New Zealand Forest Service

The New Zealand Forest Service was originally established in 1919 as the State Forest Service. The State Forest Service changed its name to the New Zealand Forest Service in 1949 at about the same time that the Forests Act of 1949 passed through Parliament.

The New Zealand Forest Service was responsible for the management of New Zealand's state-owned forests, including forestry, conservation and recreational functions, and was abolished in 1987. Its environmental and conservation functions were taken over by the newly established Department of Conservation. The logging operation and associated land was passed into the New Zealand Forestry Corporation. The policy advice, biosecurity functions and remaining Crown forests on leased Maori land passed to the Ministry for Primary Industries. The logging operations and some land was sold. Other blocks were leased to private logging companies. Responsibility for the Crown's production forests on the West Coast operation passed onto Timberlands West Coast Limited in 1990.

External links

• Reduction in state owned forests (pdf)