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Changes to National Environmental Standard – Commercial Forestry (NES-CF)

Date: 2nd June 2026

The National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry (previously Plantation Forestry) provide nationally consistent regulations to manage the environmental effects of commercial forestry. You can read all about them on https://www.mpi.govt.nz/forestry/national-environmental-standards-commercial-forestry Changes come into effect this month (June 2026) for 2 key parts of the NES-CF.

It’s really useful to understand the NES-CF and how it works. The above website has some very good guides.

  1. Updated Wilding Tree Risk Calculator https://www.mpi.govt.nz/forestry/national-environmental-standards-commercial-forestry/wilding-tree-risk-calculator#updated-calc

Before planting, or replanting a commercial forest, the risk of conifer species spreading to land outside the forest site must be assessed. The Wilding Tree Risk Calculator is the system used to do this assessment. The Wilding Tree Risk Calculator is to be used to assess the risk of wilding conifers spreading if you are:

  • planning to plant a new commercial forest (afforestation) with a conifer species
  • replanting a forest with a conifer species.

You must get the assessment risk score:

  • no more than 8 months before you give notice to your local council for afforestation, or
  • no more than 8 months before replanting.

If your score is less than 12, planting or replanting is permitted. If it is 12 or higher, you need resource consent.

If you are replanting:

  • you need resource consent if you replant with a conifer species that has a higher score than the one most recently harvested
  • you do not need resource consent if you replant with a conifer species that has a score that is the same or lower than the one most recently harvested.

You’ll need to give the score and worksheets to the council to meet the NES-CF permitted activity conditions for afforestation and replanting on your site. There are other conditions you’ll need to meet for these activities.

If you’re using the calculator to comply with the NES-CF, a suitably competent person  must do the assessment. This means a person with:

  • tertiary qualifications in silviculture and forest ecology and at least 2  years’ experience in the field of silviculture, or
  • at least 5 years’ experience in silviculture that includes forest establishment.

The main changes to the calculator which come into force on the 25th June 2026 are:

  • the assessment method has been updated to reduce reliance on judgement and increase transparency.
  • it now uses both the tree species and the environment it could spread into to assess risk.
  • the science behind it has been updated to better reflect actual risk.

To learn how the calculator works https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/71951-Guidelines-for-the-use-of-the-Decision-Support-System-Calculating-Wilding-Spread-Risk-From-New-Plantings and for a worksheet https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/71953-DSS1-Calculating-Wilding-Spread-Risk-From-New-Plantings

2. Other changes to the NES-CF

Additional changes are as below and come into effect on the 4th June 2026.

https://environment.govt.nz/assets/publications/RMA/NES-Commercial-Forestry-factsheet-May-2026.pdf

Clarify when councils can have more stringent rules than the NES-CF. ‒ Amend regulation 6(1)(a) to be more specific about when councils can have stricter rules (focused on severe erosion risk, mapped and evidence-based). ‒ Repeal regulation 6(4A) so that it can no longer be used by councils to control aspects of afforestation (including location).

  • Replace prescriptive slash regulations with a risk-based approach. ‒ Move from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ slash size/volume limit (which is costly and hard to measure
    and enforce and captures low-risk harvest areas). ‒ Require a Slash Mobilisation Risk Assessment (SMRA) for higher-risk land, so effort is concentrated where the risk and consequences are highest.
  • Remove duplication in afforestation/replanting planning requirements. ‒ Remove the requirement for a replanting plan, and keep streamlined afforestation plans
    (with reduced content) where they add compliance value (such as mapping/setbacks).
  • Fix minor wording issues that created confusion. ‒ Remove the undefined term, ‘woody debris’ from plan requirements. ‒ Clarify wilding conifer documentation requirements. ‒ Correct a wording error in regulation 71A (‘not’ was included in error)

Two areas of the above relate to wilding pines:

  • Clarifying the wilding conifer documentation requirements in regulations 11(4)(b) and 79(5)(b) to make it clear what information must be supplied to councils (the wilding tree risk calculator score, calculations, and supporting evidence) and when it must be provided (at the same time as the relevant notice).

Implementation considerations for local government – When the NES-CF amendments come into effect (28 days after amendments are gazetted), councils will need to amend district plans if a rule duplicates or conflicts with a provision in the NES-CF as soon as practicable without using the process in Schedule 1. This will need to be done for rules no longer enabled through regulations 6(1)(a) and 6(4A) of the NES-CF.

Clarify when councils can have more stringent rules than the NES-CF The amendments narrow when councils can have rules that are more stringent rules than the national standards. This is intended to increase national consistency, while still enabling councils to manage high-risk situations, matters of national importance and unique and sensitive environments.

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