Nelson council struggles to fill $129,000 forest manager job

Nelson City Council is unable to hire a manager for its forests even as some residents are concerned about the bare slopes around the city. Photo / Local Democracy Reporting / Max Frethey

It turns out that hiring a dedicated manager for Nelson’s forests is not so clear-cut.

The city council first advertised for a forest systems manager in October 2024 but, five months later, the role is still empty.

The role was born from the council’s decision to transition away from commercial forestry to create a well-managed continuous canopy amenity forest.

The forest systems manager would take the lead in implementing the council’s new strategic direction and managing its 10,000-hectare forest estate.

A LinkedIn advert for the job, which closed on October 11, 2024, offered pay of $129,000–$143,000 per annum and sought someone with experience in the natural sciences and project management, excellent understanding of forest transition management, and financial savvy.

The role was advertised for two weeks nationally and locally across Seek, LinkedIn, and the council’s website.

But the council was experiencing, in the words of the mayor, a “recruitment issue” and the spot remained unfilled despite receiving 42 applications.

The difficulty in recruiting a forest manager comes as residents of Marsden Valley have expressed concern about the bare, deforested slopes behind their neighbourhood potentially having a negative impact both their local natural and built environments if a storm hit the area.

The council’s group manager infrastructure, Alec Louverdis, said the council is continuing the recruiting process with the aim of hiring “the right person for the role”.

In the meantime, Louverdis continues to have oversight of the city’s forestry, with governance direction from a forestry transition working group made up of elected members.

“This oversight includes continuing with operational issues, working on wider strategic matters and managing the transition away from commercial forestry.”

He added that transition plans have been developed to address winter planting in the Maitai and Marsden Valleys.

Ensuring close oversight of the forestry transition is a continued endeavour for councillor Rachel Sanson.

At last week’s meeting of the council’s audit, risk, and finance committee, she asked why the council’s forestry transition wasn’t included in a project health summary.

“It’s high political and community interest, and the budget is, on average, $1 million per annum for the next 10 years,” she said.

“It’s important that we monitor it because it’s a significant project and significant investment.”

Acknowledging the “recruitment issue”, Mayor Nick Smith said he had “complete confidence” the work was being done but he agreed that the topic should be reported on in the near term before the new approach became business as usual.

“Because it is a significant change, in the first couple of years, just to get that change coming through, I think it’s appropriate it be a line item that we report on.”

Chief executive Nigel Philpott assured it would be included in future summaries.

- Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air