Focus now on forestry workers

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

The forestry industry in this region has taken a hammering over the destruction and mess caused by slash and whole pine trees that washed and slipped into waterways during heavy rain events earlier this year.

That has been keenly felt by our 900 or so forestry workers — just ask any of them, their family and friends, or those whose businesses service the industry: it has been a nightmare.

Many helped to clean beaches and clogged waterways, before putting their machines to work fixing damage to forestry roads from the storms.

About 80 percent of the forestry workforce here identify as Māori, so the impacts on the whenua and communities up and down the coast are felt especially deeply.

The desire to make amends and work towards a sustainable future, where the environmental benefits of forestry are maximised and the costs minimised, is strong. This could be seen in the Eastland Wood Council response to the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use report earlier this month, welcoming a “clear series of recommendations” — despite the fact they would likely shrink the industry in this region.

Horror scenes of mobilised slash from flash flooding in the Tolaga Bay area in 2018 were a major wake-up call for the industry and regulator that forest management practices and oversight of them had to change.

Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle repeated the scenes on a much wider scale, showing more change was needed and urgently.

On top of the slash, erosion and ongoing wet weather issues — and the same pressures facing everyone, from pandemic to inflation and the hiking of interest rates — the sector has been doing it tough amid a global downturn in demand and prices for logs.

While forest owners can leave trees in the ground and wait for prices to lift, those who harvest them and deliver logs to the port rely on regular work. When that isn’t available, companies can fail with many people losing jobs.

Two Tairāwhiti contractor firms employing 60 or more workers each have  gone into liquidation recently, as reported yesterday, and there are fears that more will follow.

Foresters live the ups and downs of a highly visible and impactful part of the regional economy — with a 3.6 percent share of total employment, contributing 7.4 percent of regional GDP or $181 million in 2022. The travails of their industry are also being felt in the wider economy.

While we await the Government response to the land use inquiry panel’s recommendations, the focus now needs to be on supporting workers and getting the big players in the industry to back a steadier production flow across the log market peaks and troughs.