The Government's drive to research forestry species other than pine has been welcomed by the region's foresters.
"This is what farm foresters have been screaming for ever since I've been involved with forestry," Whanganui farmer and forester Dougal McIntosh said.
He was wrapping up a presentation by Marco Lausberg from the Future Forest Research company.
The company is charged with finding ways to increase production from timber species other than Pinus radiata, and with increasing the production of higher quality wood products as well.
The project is called the Specialty Wood Products Partnership (SWP) and Mr Lausberg is the programme manager.
He spoke at the New Zealand Farm Forestry Middle Districts branch mid-winter dinner in Bulls recently.
The SWP is focused on tree species that are already widely planted - douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), cypresses including (Cupressus macrocarpa) and a range of ground durable and other eucalypts.
It is half-funded by the Government, with foresters and forestry companies adding to it by levies and contributions. It also gets $550,000 a year from Crown research institutes, bringing funding to nearly $2million a year.
The programme started in July last year and finishes in 2022.
It's looking to get a lot happening quickly - 25,000ha of "specialty species" planted by 2024, and an extra $350 million worth of exports by 2030.
The research will be done by Scion in Rotorua, the Marlborough Research Centre and the University of Canterbury.
Mr Lausberg said it would focus on getting species genetics right, and on clustering them in places where they can be processed.
The right species will have to be found for each region.
Forestry is especially strong in some parts of the country.
The central North Island has a lot of douglas fir, Eucalyptus fastigata, Eucalyptus regnans and cypresses.
Southland is strong in Eucalyptus nitens and the North Island's east coast and top of the South Island have a range of eucalypts.
There is a lot to find out. People who want to grow douglas fir will have to prove their plantings won't self sow and start a pest plant problem.
The Japanese market is especially interested in ground durable eucalypts, because it prefers untreated wood.
Eucalypts are extremely variable in their soil and climate requirements, some are prone to insect pests and others, such as Eucalyptus nitens, "spring apart" when sawn.
Freezing the wood before cutting could stop that happening.
Higher value products could include plywood, veneer, joinery, flooring and "optimised engineered lumber" (OEL). OEL is made out of 1m lengths of unpruned wood glued together. It is valued by builders because it is very stable.
The cypress research is mainly focused on resistance to canker. The foresters said timber quality should be considered too.
They wondered whether the "alternative species" would thrive in their own coastal southern North Island region.
Horizons Regional Council land manager Grant Cooper said there were 400,000ha there that needed woody vegetation cover.
Rangitikei forester and farmer Denis Hocking said some eucalypts grew well on his coastal Rangitikei sand dunes, and there was another 30,000ha of dune land available.
Marketing the eucalypt timber was a challenge, but forestry helps him out in years of low farm prices.
Whanganui forester Richard Thompson wants help to lobby Horizons to extend its hill country planting subsidies to species other than pine.
The rapid rise in carbon price could also stimulate new planting, one forester said.
The value a New Zealand Emissions Unit - equivalent to one tonne of carbon - is now $17.80.
Patrick Murray of Murray's Nurseries said the carbon price was spurring big companies into planting, but not affecting smaller growers.