After the Nelson fire, tonnes of burnt trees are being reused

Thursday, 13 June 2019

Civil Defence released footage from a flyover of the Pigeon Valley blaze in the Tasman region. Soil stabilisers are now being applied to the site.

The recovery of damaged wood in the wake of the Pigeon Valley fires has been hailed as one of the country's biggest-ever efforts.

About 10,000 tonnes of burnt pine trees are being plucked from the ground for use in Canterbury construction projects, Nelson housing developments and to prevent future fires in Tasman.

The large-scale fire started in a farm paddock on February 5 and soon spread to an area of 2300ha.

About 1400ha - or 60 per cent of the total area burnt - was owned by Tasman Pine Forests.

* Nelson fire: Authorities look at reducing farming fire risks

The Pigeon valley fire started outside of Tasman Pine Forests estate on February 5 and soon spread to an area of 2300ha. About 1400ha - or 60 per cent of the total area burnt was owned by the company.

* Nelson Fire: Forestry company looks to replant by winter in wake of wildfire devastation**

Chief operating officer Steve Chandler said harvesting crews were still in the process of extracting burnt wood as well as clearing younger burnt standing trees.

At the same time, replanting was under way to begin a new period of growth in the area.

Flames and smoke erupt near where a tractor and disc plough were operating in Pigeon Valley, near Wakefield, shortly before a massive forest fire began on February 5.

'The area that got burnt was in radiata pine and that is the most productive species so we're putting that back in - there were also some native areas burnt - some reserves and other pockets - and we're going to be working with DoC to restore those back to what they were or even enhance them going forward.'

'We're making good progress but it's probably going to take a couple of years before we get everything done that needs to be.'

Four months on from the fire, Chandler said he was pleased with the level of log recovery that had been reached.

The remains of burnt plantation forests near Eves Valley, a result of the Pigeon Valley fires in February this year. Around 10,000 tonnes of damaged timber has been salvaged

However, any actual cost of the event would remain unclear until the salvage operation was complete.

'When you look at the majority of logs it's only the outside bark or around that first 5cm that have been affected - the logs themselves are perfectly good inside that zone so it's really just a matter of getting industry to recognise the logs are still good,' Chandler said.

'Certainly in terms of the fire, it's one of NZ's bigger forestry fires in terms of the area affected and in terms of this region, definitely there's been a lot of work required to recover the burnt logs - there have been forest fires in the past but it's certainly one of the larger recovery operations.'

The recovery effort had been largely driven by a co-operative effort between TPF and another Sumitomo-owned company, Nelson Pine Industries, who, with help from extra contractors and machinery, had begun to laboriously peel each usable tree.

'[NPI] had to make some adjustments around the management of the burnt exterior but once they've got through that it's been working well for both parties,' Chandler said.

TPF was also working with a contractor to utilise wood that couldn't otherwise be suitable as timber for firewood.

NPI chief operating officer Kai Kruse said the 'synergy effect' with TPF had enabled an easy process in the recovery of the timber.

Kruse said while existing methods were used in the peeling process, the uncontrolled nature of the fire meant each log was burnt to varying degrees.

This required a more meticulous approach to ensure a quality product with as little soot or carbon contamination as possible.

The burnt outer parts were processed into furnace fuel and wood chips for future fire breaks, while Nelson Pine Industries began churning the unburnt wood into laminated veneer lumber (LVL).

A small portion of that LVL is being exported to China, but most was being used in local construction projects, particularly in Canterbury and the Nelson region.