Gisborne District Council battles slash damage, seeks enforcement at Waimatā Valley

Woody debris piles up against the William Pettie Bridge in Gisborne after Cyclone Gabrielle, with the Waimatā River in full flood. Photo / Paul Rickard

A slash catcher which prevents large pieces of forestry slash entering waterways will take eight months to build and another weather event could happen in the meantime.

Gisborne District Council scientist Murry Cave gave that time estimate in the Environment Court in Auckland yesterday.

The resource consent process could be sped up and a slash catcher built over summer and autumn, but there would still be a risk of a weather event before construction was complete, he said.

Gisborne District Council is asking the Environment Court to impose enforcement orders, to address woody debris and sediment issues, on entities involved in commercial forestry harvesting at Kanuka Forest on Waimatā Valley Rd.

The council wants the orders imposed on China Forestry Group New Zealand Ltd (CFG), which owns the forest; Yuxia Sun, who until two weeks ago was a director of the company; and Wood Marketing Services Ltd, which manages the forest.

The orders would require debris removed under a remedial plan by October 15 and the installation of water controls at all skids/landings and on all tracks and roads, to “eliminate or minimise the risk of erosion, skid site collapse, track collapse or road collapse”.

Counsel representing the council Adam Hopkinson said the aim was to “de-risk” the forestry block.

The parties realised there were issues to be resolved but did not agree with the scope of the proposed enforcement orders.

The scale of weather events and of slash and sediment reaching properties, damaging bridges and covering beaches was increasing in frequency and intensity.

Hopkinson said the council had completed nine prosecutions of forestry companies since 2018 resulting in heavy fines, but the problem continued.

Ratepayers had spent more than $1.2m removing woody debris from just two of the region’s beaches since Cyclone Gabrielle.

Taxpayers had contributed $53m to the removal of large woody debris since the cyclone.

A storm that struck Gisborne two weeks ago had resulted in city beaches again being covered in woody debris.

The case before the court was a “watershed moment” where the council was trying a different method to effect real change.

A petition with more than 10,000 signatures, dating to before Cyclone Gabrielle, was one of the main catalysts for the new approach. It was followed by the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use causing woody debris and sediment-related damage in Tairāwhiti and Wairoa.

Cave said CFG needed expert advice when building slash catchers.

Under cross-examination, he said he had not built or designed slash catchers and had only seen some proposed sites at Kanuka Forest by aircraft or by drone.

Some sites were on steep land or needed a new road to access the area.

At least one site was unsuitable, said Cave.

He compared the need for expert advice to a homeowner seeking a resource consent for a retaining wall.

That would be costly and involve a structural engineer, he said.

A homeowner did not have the resources of CFG.

Cave said the council gave out rainfall and weather information to the public.

E-text notified the public hourly when there was more than 15ml of rain in an hour.

There was also information on the council’s website.

The council and Civil Defence were very busy during weather events, and it was expected that the community do their own active monitoring, he said.

Proceeding