Northland Regional Council

Harvest of pine tress at Northland dune lakes

Northland Regional Council (NRC) would like to engage a contractor to fell and clear all pine trees around Rotokawau and Rototuna, Poutō Peninsula Maps are shown in the images in Appendix A of the Quote Pack. The pines are on Department of Conservation marginal strip land around the lakes. The contractor can quote for harvesting pines at one or both lakes.
Pine trees have detrimental effects on dune lakes. Two reports on the effects of Cyclone Gabrielle found that pine needles blew from the trees and have smothered kākahi beds in Rotokawau and smothered native submerged plants in Rotokawau.
Pine trees, especially bark and needles, have high levels of acid resin and tannin. This can stain lake water, which reduces light penetration in lake water, which in turn, reduces the density and depth at which lake plants can grow. Submerged native lake plants are important at stabilising lakebed substrate, making it less disturbed in windy conditions. If there are no submerged plants, wind is more likely to stir up the lakebed, reducing water clarity and releasing nutrients in lake sediment, which can increase the amount of algae and potentially lead to algal blooms.
There are archaeological sites around both lakes. Reports on these sites have been provided along with this request for a quote. Harvest plans will be required that show how damage to archaeological sites will be avoided.
Full details are in the attached quote pack.