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Forests and wood

From planting to harvesting and the processes in between, this section contains information about forests and wood.

Forests and wood

Information is provided on aspects of managing our forestry resource, including planting, silviculture, harvesting, wood structure and features, low CO2 emissions, Forest Accord, bioenergy and timber and some further reading material.

Also view The NZ Wood Story site for more information on these aspects

Forests and wood

Bioenergy and timber

Ever since humans lit their first camp-fires, wood has been a major source of bioenergy. Indeed, even today it constitutes 38% of home heating in… More

Forest Accord

After decades of wrangling between commercial forest owners and environmental groups, on 14 August 1991 most of them signed the equivalent of a peace treaty. More

Further Reading

This section provides references to further reading for forests and wood. More

Harvesting

The word “harvesting” is used in farming to imply the sustainable extraction of a crop. It is part of a continuing cycle of planting and… More

Low Carbon Dioxide

Trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as shown in the diagram below. More

Planting

Before trees can be planted, it is essential to properly prepare the site. More

Silviculture

After establishment, the two main operations that are commonly performed on the crop are thinning and pruning. Thinning is done for the same purpose as… More

Wood structure and features

All wood consists of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, which are just different ways of combining the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen – derived from air… More

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Forests and wood