Tairāwhiti environmentalists call Resource Management Act forestry proposals ‘deregulation’

A Gisborne beach covered in wood debris after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Manu Caddie

Tairāwhiti environmentalists have called changes for commercial forestry under proposed Resource Management Act reforms “a slap in the face” and a return to weaker forestry regulations.

Local groups are preparing to make submissions on proposed changes to the way forestry is managed after consultation on the Resource Management Act opened on Thursday.

The proposals would make it harder for councils to have their own discretion in setting stricter rules to control tree planting.

Gisborne District Council (GDC) said the proposed changes grant both “real opportunities” and “some challenges”.

The Eastland Wood Council (EWC) is still considering its options around submitting.

Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti (MTT), the group behind a 12,000-signature petition that triggered the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use (MILU) in Tairāwhiti and Wairoa, claimed the Government was relaxing “already permissive forestry rules”.

The inquiry, published in May 2023, followed the destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle and other major storms, when woody debris, forestry slash and sedimentation flooded the region’s land, waterways and infrastructure.

At the time of the inquiry’s findings, the previous Government announced actions to reduce the risk of a Gabrielle repeat.

MTT spokeswoman and Ruatōria resident Tui Warmenhoven said, “We were promised stronger protections – what we’re getting is deregulation dressed as reform.”

The proposed changes were “a slap in the face to the hundreds of whānau who’ve already paid the price for poor forestry regulations“, said Warmenhoven in a group statement.

Another part of the proposed changes will require a Slash Mobilisation Risk Assessment as part of all harvest management plans.

It would also consider refining requirements to remove all slash above a certain size from forest cutovers.

MTT welcomed the proposed requirement for Slash Mobilisation Risk Assessments, however, it warned “this would be ineffective without enforceable planning requirements and local oversight”.

“A slash assessment without an afforestation plan is meaningless – it’s a partial fix that ignores the root of the problem,” said Warmenhoven.

“We’ve already seen what happens when forestry is left to regulate itself and the problems with planting shallow-rooting pine on erosion-prone slopes. We are also concerned about the removal of references to woody debris, given that whole pine plantations collapsed during Cyclone Gabrielle and still line many waterways in the region.”

Last September, EWC chairman Julian Kohn said forestry firms were “bleeding money”, with many companies finding Gisborne too costly to invest in.

Speaking with Local Democracy Reporting, Kohn said EWC was still considering whether to submit its own response or work with other council members to make submissions.

“We’ve been working closely with the minister and advocating for what we see needs to be real change in respect of some of the causes in the NES-CF [National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry],” said Kohn.

“Our real concern is that the way the council is treating many of these consents and these enforcement orders are literally sending these forest companies to the wall.”

He said forestry companies would close if things continued the way they were, which would leave forests unmanaged and unharvested.

“Next time we have a rain event, then some of those trees which have been locked up are going to come down the waterways, which is exactly what everybody wants to try to prevent.”

GDC’s director of sustainable futures, Jocelyne Allen, said the consultation documents came “as no surprise” as they were broad and aligned with what the council had seen in the Cabinet paper and Expert Advisory Group report.

“The packages cover infrastructure, the primary sector, freshwater, and urban growth, all areas that matter deeply to our region.

“There are real opportunities here, but also some challenges, and we’re taking the time to work through both carefully,” she said.

The council intends to submit a response and will be taking a strategic and collaborative approach to doing so, including engaging with tangata whenua, whānau, hapū and iwi across the region and working through its sector networks, particularly the Local Government Special Interest Groups and Te Uru Kahika, said Allen.

Before the announcement of the proposed changes, in an email to Local Democracy Reporting on Monday, Primary Industries and Forestry Minister Todd McClay said forestry played an important role in the economy and provided many jobs on the East Coast.

“The Government is working closely with the GDC and respected members of the forestry industry, farming and iwi to manage and reduce risk through better and more practical rules rather than blanket restrictions or bans.”

He said they are reviewing slash management practices and will amend the NES-CF so councils can focus on the most at-risk areas, lower costs and deliver better social and environmental outcomes.

“We want them to focus on high-risk areas, which is what GDC is currently doing, rather than suggesting that there should no longer be any forestry in the Tairāwhiti region,” he said.