A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Growing pains of the forest industry in this district were on display in yesterday’s paper, where a report from Tairawhiti Roads to the council noted a “massive increase” in complaints over road use by log trucks and other forestry contractors, and an image showed another discolouration of the harbour lastweek — which many believe is principally due to run-off from log yards at the port.
The district’s roading authority is facing “a number of very challenging problems” as more forests are harvested.
Complaints came from rural and urban areas related to noise and dust issues, house vibrations, overnight activity keeping people awake and “a perceived” safety issue. Tairawhiti Roads had helped negotiate “low-level” resolutions such as traffic management plans. There had been requests for some roads to be widened and sealed. Decisions were also needed on how to “deal with the increased use of urban roads” — code perhaps for a seemingly-stalled push to have a single, dedicated route for heavy-vehicle traffic that connects the south and west of the city to the port, either via Awapuni Road or Ormond Road.
When the vast majority of logs are foreign-owned and exported after only a quick debarking, the district captures a lot less economic benefit than it could and the industry’s negative impacts (which have more usually focused on road damage and slash clogging waterways after heavy rain) weigh more heavily in a regional cost-benefit analysis.
So as well as mitigating these impacts as the forest harvest continues to grow — through tens of millions of dollars of extra roading investment (from central government?), a sound regulatory and infrastructure approach from the council, responsive management by the forestry companies, and the port continuing its multimillion-dollar investment programme — the district does need to ensure that more processing happens here.
