Council owned forestry blocks on the outskirts of Nelson will begin to be harvested this month after a year-long delay due to Covid-19.

The Nelson City Council said the work in Brook and Maitai Valleys was expected to take five months to complete.

The council delayed the work last year to let businesses that operate near or in the blocks continue to operate after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Those businesses were primarily mountain biking businesses.

Once the harvest is complete the areas in the Brook would be retired from commercial forestry and replaced with alternative use species, the council said.

The council owns around 700 hectares of production forest land spread across four blocks: Brook, Maitai, Marsden and Roding.