Our forests

City Forests’ wood products from the Otago and Southland regions of New Zealand are renowned for their high quality, attributed to the region’s unique climate. Most radiata pine is grown in warmer, more temperate climates, allowing a year-round growing season. This causes wide, hard, dark winter growth rings, leaving stripes when contrasted with the lighter and softer summer rings, thus creating a colour and density variation.

Radiata grown in Otago and Southland does not have this variation because the tree shuts down for most of the winter as it is too cold. This creates smaller winter rings and larger whiter summer rings giving the wood a creamy white appearance and even texture. These growing conditions produce a consistent fibre with minimal growth rings and a white appearance.

The unique climate also produces longer internode lengths (more clear wood), less internal collapse when drying, longer rotation (a higher percentage of outerwood to corewood), fewer internal defects producing high appearance grade recovery, and better finishing properties (more even texture and density).