Forestry company pleads guilty to 11 charges

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

A forestry company has admitted its poor harvesting practices significantly impacted two of the region’s waterways.

Forwood Forest Management Limited and its director, Matthew Strijbosch, each faced 11 representative charges under the Resource Management Act for alleged poor harvesting practices at Papakorokoro Forest, near Ngakoroa Road.

They are being prosecuted by Gisborne District Council.

The offending between December 2021 and April last year, came to light after storm events last March.

Yesterday in Gisborne District Court, guilty pleas were entered on behalf of the company. It was scheduled for sentencing on September 20.  However, Strijbosch was further remanded without plea to appear again in court next month.

The Mangaoai and Mangaruaki streams, which run through the forest, were adversely affected by the company’s activities.

Charges allege that vegetation was unlawfully cleared from a riparian management area; the Mangaruaki Stream was disturbed by the creation of a crossing with culverts and fill; a road and skid site were constructed in a red zone at the forest; and trees, forest harvesting debris, and sediment were discharged directly into the Mangaoai Stream and on to land where it could reach the stream.

The council says none of those activities were permissible either by consents previously issued to Forwood, or by national environmental standards, regulations in a regional plan, or in a proposed regional plan.