Slash: Federated Farmers welcomes new forestry rules

Wood and forestry slash at the Waipunga Bridge in Esk Valley after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Mike Scott

Changes to forestry rules announced this week will put power back into the hands of local communities, Federated Farmers forestry spokesman Toby Williams says.

Forestry Minister Peeni Henare said slash regulations had been tightened to reduce the risk of damage to downstream communities, as had happened during Cyclone Gabrielle.

In a statement, Henare said that under the new regulations, slash longer than two metres and with a large-end diameter of more than 10 centimetres must be removed after harvesting from erosion-prone land ”unless it is unsafe to do so”.

He said this was a minimum standard across New Zealand, and councils could apply more stringent requirements if they chose to.

“Where foresters are unable to meet these national standards, they will need to obtain resource consent, meaning councils consider the risks and impacts on a site-by-site basis.”

Williams said the new rules would give local councils “much more say over what is planted - and where it’s planted.”

“We’ve seen in Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay the kind of damage that can be caused when forestry slash is mismanaged - it was totally devastating for our communities, and we’re still recovering,” Williams said in a statement.

There will now be a requirement to remove slash from erosion-prone land, and the environmental effects of permanent pine forests will need to be managed the same way as plantation forests.

Federated Farmers had been “pushing really hard for this for some time now”, Williams said.

“It’s great to finally see some action that will make a difference for our rural communities.”

He said farmers had been “incredibly frustrated” with the amount of productive farmland that was being lost to “blanket pine tree plantations”.

In the last five years alone, there had been more than 200,000 hectares of productive farmland converted to pine trees and carbon farming - and Williams said it would probably never be farmed on again.

“This has completely hollowed out some of our rural communities.

Listen to Jamie Mackay interview Toby Williams on The Country below:

“As the pines have moved in, the people have moved out - and the life of these small towns has gone with them.

“Federated Farmers generally hold a view that landowners are entitled to make their own decisions about how to use their land, but in this case, rules and regulations have completely distorted the market.”