City Forests commissioned a new Wood Processing plant in February 2006.  The plant is located near Milton, approximately 45km from Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand.  The plant kiln-dries and dresses high quality lumber for both the domestic and export markets.

The company also owns and manages approximately 16,100ha of plantation forest. All of our forests are located within a 70km radius of the city of Dunedin. Radiata pine makes up 87% of the planted forest area, with the majority of the balance being Douglas-fir and cypresses.

City Forests is a Local Authority Enterprise wholly owned by the Dunedin City Council - a local authority responsible for providing services to the residents of Dunedin City, the second largest city in the South Island with a population of 118,000 people.

We have a long history in plantation forest management having planted our first forests in the early 1900's. We have been harvesting plantation crops from our forests for over 60 years and have been actively involved in log exports since the early 1970's and have one of the longest histories in New Zealand plantation forest management.

City Forests is FSC certified, and we are committed to managing and processing our forest in an environmentally sustainable manner to ensure the long-term productivity of our forest lands and our ongoing contribution to the social and economic well being of the citizens of Dunedin.

We supply prepared sawlogs to both local and export markets, pulpwood to an export chip operation and a domestic medium density fibreboard plant and sawn timber to both local and export markets.

Our wood products from the Otago/Southland region are renowned for their high quality. In particular, radiata pine from this region has high quality appearance grade characteristics of whiteness, ease and quality of planning and uniform wood properties. This wood is particularly well suited for high quality appearance end uses, such as furniture manufacture, cut stock blanks and face veneer. It is also suitable for structural uses and packaging.

Between our Wood Processing and Forest Growing businesses we employ a full time staff of 19 people and carry out most of our forest operational activities using contract labour. In total, we provide full-time employment for up to 80 people.

We are a 50% shareholder in Otago Chipmill Ltd, a company that produces wood chips for export and peels and anti-sapstains high grade logs for export.

A number of our forests are located close to Dunedin City and we encourage the use of our forests for certain recreational and educational purposes. Further information on access permission and requirements is available on this web site.