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Forest company fined and council labelled 'disgraceful', but innocent farm still paying for clean-up

Wednesday, 7 October 2020

Aftermath of Tolaga Bay storm, June 2018

The forestry company has paid nearly $400,000 towards the clean-up and a judge has labelled the local council’s lack of monitoring as “disgraceful”.

But the Māori Incorporation that owns Paroa Station near Tolaga Bay still has piles of logs and debris that will cost it $160,000 to remove at its own cost.

The piles of wood littered across the station are remnants of the destructive storms of June 2018.

The company managing the pine forest that was the source of some of the mess, PF Olsen, has been convicted and fined $198,000 in Gisborne District Court.

In sentencing the company Judge Brian Dwyer noted the failure by Gisborne District Council to monitor the company’s operations over the two years leading to the storm event.

**READ MORE:

* Forestry company appeals fine of $124,700, claiming it was unfairly singled out

Paroa Station, Tolaga Bay, after the June 2018 storm washed down hillsides of forestry debris.
Paroa Station, Tolaga Bay, after the June 2018 storm washed down hillsides of forestry debris.

* Forest slash stretches all the way up east coast after heavy rain

* Environmental devastation at Tolaga Bay may take a century to recover, says councillor

* Hikurangi Forest Farms fined $379,000 over slash destruction

Many of the logs that washed onto Paroa Station in June 2018 are still there.
Many of the logs that washed onto Paroa Station in June 2018 are still there.

* Council's failure to monitor forestry company was 'reprehensible' - judge

**

“The council's failure to monitor harvesting operations in a large commercial forest established on land known to be highly vulnerable to slope failure, particularly after forest clearance, over a two-year period can only be described as disgraceful,” the judge said.

The Resource Management Act imposed a legal duty on councils to monitor resource consents and “the council failed to meet that obligation”, he said.

The judge also acknowledged that much of the damage suffered at Paroa Station was the consequence of landslides un-related to forestry, or from forestry waste that had been deposited in accordance with consents.

PF Olsen was the fourth forestry company to have been fined in connection to events that led to the devastation that hit the Tolaga Bay area, smashing houses, fences and bridges, flooding and littering the landscape with more than 47,000 cubic metres of forest debris.

Logs and mud covered about 80 hectares of Paroa Station after the storm.
Logs and mud covered about 80 hectares of Paroa Station after the storm.

The company managed the 1800 hectare Paroa Forest plantation west of Tolaga Bay, on behalf of owner Permanent Forests Ltd.

Permanent Forests Ltd paid Paroa Station owners $388,000 for the damage and clean-up work. The station owners estimate it will cost up to a further $175,000 to remove the debris.

Aerial footage shows the extent of the flooding around Tolaga Bay on the North Island's East Coast.

Council investigations following the storm found a number of failings in PF Olsen’s operations, including the storage of large amounts of debris on steep and unstable slopes.

Paroa Station supervisor Peter Andrew said the farm was still suffering from the impact of the storms.

“We still have logs across our paddocks. There are piles of wood and debris we have lifted out of creeks and streams. We still have to get rid of them. That will have to be at the farm's cost,” he said.

Gisborne District Council failed to monitor forestry operations for two years prior to the Tolaga Bay floods.
Gisborne District Council failed to monitor forestry operations for two years prior to the Tolaga Bay floods.

“We had about 80 hectares with logs and mud all over it. So we got on and did. They (Permanent Forests Ltd) came out and paid us for some of clean-up cost, but there is still a lot to do, Andrew said.

The council’s monitoring performance was disappointing, but “it should be remembered that those most at fault are the forest companies”.

“We got a quote of $163,000 to clean it all up. That’s not fair,” he said.

“I’m hopeful that things at the council will improve now. What also needs to be considered is the central government push for more forestry, and the impact that will have on costs faced by councils like Gisborne,” he said.

“With forestry comes increased costs on roads and other infrastructure as well as the requirement to monitor. They’re costs faced by the council,” Andrew said.

Environmental scientists Marie McEntee and Grant Dumbell own a 5ha block of forestry at Tolaga Bay. Though not directly affected by the flooding they were familiar with the council’s lack of monitoring.

”I don’t think you can come to any conclusion other than ‘all roads lead to council’. When you get a resource consent with conditions you have to comply with those conditions. It is an obligation of the council to enforce those conditions,” Dumbell said.

”The companies themselves should have known better, of course, but they would have been caught if council had done their compliance checks,” he said.

A council spokesman said the council would not comment at this time.

The forestry companies prosecuted by Gisborne District Council following the June 2018 floods.

(charged with breaching the Resource Management Act, alleging discharge of forestry waste on to land/water).