Need for forests to be multifunctional: FFA president

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

The Farm Forestry Association says the ministerial inquiry into land use across Tairāwhiti needs to look closely at the tree options for shoring up vulnerable farm and former forest land in the region or it will leave a legacy of mistakes long into the future.

FFA president Graham West says it is no longer just a simple matter of deciding between production pines and native trees.

“With climate change, forests need to be multifunctional in response.

“They need to intercept rainfall with deep crowns. They need to root graft to link together the tree roots across the hillside and they need to sequester carbon and hold it for long periods.

“Many forest systems only do one or two of these three things.”

Speaking to The Gisborne Herald, Mr West said radiata, which was most popular in forestry because it was fast-growing and made the most money, only did one of those (intercepting rainfall).

“There is a fourth one in a way, which is coppicing — when you cut a poplar or willow, it grows again, so that's a useful characteristic as well because it keeps the roots alive.

“The emphasis needs to be on how do we solve the problems we have in front of us? It means these other criteria have to become more of a priority and that means we will have to look at possibly changing species.”

However, species that had the characteristics, like redwoods, were slow-growing and might need to be subsidised or have a higher carbon price allotted, he said.

“There are several trade-offs we now need to investigate.”

Mr West said his more than 40 years of forest research experience had shown that in the face of increasing regulation to manage water quality, soil erosion and farm emissions, trees were the most benign option farmers and other landowners could take to adapt to a new era of environmentally aware markets and changing climate.

“The recent climate damage experienced in the North Island from Cyclone Gabrielle has highlighted the need to adapt and accept this is possibly a new normal for all the primary sectors.”

“While some may claim Cyclone Gabrielle was historically unexceptional, although infrequent, my concern is we can't afford to be wrong about that.

“Can we afford the loss of production and mounting infrastructure costs, not forgetting the loss of life?

“Will ‘normal' keep changing and is worse yet to come?

“The right trees are part of the solution but we need to derive enough wealth from them to cover the costs.

“Adequate tree planting on farms and riparian zones takes time and money. Trees need to be well established to endure the challenge of a cyclonic downpour, especially on the steep mudstone slopes common in Tairāwhiti.

“On some sites we are going to have to rethink what is the purpose of the forest and how we maximise that objective.

“Clearly we don't have all the answers in farm forestry but we have been working with a variety of species and forest systems for decades.

“Farm foresters have many diverse practical examples to study.”