A forestry industry census next year aims to capture the contributions forestry and wood processing make to society, ensuring the sector's value is better understood by both policymakers and the public.
While accurate figures could easily be put on exports, forestry was "much more than that'', Forest Growers Levy Trust chairman Geoff Thompson said.
"We don't know how many people are employed in the sector, how many people own forests, the area of forests planted for erosion protection, the area of native wildlife habitat and so on,'' Mr Thompson said.
Funds raised by forest growers for research and other industry activities were expected to total more than $7.6million this year, about $1million more than budgeted, enabling the trust to expand the work it did for growers, including the census.
It would also allow the trust to keep the levy rate on harvested logs to 27c/tonne next year, for the second consecutive year.
The trust was looking at innovative ways to communicate new technology and best practice to growers, especially owners of smaller forests who might be unaware of the opportunities for increasing profitability and environmental performance of their plantations.
Technology transfer workshops pioneered this year would be expanded while other initiatives planned for 2016 included promotion of careers in forestry, and a study of the environmental effects of mechanical harvesting on steep hill country, as well as the census.
The core activities of the trust were research, biosecurity, safety, transport, fire prevention, industry promotion and advocacy.
Of those, research was by far "the biggest ticket item'', with a budget of $4.478million.
Research into sustainable intensification of radiata forests - growing more timber on the same area of land without harming the environment - was the area of greatest focus, Mr Thompson said.
"This, together with other production forest research projects covering weed and disease control, the use of beneficial organisms and automated harvesting systems, are all designed to make forestry more profitable for levy payers and to protect the industry's social licence to operate,'' he said.
The New Zealand Institute of Forestry (NZIF) has welcomed the backing from the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) of New Zealand's sustainable forestry standard.
President James Treadwell said New Zealand's model of forestry, where natural forests were managed for conservation and exotic plantation forest for production, was well understood domestically but it was comparatively rare in the world.
"PEFC's endorsement of this model is useful in ensuring continued acceptance of the sector's exports of all products, including timber, paper and logs,'' Mr Treadwell said.
Increasing international concern over the loss of forests and the effect of that on climate change had seen many countries ban the import of wood and wood products of unclear origin.
It was therefore pleasing to see the forestry sector work together to achieve PEFC recognition which would help prove New Zealand wood and other products come from well-managed forests, he said.
