Local councils will have more power to decide where new commercial forests - including carbon forests - are located, to reduce impacts on communities and the environment, Environment Minister David Parker said today. "New national standards give councils greater control over commercial forestry, including clear rules on harvesting practices and new requirements to remove slash from erosion-prone land" he said. "Under the changes, non-indigenous forests planted for carbon sequestration will now be managed in the same way as plantation forests." Forestry Minister Peeni Henare said slash provisions have been tightened to reduce the risks of damage to downstream communities as experienced in Tairwhiti and Wairoa during Cyclone Gabrielle. "Under the new regulations, slash longer than two metres, and with a large-end diameter of more than 10 cm, must be removed after harvesting from erosion-prone land unless it is unsafe to do so. This is a minimum standard across t