable field trials of forestry-grade native seedlings.

By 2021, Scion continues to be recognised as having contributed to New Zealand’s ongoing national and international carbon reporting obligations.

Scion completed the analysis of New Zealand’s national planted forest inventory to estimate carbon stock and changes used for UNFCCC reporting on New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions and inform policy makers about the current and future contribution of our forests as a carbon sink under the Paris Agreement.

Working closely with MfE and MPI, Scion contributed to ongoing method improvement for national and international carbon accounting and greenhouse gas reporting and investigated the potential contribution of natural forests and non-forest woody vegetation to New Zealand climate change targets. New Zealand natural forest carbon stocks were published in a peer-reviewed journal for the first time.

In our forest inventories’ quality assurance role, Scion ensured high standards of data collection in our forests as the basis for carbon stock and carbon stock change calculations. With support from the Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research Fund, Scion conducted a preliminary study to determine the potential size of non-forest woody vegetation as a carbon pool across New Zealand to support a future decision to include non-forest vegetation into national and international accounting.

By 2021, Scion in partnership with Maori have co-developed a breeding plan for at least one indigenous forest species.

Repatriation of >4000 kauri trees to their rohe occurred in 2021. Individual hapū are working on their plans and desires towards co-developing a hapū-led breeding programme in coming years.

By 2020, Scion has co-developed, in partnership with Māori, a Māori Forestry Roadmap and this is formally acknowledged by government.

The Māori Forestry roadmap was developed, ready to integrate with Scion’s Impact Area roadmaps due to be completed by end-2021.

By 2023, the Forest Investment Framework has been implemented to span three dimensions (time, space and risk), integrated with other land use models, and includes at least three new ecosystem services and five new forest productivity surfaces. The framework includes a protocol to integrate Māori cultural values in the decision-making process.

For the first time, the full value of New Zealand’s planted forest resource has been quantified, and the results published in an international journal https://doi.org/10.3390/f12060662

The work demonstrated the value of timber, carbon, erosion control and reduction in nitrogen leaching across the national estate and showed that the value of non-timber ecosystem services could be up to four times the timber profit and up to 12 times in forests on highly erodible soils.

By 2021, the impacts of insect pests and pathogens on tree species grown for their standing benefits have been evaluated and research programmes to mitigate those effects have been started.

Scion assessed the feasibility of using international border interceptions of insects and global invasions to predict the likelihood of insect pests arriving and establishing in New Zealand. This information is useful for risk assessments to target biosecurity measures, including surveillance, to prevent future establishment of high-impact pests in New Zealand.

By 2021, Scion will have developed new methods and technology to accurately phenotype, identify and classify individual trees.

Methods were developed and demonstrated for individual-stem identification and delineation within a multi-age and diverse indigenous forest. These methods will be useful for tracking and classifying forest types and structure and could be adapted for tracking carbon.

By 2023, Scion has provided the underpinning science to support and enhance licence to operate through environmental certification and to meet regulatory requirements, particularly in relation to Douglas-fir wilding spread and pesticides use.

Scion continued its involvement in developing a joint Australia/New Zealand Sustainable Forestry Standard (AS/NZS4708). Once endorsed by the global Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), New Zealand forest companies will have access to two independent certification mechanisms: Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and PEFC. This provides further means to demonstrate sustainability of our forest management, enabling licence to operate.