Indigenous Biodiversity Conservation and Plantation Forestry: Options for the future

Our goals in plantation forests should be to integrate production and protection in the same landscape (as advocated by the Resource Management Act 1991) rather than replacing one with the other. A review of indigenous biodiversity in New Zealand's plantation forests shows that many indigenous plants and ani- mals occur in exotic plantations, with the number of species being dependent on plantation age, proximity to indigenous remnants and a variety of site factors (slope, aspect, etc). Plantation forests contribute to the conservation of indigenous biodiversity through: (i) providing habitat for indigenous species; (ii) buffering indige- nous forest remnants; and (iii) improving connectivity between remnants. Options for enhancing indigenous biodiversity con- servation in plantation forests include: (i) retention of indigenous forest; (ii) establishing a greater diversity ofplanted species; (iii) planting a diversity of tree species along streams and roads to provide additional habitat for indigenous animals; and (iv) mod- &ing silvicultural practices within plantations. It is suggested that through the use of spatial modelling, optimisation of the