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.
A tree — any tree — is better than no tree at all for tackling erosion. Some are better than others, because they are fast-growing, hardy and with good root structure.
It is a matter of using whichever trees are most useful for the task, which is why pines, willowsand poplars are used rather than native trees. Long-term strategy should see utilitarian species replaced with the appropriate mixture of indigenous vegetation.
Unfortunately, the objective of erosion control became contaminated with the desire to make money, and to create employment. At the same time, various sectors have opposed erosion control and forestry because they have seen them as a threat to their own interests.
Repairing the damage to the land while negotiating these many complications and opposing interests is going to take time and patience — especially so to avoid social harm to the communities involved.
It does not help at all that we have a number of people who have not and will not heed the science.
It does not help that politicians and governments have kept interfering with erosion control efforts, and have not set in concrete a long-term commitment and guaranteed funding to the issue.
As a district this must be one of our highest-priority issues. If the land is ruined, we have nothing.
We must fight tooth and claw to make those in power listen and act.
