Gisborne forestry company agrees it should be subject to enforcement order

Wednesday, 10 July 2024

Gisborne District Council seeks enforcement action against forestry company

Forestry company accepts it should be subject to enforcement order, but says order must be realistic

Environmental group says “whenua, the awa, the moana and the people of Tairāwhiti have involuntarily absorbed the impacts of destructive debris flows”.

Group says costs “should be paid by the largest forestry company in China, not some of the most impoverished communities in New Zealand”

A forestry company under fire from Gisborne District Council admits it should be subject to an enforcement order, but says the order needs to be realistic.

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

A photograph taken on April 30, 2024 showing a hillside in Kanuka Forest, Gisborne. Logs and debris can be seen left on the hillside, and a log dam can be seen blocking a stream in the foot of the valley.

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

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”.

Lawyer for the company David Allen told the court the company acknowledged that works were needed to address issues at the forest and it did not oppose the order, but said there were questions around the certainty, practicalities and reality of the orders to ensure they were “reasonable and safe”.

He said some measures proposed by the council raised issues of safety.

Debris piles up against a bridge crossing Gisborne's Waimata River.

Allen said harvesting of the forest occurred 5-10 years ago and constructing new roads on very steep slopes now in order to comply with the proposed orders would cause extra environmental effects and sediment to move into waterways.

Allen also questioned why the company’s former forest manager PF Olsen was not a party to the council’s application given that it carried out the harvesting that was “the root cause of the problem”.

“They are one of the polluters and they will not be paying,” he said.

Gisborne’s city beach after a storm hit the east coast last month.

Lawyer Alanya Limmer KC made submissions on behalf of Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti, a group including farmers and horticulturalists, Māori landowners and conservation workers, which started a petition last year calling on local and central government to do more to reduce erosion sediment and forestry slash from entering waterways.

Limmer said the group’s submission brought a “very human dimension” to complement the technical and financial information provided by others giving evidence, and to provide a Te Ao Māori perspective.

“The cultural impacts of ongoing woody debris discharges in our waterways, destroying our kaimoana stocks and limiting access to the awa and moana, and in a few cases killing or severely injuring manuhiri and locals is almost beyond comprehension,” Limmer said.

Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti co-founder Manu Caddie made a submission to the court

The effects of woody debris discharges had affected people in their role as kaitiaki and had led to a decline in the “mauri of land, and water and arguably people as well”, she said.

“Time and time again over the last decade the whenua, the awa, the moana and the people of Tairāwhiti have involuntarily absorbed the impacts of destructive debris flows,” she said.

Limmer said the group had listed a range of requirements it wanted in the enforcement order, and said it did not believe woody debris in the forest could not be removed safely, as claimed by the company.

“The first and foremost consideration has to be the environment, not how much work might cost… If there is a cost then yes, it should be paid by the largest forestry company in China, not some of the most impoverished communities in New Zealand,” she said.

Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti co-founder Manu Caddie told the court he had been stunned by some of the evidence he had heard in the hearing.

“I was shocked, but perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised”, at the recent evidence of a lack of water control that had contributed to a slip on a slope in the forest, and evidence of an unsupervised contractor working in a manner that was contributing to further problems.

“Despite all of the efforts that this proceeding has been making and the mediation and everything else, it is clear that there is still poor practice going on and that was very disappointing and disheartening,” Caddie said.

“For me it speaks to the attitude of the companies involved and the lack of commitment in all the promises and assurances. There doesn’t seem to be evidence that the necessary changes to practice have been made, which gives me little confidence about anything to do with those companies, to be quite honest,” he 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.