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Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is stoking interest among iwi and Maori landowners to be part of the coalition Government's plans to plant a billion trees.
He says it will take some time for nurseries to scale up production of seedlings, and landowners also need time to identify areas suitable for planting and get tyhe agreement of shareholders.
Some rohe are already engaging with the idea.
"I doff my cap to Kahungunu in Hawkes Bay. Their presentation basically said over a nine to 10 year period there is 200,000 hectares that ought to be available from Wairarapa to Turanganui a Kiwa, that entire eastern seaboard before you get up to Ngati Porou tuturu. Pull that off in partnership with the crown, that is 20 percent of the million hectares we've got to find," Mr Jones says.
Northland and the upper Whanganui catchment could also be areas with a lot of suitable Maori land.
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