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have been made every year since, the total to date being around
US$30 million. The trusts’ average annual income and expenditure is
summarized in the Table above.
Other owner and shareholder benefits
Over the past 20 years, the trusts’ funds have been utilized to assist in
many major tribal initiatives, including advocacy and representation
of the owners and the tribes on Government policy, legislative change
and tribal negotiation seeking recompense for historical Treaty of
Waitangi breaches.
Owner land access
One of the important requests of the landowners in the 1960s was
to retain their valuable deer and pig hunting and fishing rights over
their ancestral lands to supplement their food requirements. Each
year around 3,500 recreational permits are given out to owners.
Apart from the above, they also gain access to visit sacred heritage
sites and to gather firewood, as well as medicinal and other plants.
The future pathway to self-determination
Every year more bare land is handed back to the trusts after the annual
harvest of the first-rotation trees. The trusts used their share of income
from the first-rotation crop to replant and manage the second-rota-
tion crop. By 2021 and 2026, the Lake Taupo and Lake
Rotoaira Forest Trusts will each own 100 per cent of their
respective commercial crops and the Government will
have exited the scheme. The arrangement requires no
venture or external capital because it is financed from
cash flow. A remarkable feature of the trusts’ business is
that they have no debt.
In a period of 40 years, the owners of the 48,000 ha
of trust land have progressed from having no income-
generating assets to owning forests valued at US$90
million and having distributed profits to the landown-
ers of around US$30 million. This has been achieved
without taking on any debt or putting the ownership of
their land at risk.
The trusts are now exploring the options available
through participating in downstream wood processing,
marketing and distribution. They are forever mindful of
the need to maintain and enhance the social, cultural and
spiritual well-being of the owners and their descendants
and tribal members. They are, therefore, committed to
continued improvement of human support and infrastruc-
ture, as demonstrated through their ongoing investment in
education and partnership training liaisons.
Lake Taupo Forest Trust
Lake Rotoaira Forest Trust
Year established
1969
1973
Number of land blocks administered
68
69
Number of owners in the land blocks
11,000
10,000
Number of trustees
11
9
Trustee elections held
Every three years
Every three years
Land area (ha)
Total
32,000
16,000
Plantation (98% radiata pine)
23,000 (72%)
9,500 (59%)
Reserve/riparian
8,000 (25%)
6,000 (38%)
Roads, power lines etc.
1,000 (3%)
500 (3%)
Annual plantation harvest volume (sustainable) (m
3
)
490,000
210,000
Number of people directly employed in the forests
140
60
Trust share of harvest profit: ‘share of stumpage’
35%
28.5%
Average annual trust forest income (US$)
7 million
2.3 million
Trust debt (US$)
0
0
Average annual trust expenditure (US$)
Replanting and managing the forests and land
3.2 million
1.3 million
Direct distributions to landowners
2.4 million
0.5 million
Educational grants to landowners and descendents
0.3 million
0.1 million
Grants for customary community meeting houses
0.1 million
0.05 million
Grants to the elderly
0.05 million
0.05 million
Trust administration
1.0 million
0.3 million
Year trust attains full ownership of the plantations
2021
2026
Forecast annual trust forest income with full ownership (US$)
20 million
8 million
Lake Taupo and Lake Rotoaira Forest Trusts: in figures
Source: Trust Reports for Lake Taupo and Lake Rotoaira Forests 2010