THE AUPOURI FOREST SALE

The fates of both the NPL/JNL mill in Kaitāia and the Aupōuri forest have always and inevitably been intertwined. In fact, one without the other would drastically diminish the value of both. Also, without a doubt, the loss of either or both of them would be catastrophic for the region’s economy.

That is the case now, and it was the case in 1990 when the Aupōuri forest was put up for sale at the same time that the NPL mill went into statutory management.

For the NORFED forest owners, at stake were not only our lease arrangements with NPL and our 15% share option in the mill, so too was our vision to be part of the entire value chain, from owning the land in which the trees grew, through to milling, finishing and marketing the timber and other end products.  Additionally, the sale of the Aupōuri forest logging operations would have a huge gravitational impact on us, because wherever Aupōuri forest went, so would our forests. 

That is why we strongly resisted the sales of both the mill and the forest.   Initially, we thought we had allies in the New Zealand Māori Council (NZMC) and Federation of Māori Authorities  (FOMA) who were jointly prosecuting the “lands case".  However, the outcomes of that case, while important and wonderful in many ways, ultimately undermined our opposition to the sales, and it became clear that they were going to go ahead regardless.

At that point, we reasoned that if we owned the Aupōuri forest, we would have more chance of saving the mill and all it meant to us. So, between us, the seven NORFED member organisations came up with the $100,000 deposit needed to make a bid of $1million for the Aupōuri forest. 

On the final day, Matiu Rata (as Chair of Muriwhenua Incorporation) and I (as Secretary of Parengarenga B3 Trust) were sent to Wellington by NORFED to file our tender. We arrived at the Forest Corp HQ in time for a cordial cup of tea and chat, before ceremoniously placing our cheque and documents into the slot of the tender box just a few minutes before the 4pm deadline.  Then we were respectfully ushered out to the lifts.

In my heart of hearts, I knew that we had just been given a polite version of the bum’s rush. However, Matiu (God bless his optimistic heart) was positive that we had succeeded.  I so wanted to believe he was right. I wish he had been right. 

On 14^th January 1991, the Aupōuri Crown Forestry License was formally executed between the Crown and Juken Nissho (JNL) who had won the tender and purchased the Aupōuri Forest for $37.7million. 

Having lost the bid to secure the Aupōuri forest, NORFED next turned our attention to the pending NPL mill sale with one question in mind – how could we still fulfil our vision?

More on that next week.