About the NEFD
The NEFD is the main source of facts about New Zealand's exotic production forests. It helps us make informed decisions about the future and has been published every year since 1985. The NEFD is a tier 1 statistic, which means it’s one of New Zealand’s most important national measures.
Find NEFD and other data on New Zealand’s forests
What is changing?
We want to make the NEFD more accurate, faster to update, and easier for people to use. To do this, we have an improvement programme comprised of 3 projects – exotic forest description, intentions and management, and data and integration.
We will update this page as the programme progresses. We expect to publish the first results from the new approach in the next NEFD report in December 2026.
Exotic forest description
This project uses spatial data, such as satellite imagery, along with modelling to describe the size and make-up of New Zealand’s forest estate (for example, species, age, and location). It will reduce the need to collect the same information through surveys and support more consistent and timely data. We are working with the Bioeconomy Science Institute (Maiangi Taiao) on this project.
We have received the first test dataset and completed initial validation and analysis. We are also reviewing how the new data compares with previous survey-based NEFD data.
Our next steps include work to align historical data with the new approach, so that trends over time remain meaningful. We are working closely with stakeholders to ensure the final dataset meets expectations and any changes are clearly communicated.
Intentions and management
This project focuses on collecting information about how forest owners and forest managers intend to plant, manage and harvest their forest in the future. This information will be collected using a single rationalised survey, replacing the multiple surveys MPI has used in the past to gather this information.
Data and integration
This project brings data together within MPI to produce reports and publish tables and spatial data more efficiently.
What the changes mean for people who use NEFD data
Some NEFD information will now come from satellite images and modelling instead of surveys. This will make the data more complete and up to date. Because of the new methods, some data may look different from past years. As the modelling improves, some results may also change over time. We will explain what has changed and how it fits with older data.
What this means for forest owners and managers
Forest owners and forest managers will no longer need to fill in the annual NEFD survey.
A new, smaller survey will replace:
- the NEFD survey
- the afforestation and deforestation intentions survey
- the harvest intentions survey.
The new survey will only ask for things that satellite imagery cannot show, such as:
- plans to harvest and plant forest
- plans to deforest and transition to other land uses
- management practices, such as decisions to prune or thin.
We will keep forest owners informed as the new system is rolled out and explain what information is still needed.
Contact us
If you have questions, email teururakau@mpi.govt.nz