Our Services
FORESTRY
Sound advice, from planting to harvest.
Horizon Archaeology has extensive experience supporting forestry operations from large production forests to woodlots. We have a working knowledge of forestry processes that ensures we deliver accurate, practical advice across all aspects of the industry.
Here’s how we can help with your forestry project
• Pre-establishment survey to identify and record the position of archaeological sites
• Supply of accurate spatial data to GIS platforms to inform planting teams and indicative harvest planning
•Pre-harvest archaeological survey to record the location and extent of recorded and unrecorded sites in forestry blocks
• Site marking
• Advice about planting boundaries and offsets
• In-site discussions to develop practical and effective strategies for removing trees from archaeological sites
• Preparation of a report to support an authority application (consent) with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (if required).
• Support through the Heritage New Zealand authority process
our methods
We use a mix of ground survey and LiDAR-based remote sensing to accurately identify sites and to inform our advice.
Rotoehu Forest
Horizon Archaeology is involved in the management of harvest and afforestation in forests and woodlots across the upper North Island. Recently, in partnership with InSitu Heritage, Andy was involved in a large-scale heritage management exercise in Rotoehu Forest. Rotoehu is a 8875 hectare production forest managed by Timberlands Ltd. The area surrounding the forest contains a dense concentration of sites, but there were relatively few recorded inside the forest boundaries. As a result of on-going harvesting activity it became clear that there were many unrecorded sites present. In addition, most of the recorded sites had not been accurately located and it was vital to improve the quality of data prior to harvest activity so that accidental damage could be avoided.
To achieve this we carried out a large-scale mapping project using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data, which provides a 3D picture of the forest. Vegetation can be digitally removed revealing the ground surface and potential archaeological sites (see images below). We re-identified and updated the location data of all known sites and we identified 191 areas of interest. To date, 69 of these have been confirmed as archaeological sites during field survey and have been entered into ArchSite and the Timberlands GIS.
LiDAR prospection followed by targeted field survey is a time and cost-effective archaeological site management tool for in Rotoehu Forest and can be applied to all forests and woodlots.
LiDAR imagery showing the forest with canopy cover (above) and with the LiDAR data cleaned to remove canopy cover, revealing archaeological features (below).
