The Roxburgh Community Board has decided to maintain its 10ha forestry block rather than harvest it and risk a possible bill of up to $146,433 under the emissions trading scheme (ETS).
As the landowner of forestry blocks totalling more than 50ha, planted before 1990, the Central Otago District Council has been considering the implications of the ETS on the management of its forestry portfolio. If it harvested any of those blocks and did not replant them, it would be liable for a hefty bill.
The Roxburgh board met this week and discussed its forestry plantation of 10.3ha at Grovers Hill, due to be felled in 2019.
It decided to maintain the forestry through selective logging and replanting, either in commercial forestry trees or ornamental species so the area could be retained as a reserve.
The radiata pine block was planted in 1984, with the assistance of a forestry encouragement grant.
