Written notice (Plantation Forestry Activities)

This form should be used to provide written notice to undertake permitted plantation forestry activities (afforestation, earthworks, river crossings, forestry quarrying and/or harvesting) as defined in Regulation 3 of the Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry) Regulations 2017 (NES-PF).

Please note that Appendix A provides definitions of the relevant plantation forestry activities in the NESPF and Appendix B outlines what written notice is required for and the timeframes for notice in the NESPF. You can find the appendices at the bottom of this form.

Appendix A: Written notice timeframes and information requirements

Regulation and activity	Written notice of:	Timeframes
Regulation 10 – Afforestation	• The location where the afforestation will occur and the proposed setbacks (including a description of how these were calculated); and • The dates on which the afforestation is planned to begin and end.	Notice must be given at least 20 and no more than 60 working days before the date on which the afforestation is planned to begin.
Regulation 25 – Earthworks	• The place where earthworks are to be carried out; • The dates on which the earthworks or road widening and realignment are planned to begin and end.	Notice must be given: (a) at least 20 and no more than 60 working days before the date on which the earthworks or road widening and realignment are planned to begin; or (b) a minimum of 2 days before the date on which any earthworks that are required for salvage operations are planned to begin; or (c) annually, in the case of ongoing earthworks.
Regulation 38 – River crossings	• The date on which the construction or removal of a river crossing, other than a temporary river crossing, is planned to begin; and • The location of the river crossing.	Notice must occur at least 20 and no more than 60 working days before the date on which the river crossing activity is planned to begin.
Regulation 52 – Forestry quarrying	• The place where the forestry quarrying is to be carried out and the proposed setbacks (including a description of how they were calculated); • The dates on which the forestry quarrying is planned to begin and end.	Notice must occur: (a) at least 20 and no more than 60 working days before the date on which the forestry quarrying is planned to begin; or (b) annually, in the case of ongoing forestry quarrying.
Regulation 64 – Harvesting	• The place where harvesting will be carried out; and • The dates on which the harvesting is planned to begin and end.	Notice must occur (a) at least 20 and no more than 60 working days before the date on which the harvesting is planned to begin; or (b) a minimum of 2 days before the date on which harvesting required for salvage operations is planned to begin; or (c) annually, in the case of ongoing harvesting operations.

Appendix B: Definition of Plantation Forestry Activities in Regulation 3

Afforestation -

(a) means planting and growing plantation forestry trees on land where there is no plantation forestry and where plantation forestry harvesting has not occurred within the last 5 years; but

(b) does not include vegetation clearance from the land before planting

Earthworks –

(a) means disturbance of the surface of the land by the movement, deposition, or removal of earth (or any other matter constituting the land, such as soil, clay, sand, or rock) in relation to plantation forestry; and

(b) includes the construction of forestry roads, forestry tracks, landings and river crossing approaches, cut and fill operations, maintenance and upgrade of existing earthworks, and forestry road widening and realignment; but

Maintenance and upgrade of existing earthworks –

(a) includes—

(i) activities to upgrade existing forestry infrastructure or minor reshaping of existing forestry infrastructure; and

(ii) the installation and maintenance of water run-off control measures; and

(iii) road metalling; but

(b) does not include forestry road widening or realignment

River crossings -

(a) means a structure that is required for the operation of a plantation forest and provides for vehicles or machinery to cross over a water body; and

(b) includes an apron and other structures and materials necessary to complete a river crossing; but

Forestry quarrying -

(a) means the extraction of rock, sand, or gravel for the formation of forestry roads and construction of other plantation forestry infrastructure, including landings, river crossing approaches, abutments, and forestry tracks, -

i. within a plantation forest;

ii. required for the operation of a plantation forest on adjacent land owned or managed by the owner of the plantation forest; and

(b) includes the extraction of alluvial gravels outside the bed of a river, extraction of minerals from borrow pits, and the processing and stockpiling of material at the forest quarry site; but

(c) does not include earthworks, mechanical land preparation, or gravel extraction from the bed of a river, lake, or other water body

Harvesting -

(a) means felling trees, extracting trees, thinning tree stems and extraction for sale or use (production thinning), process trees into logs, or loading logs onto trucks for delivery to processing plants; but

(b) does not include -

i. milling activities or processing of timber; or

ii. clearance of vegetation that is not plantation forest trees

Written notice (Plantation Forestry Activities)

Details of person/company giving notice

Details of agent (forestry consultant) if applicable

Description of activity - as defined in Regulation 3 of the NES-CF

Location where the activity will occur (regulations 10(1)(a), 25(1)(a), 38(1)(b), 52(1)(a), 64(1)(a))

Planned start and end dates of the activity (required timeframes as per Regulations 10, 25, 38, 52, 64 and 78A)

Other information (if applicable)

Signature