Funding plea to rehabilitate high-habitat Tasman district land burnt in February

Friday, 6 September 2019

Burnt trees were a feature of the Teapot Valley area affected by a large fire that took hold on February 5 in Pigeon Valley. A Teapot Valley site recorded as a Significant Natural Area was also damaged by the blaze.

The large fire that raged across a swath of Tasman district in February burnt more than just a home, shed and pine plantations.

It also damaged important native bush and wetland areas.

Within about 2450ha of land affected by the blaze, which started in Pigeon Valley on February 5, were remnants of important native vegetation including five sites recorded as Significant Natural Areas on a Tasman District Council register. They are areas identified as having natural ecosystem values that are representative, rare, diverse and provide important corridor connections or habitats for rare indigenous species

Two of those sites were large at 54ha and 10ha respectively; the others were no more than 1ha and the damage sustained varied from site to site.

Fire and Emergency Principal Rural Fire Officer for Nelson-Tasman Ian Reade speaks in the first days of the Pigeon Valley fire.(First published 2019)

* Nelson contractor resumes disc ploughing at site of Pigeon Valley fire

A property remains intact next to a burnt patch of forest in Teapot Valley.

* State of Civil Defence Emergency expires for Tasman district fire**

A report by Peter Lawless, who was employed by Nelson Tasman Civil Defence to co-ordinate the environmental pou (element) of the post-fire recovery effort, says the total cost of replanting and remediation is estimated at more than $6.7 million. However it is recommended just over $2.7m is sought from funders to cover the cost of producing plants and putting them in the ground along with stream remediation.

A council staff report says the largest area affected, which is in Teapot Valley, is one of the most important.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand area commander Grant Haywood, left, giving Labour MP Kieran McAnulty a tour mid-year of some of the burnt area.

'It included alluvial valley bottom forest grading into beech forest on the hills,' the report says. 'At least half of the 54ha was burned, including two wetlands and most of the hill beech.'

The area is on land owned by Tasman Pine Forests Ltd and is in the process of becoming subject to a Conservation Covenant in favour of the Department of Conservation. The 10ha block is on land owned by Carter Holt Harvey and is not legally protected.

Replanting native vegetation involves gathering seed from native plants in the area, growing seedlings, removing pests and weeds, planting seedlings with protection sleeves and gel, and regular weeding until the plants can survive on their own.

It is anticipated many stakeholders would need to be involved including the council, the Lotteries Commission, Te Uru Rākau, landowners, iwi, DOC, Forest & Bird, Fish & Game and Tasman Environment Trust. Agreements on the work to be carried out, access for agencies and possibly the public would have to be established. A project plan to cover the life of the project and an end state would also need to be agreed.

The TDC environment and planning committee on Thursday agreed the council should work with other stakeholders to apply for Lotteries Commission and/or Te Uru Rākau Forestry New Zealand funding to assist in the restoration of these Significant Natural Areas. Any Te Uru Rākau funding request would come under its One Billion Trees Programme.

Regulatory manager Adrian Humphries told councillors the only reason for council involvement 'is because we need someone to try and herd together all the interested parties to actually get some effective response to this'.

'The main point of this report is for us to go forward and apply for funding from the Lotteries Commission to appoint a project manager to look at co-ordinating the response to this damage,' Humphries said. 'There shouldn't be any cost to council.'

Some staff time would be required but Humphries said he anticipated that would be 'pretty minimal'.

It would be a long-term project but the fear was that if the council did not take the lead 'nothing will happen effectively', he said.