New Zealand’s Forest Growers Research is proposing to establish an industry association for those working in the alternative timbers sector which will provide leadership, strengthen links in the value chain, attract and train new entrants, upskill existing practitioners, and develop branding and collaborative marketing that will increase the value and sales of alternative timbers. Source: Timberbiz
An industry working group has asked for feedback on the proposal for a new organisation, to represent New Zealand’s specialty timber industry. This would represent those involved in processing, marketing, and using locally grown alternative timbers.
The working group is formed from people working in the alternative timber sector and has been developed with assistance from Forest Growers Research.
The discussion paper explains the potential benefits of such an organisation. The organisation will initially focus on small-scale sawmillers but could eventually extend to timber merchants and end users. The discussion paper is at https://fgr.nz/documents/download/8365
The working group is = looking for feedback on whether to proceed with this proposal and so is asking interested parties to complete its survey by 15 August 2020. The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HBH7RBJ
if enough positive responses are received, the next step will be to set up a steering group to lead the formation of the new association.
The proposal has been developed by a group of people working within New Zealand’s alternative timbers sector:
- Peter Berg SWP Chairman, NZFFA Executive/Tanes Tree Trust
- Gabrielle Walton Summerhills Farm Forest, Tauranga
- Richard Thompson MacBlack Timber Ltd, Wanganui
- Vaughan Kearns Ruapehu Sawmills, Raetihiru
- Justin Wells Logs 2 Lumber, Nelson
- Angus Gordon NZFFA Executive and SWP
- Marco Lausberg Manager, Specialty Wood Products Research Partnership
- Paul Millen NZ Dryland Forests Initiativ
- Harriet Palmer Communications consultant and Tinui ForestPark
- James Powrie Forestry consultant
For more information, please contact Harriet Palmer at [email protected] or (NZ) 021 02532529.
