Like other forest-owner companies that were initially charged alongside their operators, the charge against Timbergrow was ultimately dismissed.
During June 2018, huge weather events over two successive weekends revealed widespread non-compliance with resource consents by forestry companies that resulted in damage to the environment at Tolaga Bay and other localities around the district.
The worst damage to Tolaga Bay happened during Queen's Birthday weekend (June 3 and 4) when an estimated 400,000 cubic metres of forestry slash, reject logs and silt mobilised off various forest sites inland from the coast, surging down tributary streams into the Mangaheia and Uawa rivers.
It caused flooding and destruction to houses, roads and bridges in the rural communities.
About 47,000 cubic metres of that raft of material ended up on Tolaga Bay beach, completely covering the foreshore.
Gisborne District Council subsequently launched prosecutions against 10 companies for their alleged part in the destruction. Four of them — now five, including Ernslaw — were the landowner companies.
On the operator consent-holding companies — Aratu Forests Ltd, DNS Forest Products 2009 Ltd, PF Olsen Ltd and Juken NZ Ltd — Judge Dwyer imposed fines ranging between $124,700 and $379,500.
Of those companies, Aratu and PF Olsen contributed to the havoc at Tolaga Bay.
The judge had stern words for forestry companies but also for the council, saying during one company's sentencing that it was “reprehensible and irresponsible, to say the least” for the council to have failed to monitor forestry consent compliance.
Unlike the other four companies, which pleaded guilty, Ernslaw One (and Timbergrow) initially denied the offending and elected a jury trial.
When it eventually changed its plea Ernslaw claimed diminished culpability, saying the sheer scale of the storm events could not have been reasonably provided against and discharges that occurred were a natural landscape response to heavy rainfall.
The matter went to a four-day dispute of facts hearing with council prosecutors in turn arguing the extent of non-compliance by Ernslaw with either resource consent conditions or requirements of forestry best practice were such that it aggravated the offending and should be reflected in the final penalty imposed.
Judge Dwyer found no merit in Ernslaw's claims about the storm and agreed with the council about the extent of the breaches.
East Coast was prone to adverse weather and there had been six major storm-induced slash events in Gisborne from 1994 to 2015, the judge said.
The fact Uawa Forest might be subject to a major storm event at any time could have been reasonably foreseen, as could the consequences of it, particularly when the forest had been recently harvested.
Ernslaw is one of the largest forest owners in New Zealand with almost 100,000 hectares of plantation forests under its management in several regions.
It was issued consent by the district council in 2013 to build about 25km of new forest roads and 65 skid sites to assist in incrementally harvesting pine and eucalyptus trees from Uawa Forest, which stands on some of the region's most erosion-prone land.
Several watercourses within the forest were specified in the consent as protected.
In its consent application, Ernslaw made numerous undertakings as to how it would avoid, remedy or mitigate potential adverse environmental effects when harvesting at Uawa. But council staff who investigated the site soon after the June storms noted numerous breaches of conditions and failures to observe best forestry practice, particularly in the way roads and landings were constructed, surface water was directed and waste material was stored.
Ten skid sites had completely collapsed.
It all led to the discharges and destruction that occurred, the inspectors said.
The council began its prosecution of Ernslaw and Timbergrow in November 2018.
The following month, Ernslaw refused to let a council ecologist assess the effects of the offending on waterways in the forest and forced the council to get a search warrant.
The ecologist noted adverse effects on sediment levels, bank erosion, and fish and invertebrate species.
Downstream, debris from Uawa Forest had washed up over about 15 hectares of Mangaheia Station, where 180 trailer loads of pine logs had to be removed from the worst affected paddocks and remedial work cost up to $30,000.
Logs and silt from Uawa Forest and the flooding caused also affected other downstream properties, including a lifestyle block and two farms.
At the time of the offending, Ernslaw had no other relevant previous convictions.
It has since been sentenced for a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
The RMA offence for which Ernslaw was sentenced is punishable by up to two years imprisonment for a natural person or $600, 000 fine for a company.
A new Natural and Built Environments bill, which will replace the RMA, will (as presently drafted) remove the right to elect jury trial for alleged environmental offending. It will also increase the maximum penalties considerably.
After sentencing Ernslaw One released a statement accepting failings and stating its regret.
“We regret the part we played in causing damage to our neighbours and wider community following the Tolaga Bay weather event four years ago,” chief executive Darren Mann said.
“We accept that we had failings in our operational procedures and could have done a lot better.
“Following the storm, we undertook significant remedial works and in the months and years since, have taken important learnings on board.
“We have put management procedures in place to minimise impacts from any such future weather events, including retiring land for native reversion and replanting alternative species on some of our more sensitive sites. We have also implemented catchment cutting limits in higher risk areas and invested significantly in ensuring our people are equipped and prepared to appropriately respond to any future events of this nature.
“As an organisation, we are committed to ensuring best practice in our care of the land both now and into the future.”
