Forest owners are felling their immature forests at a great rate to avoid penalties under the Kyoto Protocol, according to the Forest Owners' Association.
The association says foresters want to avoid a Kyoto Protocol liability for trees planted before 1990 and felled after 2007.
It all relates to NZ's calculations on carbon credits for the Kyoto Protocol.
Trees felled from 2008 onwards will incur a Kyoto penalty.
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The association's Peter Weir says new plantings have all but collapsed as well - leading to the prospect of the government paying out on the Kyoto Protocol, when it planned to benefit from it.