Partnering to plant trees on Crown-owned land: Request for Information

Background to this Request for Information

The Government wants to explore partnership opportunities to afforest (plant native or exotic trees) or promote native forest regeneration on Crown-owned land (excluding National Parks) that has low farming value and low conservation value.

This will:

• contribute to climate change targets
• spur economic growth through a thriving forestry and wood processing sector
• improve native biodiversity and water quality.

Government to partner with private sector to plant trees on low-value Crown land – Beehive

Agencies involved 

• Ministry for Primary Industries.
• Land Information New Zealand.
• Department of Conservation.
• Ministry for the Environment.

We sought your feedback

We opened this Request for Information (RFI) to gauge interest in the proposal and understand what would make afforesting Crown-owned land an attractive and viable opportunity.

We asked to hear your views on:

• opportunities for afforestation
• conditions and contractual arrangements that would enable you to undertake afforestation
• barriers to afforestation and what government could do to help overcome these.

Information documents

Overview: Partnering to plant trees on Crown-owned land [PDF, 609 KB]

Questions and answers about partnering to plant trees on Crown-owned land [PDF, 320 KB]

Indicative land map (high resolution) [PDF, 1.2 MB]

Publicly available information about Crown-owned land [PDF, 302 KB]

Afforestation on Crown-owned land – Cabinet paper [PDF, 1.1 MB]

Next steps after submissions close

We'll advise interested parties of next steps in 2025.

We intend to progress with any partnership opportunities as soon as practicable. Your responses will help shape the Government's decisions on possible opportunities and decide next steps as well as informing the commercial strategy moving forwards.

Where partnerships can be progressed under current law they will be taken forward as soon as practicable. In these circumstances, we anticipate that a second round of commercial negotiations on a site-by-site basis with interested parties may take place in 2025.

Where partners are looking for the Government to make changes to existing policy to support partnerships – such as changes to law – this will be subject to further advice from officials and decision-making by Cabinet in 2025. Any proposed changes to legislation would likely be advanced though usual parliamentary processes, including public consultation.

Responses are public information

Your response will be used by the Ministry for Primary Industries, Land Information New Zealand, Department of Conservation, and the Ministry for the Environment for their internal purposes and in advising ministers.

Note that all, part, or a summary of your response to the request for information may be published on this website.

People can also ask for copies of responses under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA). The OIA says we must make the response available unless we have good reason for withholding it. Those reasons are detailed in sections 6 and 9 of the OIA.

If you think there are grounds to withhold specific information from publication, make this clear in your response or contact us, and we will take this into account when deciding whether to release the information. Reasons may include that your response discloses information that would unreasonably prejudice your commercial position or personal information.  Any decision we make to withhold information can be reviewed by the Ombudsman, who may direct us to release it.

All information provided will be held by the relevant Government agency in accordance with the Privacy Act.

Disclaimer

This process is not in any way binding, nor is it:

• a consideration of disposal of the land for the purpose of Part 9 of the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 or any other Claims Settlement Act, or
• for lessees, an application under the Land Act 1948 or the Crown Pastoral Land Act 1998, or
• an invitation, tender, or other action under section 17ZG(2)(a) Conservation Act 1987 to make an application for a concession. Your response will not be treated as an application for a concession. 

Participating in this process does not create a contract or any other legal relationship between you and the Crown. There is no obligation on the Crown to accept or advance your response.