Esk Valley orchardist Malcolm Davie showing the destruction of his property, his anger with forestry slash and how to recover. Video / Mike Scott
Forestry Minister Stuart Nash isn’t backing down from his decision to limit the land use inquiry prompted by Cyclone Gabrielle to the Tairāwhiti region, despite calls to include Hawke’s Bay.
The inquiry, set to take two months, would investigate land use that causes woody debris, including forestry slash, and sediment-relateddamage.
The debris contributed to extensive damage across the East Coast and Hawke’s Bay during the cyclone, piling up against bridges until they collapsed and ripping through houses, orchards and vineyards.
However, the inquiry would only investigate what happened in the Tairāwhiti region and Wairoa, but not further south in Hawke’s Bay.
A spokesman for the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council said slash from forestry sites had been a “very minor problem” in the wider Hawke’s Bay disaster.
Federated Farmers Hawke’s Bay president Jim Galloway believed the inquiry should be extended to include Hawke’s Bay or at least residents should be given an assurance its findings would be applied in the region.
“I can’t see why they couldn’t [include Hawke’s Bay],” he said.
“The main thing is maybe if it’s conducted [in Tairāwhiti], we would have to have an absolute understanding that findings need to be implemented nationwide.”
Woody debris piled up against bridges after the cyclone, with some bridges collapsing under the stress. Photo / Mark Mitchell
When the inquiry was announced, local National Party candidates set about collecting 10,000 signatures to have the inquiry expanded to cover Hawke’s Bay.
National deputy leader Nicola Willis said Hawke’s Bay must be included.
“Clearly that was a region really badly affected by forestry slash,” she said.
“It just seems a really big omission for us and very easy to fix, it’s a flick of a pen for the minister, he should do it.”
Nash’s argument against including Hawke’s Bay was that it would double the inquiry’s timeframe.
“The wider you make this from a geographic perspective, the longer it’s going to take to land it. We wanted something which was quick but also had integrity.”
He also referenced Tairāwhiti’s historical issues with forestry slash and how the region also contained 25 per cent of the North Island’s most erodible soils.
Nash, also the Napier MP, did not claim forestry slash had had a negligible contribution to blowing out Hawke’s Bay stopbanks, citing Esk Valley as a problem area.
However, he said in other catchments, there was a lot less forestry slash, and more willow and poplar trees that had been uprooted.
“I don’t think it’s right at this point to say forestry slash from harvesting operations is the sole reason why we had stopbank failure across the Hawke’s Bay.”
Forestry Minister Stuart Nash announced the inquiry while in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland
Willis, who had visited the region following the cyclone, believed Nash was “wrong” and “disingenuous” to discount the impact of slash in the region.
“I saw with my own eyes that some of what was coming down the rivers was clearly the result of felling operations and I trust the people of Hawke’s Bay, we have to trust the voices on the ground.”
Green Party co-leader and Climate Change Minister James Shaw said he was not opposed to extending the inquiry.
Neither Nash nor Willis could point to any official review of what was within the debris littered across Hawke’s Bay after the cyclone that informed their view.
Nash confirmed the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council was undertaking a review of burst stopbanks, which would include an assessment of what made up the woody debris.
The standards for harvesting were currently being reviewed, with recommendations expected to be given to Nash this month.
However, he would wait until he received the inquiry’s findings before approaching any sector reform, noting that the findings could also be applicable to other regions.
Galloway told the Herald some farmers were frustrated that Hawke’s Bay wasn’t included in the inquiry.
He acknowledged including the region would mean a longer inquiry, but also said forestry slash had been an issue for decades and it deserved sufficient investigation.
“A week or two or a month in the big scheme of things may not be that important.”
