Forestry

The National Environmental Standard for Commercial Forestry (NES-CF) provides a set of nationwide rules for commercial forestry activities. These rules cover:

• Afforestation
• Pruning and thinning to waste
• Earthworks
• River crossing
• Forestry quarrying
• Harvesting
• Mechanical land preparation
• Replanting

A series of flow charts for each of the above activities help determine whether you may need a resource consent from Greater Wellington or from your local City or District Council.

 Afforestation (subpart 1) - consent required? (PDF 178 KB)

 Pruning and thinning to waste (subpart 2) - consent required? (PDF 24 KB)

 Earthworks (subpart 3) - consent required? (PDF 251 KB)

 River crossings (subpart 4) - consent required? (PDF 259 KB)

 Forestry quarrying (subpart 5) - consent required? (PDF 185 KB)

Harvesting (subpart 6) - consent required? (PDF 399 KB)

Mechanical land preparation (subpart 7) - consent required? (PDF 286 KB)

Replanting (subpart 8) - consent required? (PDF 25 KB)

If a resource consent is not required for any of the above activities, Greater Wellington in most instances is still required to be notified of any forestry activity. This can be completed using this notification form.  

Note: Under Proposed Plan Change 1 (PDF 53 MB) there are some new rules relating to forestry have been proposed in the Te Awarua-o-Porirua catchment and Te Whanganui-a-Tara catchment. These changes have legal effect – we recommend that you contact us at notifications@gw.govt.nz to discuss how these forestry rules in these areas may affect your activity.

For further assistance, or to set up a pre-application meeting, call 0800 493 734. You can also access forms at our forms and information requirements webpage. 

These resources will assist with forestry consent applications: 

Remember - you need to notify us of Forestry Activities using this form.

The Erosion Susceptibility Classification can be used to check erosion risk and whether any activities, that will be undertaken on land, may require a resource consent. 

The Fish Spawning Indicator can be used to asses environmental risks when disturbing rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands. 

The Wilding Tree Risk Calculator can be used when accessing afforestation activities. 

The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) also has useful guidance material to assist with implementing the NES-CF. 

Visit this page to learn more about national rules for managing forestry slash.

If you need help, please contact us by email at notifications@gw.govt.nz.