'Watershed moment' in Gisborne's legal fight against forestry companies

Tuesday, 9 July 2024

Gisborne District Council is in court pushing for a large forestry company to remove debris and slash from hills in what it calls a ‘watershed moment’

Region’s ratepayers have spent $1.2m removing woody debris from just two beaches over past four years

Council says huge fines have not deterred companies from offending and it wants enforcement action to tackle the issue

A ‘watershed moment’ in addressing the costly and environmental damage caused by forestry debris is being played out in the Environment Court.

Gisborne District Council, in a bid to prevent further damage to the region’s landscape and swathes of woody debris covering its coastline, is seeking an enforcement order requiring a large forestry company to cease discharging forestry debris and sediment and to deal with about 16,000 cubic metres of woody debris from a forest block in the Waimata valley.

The council is seeking the order against China Forestry Group New Zealand Company Ltd. (CFGNZC) , which owns 24 forests across New Zealand, and is a subsidiary of China Forestry Group, the biggest forestry company in China.

Also listed as parties to the application were CFGNZC’s New Zealand-based director Yuxia Sun, and forestry management company, Wood Marketing Services Ltd.

By obtaining the order the council wants to “de-risk” the forestry block, said the council’s lawyer Adam Hopkinson.

Hopkinson said the parties now accepted there were issues in the forest and that remedial works were required, and were not opposed to enforcement orders. But they did not agree with the proposed purpose and scope of the orders.

“This case really raises the fundamental question as to what can be done to address the ongoing question of woody debris mobilisation from commercial pine forests in Gisborne,” he said.

He said since 2012 there had been a number of large debris mobilisation events in Tairāwhiti/Gisborne with a significant amount of slash, trees and sediment leaving forests and migrating down rivers, across downstream properties, damaging bridges and ultimately reaching coastal areas and covering beaches.

The scale and frequency of these events had increased since 2012 due to a significant increase in clear fell harvesting of forests that had been planted in the 1980s and 1990s, and the increase in frequency and intensity of rainfall events, Hopkinson said.

He said the council had completed nine prosecutions of forestry companies since 2018.

“Those prosecutions have resulted in very significant fines… but unfortunately despite the number of prosecutions and significant fines the issue of woody debris mobilisation from commercial forest has continued and the damage has got worse,” he said.

He noted a storm that hit the east coast last month had seen city beaches once again covered in debris.

“In a way this case can be seen as a watershed moment where the council is now trying through a different enforcement method to effect real change… to protect the environment and protect the community in the Tairawhiti region,” Hopkinson said.

He said one of main catalysts for its approach was a petition presented to the council in January 2023 signed by more than 10,000 people calling for a ‘stop the ongoing environmental disaster’ caused by the debris.

The petition was created the month before Cyclone Gabrielle which led to further mountains for woody debris to cover the region’s coastline, and it asked the council to do more to stop woody mobilisation from commercial forests.

Following the cyclone a ministerial inquiry was launched, which detailed a grim situation, saying wood debris caused “dire impacts” on locals, risking their lives and livelihoods.

Hopkinson said much of forestry harvesting across the region left behind waste that “just sits on land waiting to be mobilised in next rainfall event and washed downstream”.

The forest block in question is Kanuka Forest, which is on steep hill country above the Waimata River, which flows through Gisborne city.

The council is seeking orders that would require debris removed under a remedial plan by October 15. It also seeks 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”.

Hopkinson said the region’s ratepayers had spent more than $1.2million clearing woody debris from just two of the region’s beaches since Cyclone Gabrielle.

On top of that was the cost to taxpayers, who had spent about $53m on removal of large wooden debris mobilised in the cyclone, Hopkinson said.

“The external cost of the activity by the companies have been borne by the community - not just Gisborne, but also the New Zealand community,” he said.

“This proceeding and enforcement orders of this nature are a way of addressing that market failure, enforcing the polluters to bear the cost of their environmental damage and risk mitigation of that damage,” Hopkinson said.

The council wanted the slash and debris to be burned or removed from the site, but the company suggested mulching or crushing it.

Mulching or crushing would not remove the waste material and would mean it could still be mobilised in a rainfall event, Hopkinson said.

The hearing, before Environment Court Judge Melinda Dickie and Environment Commissioners Ian Buchanan and Glenice Paine began on Monday and was expected to last several days.