Stuart Nash says the slash inquiry needs to be "short, sharp and very targeted". Photo / NZME
Stuart Nash’s relationship with the forestry industry is being described as a help and a hindrance ahead of a ministerial inquiry into slash and land use.
Nash, the MP for Napier and Minister of Forestry, announced an inquiry last week which will focus on Tairawhiti and Wairoa.
The inquiry is independent. It will be chaired by former National cabinet minister Hekia Parata, with Nash as the Minister for Forestry one of the responsible ministers.
Already there has been some criticism in Tairāwhiti about Nash’s comment that just 40 per cent of the wood debris washed downstream from the cyclone was from forestry.
Further south in Hawke’s Bay there’s also been frustration at not being included in the inquiry, where there has been anecdotal evidence that forestry slash exacerbated the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle.
New Zealand Institute of Forestry president James Treadwell lives in Hawke’s Bay and is relaxed about this region not being included.
But he accepts the findings of the inquiry might be viewed with suspicion by the wider public, given Nash’s ties to the industry.
Nash has a background in forestry and in 2021 declared donations of almost $20,000 with links to forestry - Andrew Kelly, formerly of LumberLink, ($5000), Red Stag Timber ($5000), and Tenon Clearwood ($9503.80).
“In terms of sizeable donations, I know nothing about that. I really don’t,” Treadwell told Hawke’s Bay Today.
“The minister has a forestry degree and he’s probably the first minister we’ve had for a long, long time to understand the industry, and is supportive of the industry, and I’m happy for that to be the case.
“Is it an impediment to how he’s perceived? Yep, definitely, those things are always an impediment. But the reality is if we can improve our practices we should and I’m definitely not against that.”
Treadwell is conscious of forestry’s status as the villain right now.
Whether it’s slash, the planting of pastoral land in pine to meet the Emissions Trading Scheme or the knock-on effects on rural communities, he sees and hears it all.
In many ways, forestry is even something of a scapegoat for the flooding in Hawke’s Bay right now.
“And I understand that and, to a certain extent, I’ve been quietly letting that happen. But now we have to look at the real picture and the last thing we want to be doing in 10 years’ time is having another Esk Valley and having more people dead and knowing we knew the answers all along.”
Slash is an issue and forestry has regulations in place to mitigate that, Treadwell said. Some of those measures failed during Cyclone Gabrielle and they need to be looked at.
But whole stands of pine, along with willows and poplars, were also washed away in the flooding.
“DoC admit that an 18-hectare parcel of mature native forest is just gone. It’s just disappeared,” said Treadwell.
“Yes, we have some responsibility, but even if we had no slash on the hills there would still be woody debris coming out of forests.”
What Treadwell wants now is for any ministerial inquiry to incorporate a “mountains to the sea” approach about how all our land is used and where things are planted and where houses and infrastructure are built.
“This is me personally speaking, but I don’t know what we can do to stop sedimentation running down those rivers and woody debris running down those rivers,” he said.
“If we planted the whole place in natives, it would still happen - so what’s the real solution here?”
Nash said the scale of devastation caused by woody debris was “completely unacceptable to me”.
“That’s why we’ve commissioned this inquiry, and that’s why we will take action to make sure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.
“The panel will make recommendations to improve land use including changes needed to practices and regulation at central and local government levels. The public will be invited to provide feedback to the panel.
“Ultimately, Cabinet will then consider the recommendations of this inquiry.”
* An earlier version of this story stated Stuart Nash had declared sizeable donations from the forestry sector at previous elections. This is incorrect. Nash received donations from companies and individuals associated with timber processing. Nash says they are not indicative of receiving donations from the sector as a whole. We apologise for the error.