New Zealand's most productive forest - Scion
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SCION NEWSLETTER ▪ ISSUE 40 ▪ JUNE 2021
Stephen Pearce takes tree measurements using a Haglöf vertex and enters the data into an Allegro data manager.
New Zealand’s most productive forest
New Zealand has a small number of sustainable forestry practices that can Organisation (UNESCO) initiative to address
‘experimental forests’ reserved for shape and transform future forest a global decline in freshwater resources.
research. The Scion-managed Puruki management, leading to new forest designs An ambitious programme of long-term
Experimental Forest (Puruki) is the jewel in tailored to products, for example, short research was established to understand
the crown. Data and models from Puruki rotation species for biobased plastics or the effects of land use change on local
underpin almost every management fuels. hydrology and derived volcanic soils. The
decision modern forestry companies make Long-term access to experimental land that is now Puruki forest was
today; something never even imagined at forests like Puruki is essential to carry out converted from pasture to forest in 1973,
the time the forest was established. the science that will help to realise New then harvested and replanted with second
Given our changing climate, it is urgent Zealand’s opportunity for more biobased rotation pine forest in 1997. The second
we understand the functions of forests in products and answer key questions for rotation is now 24 years old and
a wider landscape. Forests are central to our nation’s future. approaching harvest.
New Zealand’s solution for improving
water quality, carbon storage, landscape
multifunctionality, and biodiversity. The beginning Highlights from 50 years of research
Experimental forests are necessary to
demonstrate possibilities at scale, to Puruki forest is located in the central For over 50 years Puruki forest has been
provide data that validates our models, and volcanic plateau of the North Island. The continuously studied. In that time, research
to help researchers understand impacts forest is part of the Purukohukohu undertaken at Puruki has expanded into
of a warming climate on forest health, Experimental Basin established in 1968 in areas well beyond the original objectives
resilience and productivity. They are also response to a call by the United Nations
a place to demonstrate new and Educational, Scientific and Cultural (Continued on page 7)
PROSPERITY FROM TREES – MAI I TE NGAHERE ORANGA | 1
Seeing what’s possible from wood
striking and unique structures I’ve seen the clever work Scion and partners do)
in a long time, and really shows what’s that captivates visitors, and on the other
possible with timber. Traditionally in New side of the floor is a public café that
Zealand, we’ve built large commercial encourages people to linger and enjoy the
buildings out of steel and concrete. This experience of being in a building where
building showcases what can be done wood is the hero.
with trees”. I’m a fan of wood, trees and forests
Our knowledge, and now our experience, because they offer so much for New
validates that wooden buildings perform Zealanders’ well-being in many ways. I’m
wonderfully. They provide an enjoyable constantly surprised that the potential of
working environment, can be designed to forests to transform our economy is not
result in low damage from earthquakes recognised. We, at Scion, are helping to
and be highly fire resistant, and store broaden thinking, expand horizons and
carbon for the life of the building. With turn aspirations into reality. As my
New Zealand radiata pine forests growing colleagues and I embark on our ‘pathways
the timber needed for this one building in to impact’ work to implement our Strategy
just 35 minutes, Te Whare Nui o Tuteata is a 2030 we aim to bring many along with us
great example of the future of sustainable on this journey.
buildings. Creating economic, environmental and
social prosperity from New Zealand’s
forestry, wood products and wood-
derived materials and other biomaterials
“Te Whare Nui o Tuteata is is Scion’s reason for being. We are
committed to enabling our core purpose
For some time, I have been talking about
the huge opportunity in front of New one of the most striking and outcomes for New Zealand that will result
in a vibrant mosaic across our regional
Zealand coming from the world’s shift away unique structures I’ve seen landscapes and find innovative use of
from petrochemicals and fossil fuels
towards a sustainable circular bioeconomy. in a long time, and really resources in ways that are both renewable
I wish there was a clear route towards and recyclable. As champions of a circular
grabbing this opportunity and setting in
shows what’s possible with bioeconomy for New Zealand we will
motion the incentives, pathways, timber. Traditionally in New continue to chase the $30 billion
opportunity and help New Zealand meet
investment and infrastructure to realise
it. Scion estimates this opportunity to be Zealand, we’ve built large its climate change targets and “build back
better”.
$30 billion per annum in 10 years. Just commercial buildings out of
imagine what that would look like.
Around the country are many examples steel and concrete. This
of innovations driven by passionate people building showcases what
that show we can do this at small scale,
and as a nation of small businesses such can be done with trees”.
innovators may provide the waves we need
to get a tidal change.
Here at Scion, there is a new wave of Jacinda Ardern, Dr Julian Elder
Chief Executive
visitors coming to see what is possible from
wood – a fantastic renewable resource. Prime Minister
When our innovation hub, Te Whare Nui
o Tuteata, was officially opened on 31 March
guests could see the versatility and beauty
of wood as a structural building element, From my observations, the ‘wow’ factor
and they could see how wood can be is felt by all who enter its doors, take in
transformed into innovative uses that the unique diagrid frame then look up the
could become mainstream in a circular triple height atrium that leads to the
bioeconomy. custom-designed wooden ceiling. It’s
The attending government Ministers quite something - inspired by the structure
expressed real excitement about what Te of the radiata pine genome with lighting
Whare Nui o Tuteata demonstrates, with reflecting the Matariki night sky. To one FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying side of the ground floor is a small, but contact Dr Julian Elder at
“Te Whare Nui o Tuteata is one of the most fascinating interactive exhibition (about julian.elder@scionresearch.com
Te Whare Nui o Tuteata – open daily to the public. www.scionresearch.com/te-whare-nui-o-tuteata
2 | SCION CONNECTIONS ISSUE 40 JUNE 2021
Naturally aligned for biorefining
Beyond the success of the filter plates
there is potential for Scion and Ligar to
benefit from working together especially
in biorefining. The biorefinery concept is
comparable to today’s petroleum
refineries, which produce multiple fuels and
products from petroleum. A biorefinery
uses renewable biomass feedstock to be
transformed into fuels, power and value-
added chemicals. One of the biggest
challenges of biorefinery processes is
separation and purification of the products.
Usually a suite of technologies are used
to obtain the purified products – and MIPs
could play a key role here.
Scion has long been involved in
developing biorefinery processes and
there are many applications for Ligar’s
established industrial scale separation
technology. One example is in the potential
for MIPs to pre-concentrate processed
The filters are embedded with MIPs and designed to fit in industry-standard plate and biomass, a step that could decrease
frame filter systems. processing volumes and reduce costs and
increase the economic viability for some
Collaboration creates processes.
Scion’s General Manger for Forests to
Biobased Products Dr Florian Graichen says,
highly specified filters
“We are excited to work with an innovative
partner like Ligar on a strategically
important part of our 2030 journey –
establishing advanced biorefining in New
Zealand. Partnerships are critical for us
to achieve our big impact aspirations for
Ligar – a leader in molecular extraction that are not wanted in the final product New Zealand and biorefineries will form
technology and Scion have combined their (e.g. removing unwanted flavour producing an important part of this strategy, moving
expertise to create food grade filters so compounds in wine). towards a circular bioeconomy while
precise they can capture specific There are many industries that can and meeting the Government’s goals for an
molecules. do make use of such high specialised environmentally and economically
The collaboration has seen Scion’s pulp functionality. However, the integration of sustainable future New Zealand”.
and paper engineering expertise united with the MIPs into the paper-based filter has The impact of a successful biorefinery
Ligar’s experience in molecular extraction enabled new applications because of its network in New Zealand is enormous.
to produce the paper-based filter efficient and functional design. Scion’s work in the MBIE-funded bark
embedded with molecularly imprinted biorefinery project estimates that the
polymers known as MIPs. high-value materials created could earn
Paper-based solution between $400-600 million per annum,
contribute $1.8 billion to New Zealand’s
MIPs MIPs traditionally come in powder form GDP and add several thousand new jobs
and are mixed into the material to complete by 2050. Bringing Ligar and Scion’s
A MIP is a polymer material with a unique the desired recovery/extraction and mutually beneficial technology together
impression in it, like a footprint left in the must then be filtered out. Incorporating will be critical in turning these possibilities
sand which only fits a chosen molecule MIPs into a paper-based filter designed by into reality.
and can also recognise it from the way the Scion scientists, combines the removal
molecule behaves, e.g. charge. MIP and filtration steps into one efficient
technology has been around for some time process. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
and is well proven. The fibres in the paper-based filters on our work with MIP embedded filters,
The ability to selectively capture and hold the polymer in place allowing them contact Dr Florian Graichen at
filter material at molecular scale is very to work efficiently. Importantly, the fibres florian.graichen@scionresearch.com
useful in concentrating, refining and in the plates do not capture anything in
purifying processes. MIPs can be used to the filtration process, ensuring the filters
recover highly desirable molecules can continue to be used in highly selective
(valuable metals, for example) for sale or applications, including food contact
re-processing, and in extracting molecules applications.
PROSPERITY FROM TREES – MAI I TE NGAHERE ORANGA | 3
Soil percussion auger – taking an intact soil core down to 1 metre, which tells us the nutrient stocks on site in the soil.
Sustaining forest productivity: A 30-year study
A 30-year experimental monitoring of of harvest residues (slash) and even the harvest and mid rotation. However,
forest ecosystem nutrient levels and forest forest floor, a scenario which is becoming forests at Burnham and Kinleith were
productivity over a complete rotation has increasingly more plausible as biomass cleared at mid rotation for dairy conversion
been completed by Scion researchers. The for bioenergy and biofuels are emerging and the Golden Downs site was
results show that soil nutrient levels and as ways to diminish our reliance on fossil abandoned due to severe wind damage.
forest productivity can be maintained with fuels. Understanding the consequences Forests at Woodhill, Tarawera and Berwick
site-specific management – specifically of these practices from one rotation to the all reached harvest age and soil samples
through the retention of forest harvest next is necessary to ensure our forests were taken once again.
residues and the forest floor at low-fertility stay productive into the future. Most of the nutrients at the sites were
sites. New Zealand is part of a global held in the soil, but the amount varied
Around 15 percent of New Zealand’s network of “Long Term Site Productivity” considerably from site to site. For example,
planted radiata pine forests are now in trials investigating the sustainability of the sandy soil at Woodhill contained
their third or fourth rotation. A consistent intensive forest management harvesting 1,000 N kg/ha while the fertile soils at
supply of nutrients is essential to ensure practices and the pressures placed on Berwick contained 12,000 N kg/ha down
the long-term productivity, health and soil resources. The first whole-of-rotation to 1 m soil depth. At sites like Woodhill,
sustainability of these forests. This is not results have now been reported for forests low soil nitrogen levels meant a much
a new issue, with concern being raised around New Zealand. greater percentage of the total nitrogen
more than 40 years ago. Six experiments were planted between was present in the forest floor litter and
1986 and 1994 throughout New Zealand. therefore the effect of disrupting forest
Harvesting treatments included removing floor was likely to be greater.
Effects of removing harvesting residues the stem only, removing all forest residues As expected, more carbon and nutrients
(or the whole tree) and removing the were removed when the forest floor was
Harvesting a forest includes removing the whole tree and the forest floor. Soil disturbed, which can happen during
main stem but can also include removal samples were taken at all the sites before harvesting and preparation for planting.
4 | SCION CONNECTIONS ISSUE 40 JUNE 2021
However, by the end of the rotation, the also has wider application. For example, at which radiata pine grows in this country.
forest floor had recovered. The one it can also be used to predict nitrogen The work supports the pathway to a more
exception was forest floor removal at the that could then be leached under new sustainable forest industry as the global
Woodhill site where the soil is sandy and land use scenarios, and this approach demand for wood and fibre places greater
low in nutrients. There, removing the supports a pathway to engage with the pressure on forest soils.
forest floor had a long-term impact on OverseerFM land use model (the
soil carbon and nitrogen. However, the principle agricultural modelling system).
removal of large amounts of nutrients in
harvest residues and forest floor had no
Applying what we have learnt
This work also demonstrates
effect on wood quality. These results
suggest the soils and forest floor were the sustainability of planted
The results from this work are already being
generally able to supply adequate
amounts of nutrients and, with time, the used by the forestry industry to develop
forestry in New Zealand,
nutrient stocks were replenished. and implement site-specific nutrient which is essential for public
management plans. Understanding the
potential effects of forestry residue acceptance of commercial
Effect of adding fertiliser removal on some sensitive sites allows for forestry, and to meet the
site specific harvesting (and preparation)
Fertiliser application was also part of the plans that ensure residues are retained requirements of external
trial, with the intention of removing any and evenly spread. bodies such as the Forest
nutrient limitations caused by the NuBalM is also being used to predict the
harvesting treatments. Consequently, very cumulative effects of repeated harvest Stewardship Council.
large amounts of nitrogen were applied removals and to calculate how precision
over many years. This contrasts with the nutrition could be used to maintain or
typical practice of applying no fertiliser, or increase productivity. Some companies
up to 200 N kg/ha if trees are considered have also begun soil sampling and The ground-breaking work has added to
short on nitrogen. installing fertiliser trials. our understanding of how forest ecosystem
NuBalM can be used to identify sites nutrient pools change over a rotation
with greater fertility and that have the and over many rotations. The forest floor
capacity to cope with intense harvest has been confirmed as an important
Adding fertiliser increased residue removal and sites where harvest
residues should be retained. Knowing
store and source of nutrients, particularly
on low nutrient sites, where retaining the
early rotation productivity, where forestry residues are available for forest floor is essential to maintain long-
use is vital for planning new forests and
mitigating the effect of new processing plants in New Zealand to
term nutrient supply. The monitoring
strategies developed and deployed
removing the whole tree and utilise forestry biomass in the move (NuBalM) give the industry new capability
towards a carbon-neutral bioeconomy. to predict critical soil fertility thresholds
whole tree plus forest floor. before they are reached and also to
develop site specific management
Microbial communities practices to preserve soil fertility and
maintain forest productivity.
Adding fertiliser increased early rotation These trials also provided the framework This work also demonstrates the
productivity, mitigating the effect of that supported several novel explorations sustainability of planted forestry in New
removing the whole tree and whole tree of the soil microbial community present Zealand, which is essential for public
plus forest floor. Fertiliser was especially in New Zealand planted forests, and how acceptance of commercial forestry, and
effective at sites like Woodhill and their activity might influence tree health and to meet the requirements of external
Tarawera where carbon and nitrogen stocks productivity. Site treatments of removing bodies such as the Forest Stewardship
were initially low. Although the added the forest floor, and adding fertilisers at Council.
nitrogen could be used to counteract the sites low in nutrients, were seen to reduce Funders include the Forest Growers
negative effects of forest floor removal, microbe diversity. These findings have Levy Trust, the New Zealand Forest
further research is required to ascertain contributed to expanding the scope of Owners Association and the New
the amount required to offset forest floor research exploring the potential to use Zealand Farm Forestry Association with
removal. the microbiome – microbes intimately historical input from the New Zealand
connected with trees – to increase the Forest Service and numerous forest
resilience of planted forests to disease, companies at the time of establishing and
Predicting nutrient levels drought and other stresses. early management of the experiments.
The nutrient balance model, NuBalM, was
developed as a part of this work. NuBalM Sustainable future forests FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
can predict nutrient levels over multiple on the forest harvesting trials contact
rotations and is being used to support New Zealand is the first country to Loretta Garrett at
precision nutrient management and complete and report on a full rotation of loretta.garrett@scionresearch.com
improve productivity and underpin the Long Term Site Productivity harvest
sustainable forest management. The model removal experiments, largely due to the rate
PROSPERITY FROM TREES – MAI I TE NGAHERE ORANGA | 5
instance, can the existing fragments
support indigenous bird species that
help spread tree seeds? Knowing this
could help land managers to understand
what activities are required to help their
pockets of indigenous forest to expand
and connect.
The future
With more development, the team hopes
to update the model to identify the
indigenous species mix within a stand,
painting a much richer picture of the
biodiversity and biomass. This capability
would help answer long-term planning
questions, such as, is there a good mix of
tall woody species and shrubs on the land?
Do I need to carry out predator control
Our model was tested over 16 ha and identified 13,295 planted trees and delineated 1,541 and plant native species to increase the
blocks of native forest, both with high accuracy. value of the existing forest?
Managing newly planted With more development,
forests and indigenous the team hopes to update the
model to identify the
biodiversity with AI indigenous species mix
within a stand, painting a
much richer picture of the
Scion is working with remote sensing over large areas of afforested land. The biodiversity and biomass.
specialists Indufor on an artificial team is now exploring the potential to
intelligence-powered model that uses use the 3D point cloud generated
remotely sensed data to help manage newly alongside the aerial imagery during the
planted radiata seedlings and indigenous data generation process. The point cloud
biodiversity. data could potentially be used to Scion project lead Dr Grant Pearse says,
characterise the biomass, height and “There’s a lot in favour of this model; it’s
density of the indigenous forest identified cost-effective, scalable and accurate. We
How it works on each site. hope that with a little more development
we could accomplish a lot more”.
Together, Scion and Indufor have created Dr Pete Watt, leader of Indufor’s
a process that can transform remotely Understanding biodiversity resource monitoring team, says, “We are
sensed data into a model to identify excited to leverage this promising
radiata seedlings and pockets of indigenous Indufor is using this model now to help technology and further explore how we
forest. This data can be used to understand foresters map the exotic and indigenous can use it to accurately map planted and
seedling survival rate, while also gaining a species growing on their land, and they native forests across landscapes”.
clear picture of the indigenous biodiversity have seen a great demand for this type of Forests, both native and exotic, are vital
on site. service. In addition to assisting foresters to New Zealand’s long-term climate
High-resolution aerial imagery (5 cm) to monitor the establishment of their change response, and this technology
is processed through a trained deep newly planted radiata seedlings, it aids could play a role in ensuring those efforts
learning model, which then identifies, maps them in identifying indigenous forests on are successful.
and draws polygons around the newly their land and how to integrate them
planted radiata seedlings and pockets of within the landscape appropriately, e.g.
indigenous forest. seeing how big and far apart forest FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
The new model offers many advantages. fragments are and what steps could be on our machine learning work, contact
Unlike earlier models, it needs much less taken to join them up. Dr Grant Pearse at
data to train it. The approach is also much Mapping also helps answer key grant.pearse@scionresearch.com
lower cost per unit area than UAV-based questions about the biodiversity carrying
imagery and has been successfully used capacity of the indigenous forest, for
6 | SCION CONNECTIONS ISSUE 40 JUNE 2021“Hatching” a kiwi to demonstrate 4D printing and controlled plastic degradation.
Controlled degradation with 3D-printed Promising results
enzyme-embedded plastics The chosen enzyme, in its solid state, was
found to be very heat stable. During
testing, samples heated to 130°C for two
hours retained most of their activity.
Enzymes embedded into plastic objects denatured at higher temperatures and Printed films made by the research team
can be triggered to break down the plastic lose their activity. And the enzymes need broke down in aqueous conditions with
at the end of the object’s life. to be embedded into the plastic, which the rate of degradation dependent on the
This enzymatic technology offers a new up to now has been accomplished by amount of enzyme added to the plastic.
way to ensure that compostable plastics encasing the enzyme and plastic using After one week, 400 mm thick plastic films
biodegrade quickly in an environmentally toxic solvents or the use of additional containing 1% by weight of the enzyme
friendly way. protective layers around the enzyme. had lost 70% of their original weight.
The solution developed by the team is Read the full story at
deceptively simple. They mixed solid www.scionresearch.com/degradableplastics
Embedding enzymes enzyme with finally ground
polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable
Scion materials scientists have been polyester with a low melting point, and FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
working on the problem of developing used 3D printing techniques to mimic on controlled degradation contact
cost-effective ways for mass producing industrial thermoplastic processing where Dr Angelique Greene at
enzyme-embedded plastics. The plastic is heated to or past its melting angelique.greene@scionresearch.com
challenges include the use of heat during point then shaped (extruded, moulded
plastic processing. Many enzymes are or blown).
New Zealand’s most evidence that planted forests both reduce
flooding and regulate water flow.
opportunities to capture end of rotation
and harvest data, and improve our
productive forest The former land-use of the site has also
contributed to interesting findings. The
understanding of forest productivity,
carbon sequestration, hydrological
(Continued from page 1) fertile ex-pasture land has helped create modelling, water quality, and certain
one of the fastest growing forests in New biodiversity values.
of the experimental forest. Key research Zealand. Puruki had a 54 percent increase The demands on New Zealand’s forests
includes land use comparison with pasture in productivity from one rotation to the are changing and researchers need a series
and native forests for water yield and next, making it 63 percent more productive of long-term forests to provide the data
quality, soil carbon and nutrients and over the second rotation compared with that will enable environmental, economic,
targeted forestry research on forest the national average (all species) for post- social, and cultural opportunities for all
health, nutrition and disease, biomass 1989 planted forest. The results come from New Zealanders. Puruki, close to Rotorua,
allocation, solar radiation impacts on a combination of a fertile site, healthy can be the centrepiece of this trial series
growth, leaf area and carbon stocks, and planting stock and high stocking densities. and can continue to contribute to future
spatial variability of rainfall and water Research has also shown Puruki to have forest and catchment level management
yield. This data has gone on to provide 16 times faster carbon sequestration than strategies.
invaluable information for the development natural forest regeneration. If all forests
of New Zealand’s key forestry models grew like Puruki, less land would need to be
including the forest carbon predictor, and converted to trees to meet New Zealand’s FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
nutrient balance model. net emission targets. on the research undertaken at Puruki
Data from Puruki has also been used for Experimental Forest contact
hydrological modelling and water quality. Loretta Garrett at
One of the key findings showed that there Conclusion loretta.garett@scionresearch.com
was less nitrogen and phosphorus exported
from pine forest than pasture or indigenous As plans are made to harvest the second
forest. This work additionally provided rotation and plant a third, there are new
PROSPERITY FROM TREES – MAI I TE NGAHERE ORANGA | 7Get a free subscription to
Scion Connections delivered every
Entomologist Dr Carl Wardhaugh with an insect light trap used at the Port of Tauranga. three months.
Trialling insect traps at the
Our online version has
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Port of Tauranga
Scion scientists have trialled a selection complemented by pitfall traps that
of insect traps to increase detection of collected ground fauna, especially ants.
invasive species before they can establish A small number of light traps operating www.scionresearch.com/subscribe
in New Zealand. for a relatively short amount of time could
A team led by Dr Carl Wardhaugh trialled potentially sample the vast majority of ISSN 2230 - 6137 (print)
eight types of surveillance traps at New species resident in a given area. ISSN 2230 - 6145 (online)
Zealand’s Port of Tauranga to determine
optimal trap types to sample a broad Copyright 2021 New Zealand Forest
spectrum of the insect fauna. These traps Next steps Research Institute Limited, trading
captured flying and crawling insects using as Scion.
chemical lures, attractive lights, and Given the large volume of invertebrates
passive methods that trap insects inflight collected, manually identifying species
or while crawling. The insect catch data for potential insect incursions presents a
and effectiveness of the various traps will significant challenge. Traps with cameras
inform the design of surveillance and image recognising machine learning
programmes at seaports and other high- software are currently under testing and
risk points of insect entry. could help to overcome this hurdle.
Insect sampling was undertaken during Another promising avenue is the use of
four one-week-long periods over the eDNA that will allow for the mass
course of a year (Feb, May, Sep, Dec) to sequencing of samples. Both approaches
assess seasonal differences in the activity are limited to existing data (imagery and
and diversity of insect species. genetic sequences), however, both are
rapidly evolving fields. With further Tītokorangi Drive (Long Mile Road),
development, both approaches have the Private Bag 3020, Rotorua 3046,
Findings potential to allow for the rapid identification New Zealand
of new exotic species. Telephone: +64 7 343 5899
In total, the eight trap types caught over Read the full story at www.scionresearch.com
250,000 invertebrates including over www.scionresearch.com/trialtraps
46,000 beetles and happily, no new-to-
New Zealand species were observed
among the 211 species identified. UV-light FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
traps collected the largest proportion of on this work contact Dr Carl Wardhaugh at
beetle species (~84 percent) and were carl.wardhaugh@scionresearch.com
8 | SCION CONNECTIONS ISSUE 40 JUNE 2021 PROSPERITY FROM TREES – MAI I TE NGAHERE ORANGAYou can also read
