Tanes Tree Trust held its tenth anniversary conference from 18th to 20th November, at the University of Waikato. The event was very well attended and celebrated some of the milestones achieved since the first conference took place 10 years ago.

Attendees enjoyed four workshops including 'Productive use of native species: Making the most of weeds' convened by NZ Landcare Trust Regional Coordinator Helen Moodie. The findings of the Northland Totara Working Group were highlighted with discussion revolving around commercialisation of the resource; identifying profitable markets and promoting benefits. It was agreed that public perception was an issue and work was needed to underline the sustainable nature of managed totara.

Invited speakers delivered papers highlighting current industry problems, with a view to leading the way towards the development of a National Strategy on native forest management.

Another highlight of the conference was the launch of ‘Planting and Managing Native Trees - A Technical Manual’.