Official Ministry for Primary Industries modelling indicates that 280,000 hectares of new pine trees could be planted on Crown land and 230,000 hectares of this would be permanent.

In stark contrast, there would be just 50,000 hectares planted in native trees.

To give a sense of scale, the combined area of 330,000 hectares of Crown land being discussed is not far off the size of Mount Aspiring National Park.

“Conservation land needs to be for conservation,” says Forest & Bird’s Chief Executive, Nicola Toki. “This is another move in a worrying trend where the Government has been looking to open up public conservation land for development by private interests. Fast-track and other resource management and conservation reforms are all eroding protections that are in place for conservation land, that generations of New Zealanders have fought hard to secure.

“We need to set the record straight about references by ministers to ‘low-value’ conservation land. A review of 644,000 hectares of West Coast stewardship land recommended just 0.01% for disposal. Most of the land was recommended for either national park or conservation park land status. So where is this land with very low or no conservation value they want to allow commercial interests to plant pines on?

“The good news is that there is an opportunity here – we can plant native trees for carbon and deliver for our native wildlife and wild places. Forest & Bird supports planting trees to help with climate change, but any permanent sequestration planting needs to be native,” Ms Toki says.

“Native trees are suited to our soil and weather conditions and more robust during the growing number of extreme weather events. Getting this right would be a win-win – helping to meet our emissions target, and ensuring conservation land is protected for our unique biodiversity and the benefit of generations of New Zealanders to come.

“But just 50,000 hectares of native planting out of 330,000 is a massive missed opportunity.

“We’ve seen the devastating consequences of planting pines in the wrong places, such as the erosion and sediment impacts during Cyclone Gabrielle in Te Tairāwhiti.

“We also know that it’s not enough to plant native trees and walk away, otherwise we’re just giving feral deer, pigs, and goats a free lunch on the taxpayer. We need to wrap around targeted pest control to ensure that these invasive browsing mammals don’t destroy the undergrowth and young trees," Ms Toki says.

In December 2024, the Government said that native forests are important for biodiversity, to store carbon, and because they can increase resilience to floods, droughts, and storms. Forest & Bird expects future decisions to be evidence based, and support native planting for carbon and biodiversity benefits.