The land that was returned to the Collective on 1 July 2009 is currently rented out to commercial businesses, under agreements called Crown Forest Licences (CFLs).
The vast majority of the settlement land is part of Kaingaroa Forest, and the CFLs for Kaingaroa Forest were previously held by a company called Kaingaroa Timberlands.
Return Area Process
The Collective decided to terminate all of the CFLs on 1 July 2009, by issuing a "notice of termination". The notice period is 15 months. This means that from 1 October 2010, as blocks of land are harvested by Kaingaroa Timberlands, they will be returned to CNI Iwi Holdings Limited who will take over the responsibility for those blocks of land.
Over the next 35 years, CNI Iwi Holdings Limited will be responsibile for two types of land - land that is still under Crown Forest Licence (CFL), and land that has been harvested and returned to CNI Iwi Holdings Limited on behalf of the Collective.
CFLs and Returned Areas to date include:
| CROWN FORESTRY LICENCES | RETURNED AREAS | ||
| 1 | Whakarewarewa Tokorangi | 1 | Taurewa |
| 2 | Kaingaroa Wairapukao | 2 | Waituhi |
| 3 | Kaingaroa Pukuriri | 3 | Pureora South |
| 4 | Whakarewarewa Waimangu | ||
| 5 | Whakarewarewa Highlands | ||
| 6 | Waimihia South | ||
| 7 | Kaingaroa Flaxey Creek | ||
| 8 | Crater | ||
| 9 | Marotiri | ||
| 10 | Whakarewarewa Whaka | ||
| 11 | Kaingaroa Headquarters | ||
| 12 | Kaingaroa Reporoa | ||
| 13 | Kaingaroa Waimaroke | ||
| 14 | Kaingaroa Northern Boundary | ||
| 15 | Kaingaroa Totara | ||
| 16 | Horohoro | ||
| 17 | Kaingaroa Matea | ||
| 18 | Kaingaroa Whirinaki | ||
| 19 | Waimihia North | ||
| 20 | Kaingaroa Caves |