Dangerous trees removed from Tararua district's Route 52

Logs being loaded in the early hours of Saturday morning near Wimbledon for transporting to Napier Port.

The removal of dangerous trees along Route 52 is proving to be a win/win situation for Tararua District.

In the early hours of Saturday morning at the top of Sargents Hill logs were loaded on to trucks for transporting to Napier Port. Eight loads were removed, leaving another three loads to go.

Contractor Trevor Beale said the loading of logs would not normally take place at night but with the ports reopening after the level 4 Covid-19 lockdown the race was on to get logs loaded and shipped out as soon as possible.

It was a case of utilising logging trucks when they were available.

Beale said Ernslaw manager Shane Boustead had allowed the logs to be stored on the station's skid site until they could be trucked out which made the task much easier.

Beale has been contracted by Tararua District Council since June last year to remove dangerous trees from the side of the roads along Route 52.

"Trees were causing a problem as any time there was a gale a tree would come down."

Any logs that could be recovered were stacked to await transporting to Napier. Trees that didn't make the grade were sold for firewood.

Tararua District Council chief executive Blair King said road closures through slips and trees coming down were becoming a major problem.

This led to trees identified as being most likely to be an extreme danger being removed.

Controlled felling meant there would be less load on slip-prone banks.

"Imagine during a storm a big tree comes down. It's between 35 and 40 metres long and the root ball is clear. It can weigh around 20 tonne so it's got to be safely cut up and taken of the road. This can be really challenging and it was costing the council a lot of time and money."

King said while the work was predominantly about removing dangerous trees, it was also part of enabling works.

"By removing some of the trees it allows us to get very good idea of the work required on Route 52."

Another benefit from clearing the sides of the roads was that trucks were able to move over more to allow room for other vehicles and provided greater visibility on corners.

Blair said when trees were felled it was important that they were moved and sent to the port as quickly as possible.

"If we had export quality logs that were left on the ground they would soon turn into low-value firewood."

He estimated the latest shipment of logs was worth around $40,000 to the council.