Major victory for council over Gisborne forestry companies

Tuesday, 13 August 2024

Sweeping new controls on a forestry block responsible for slash and debris that washed off Gisborne hills during Cyclone Gabrielle are to be enforced in a ruling an environment group hails as “a clear message” to the industry.

Gisborne District Council, in a bid to prevent further damage to the region’s landscape and swathes of woody debris covering its coastline, went to 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 the company’s Kanuka forest block in the Waimata valley.

The company owns 24 forests across New Zealand, and is a subsidiary of China Forestry Group, the biggest forestry company in China.

Also subject to the order is forestry management company, Wood Marketing Services Ltd.

In a decision released last week the Court has granted enforcement orders sought by the council.

The orders require debris removed from the forest under a remedial plan by October 15. It requires 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”.

The company must also construct ‘slash catchers’. These are structures that catch larger pieces of slash that would otherwise be flushed out of a catchment in high flow conditions.

The ruling, made by Environment Court Judge Melinda Dickie and Environment Commissioners Ian Buchanan and Glenice Paine, said Kanuka Forest was one of several forests responsible for the migration woody debris (including felled trees, windthrow trees, slash, harvesting debris) and sediment, into the region’s waterways and onto its beaches.

The forest owners had “responsibility for ensuring, as far as it is possible to do so, that events such as those experienced in the region after Cyclones Hale, Gabrielle and more recently in early July are not repeated,” the ruling said.

It noted that China Forestry Group NZ Ltd. and Wood Marketing Services Ltd. agreed that the problems that had occurred in recent years were unacceptable and that orders were desirable, but did not agree on the scope of the orders.

But the court found the orders sought by the council were necessary and it was essential that debris and sediment from commercial forestry activities were prevented from leaving the forest.

“We determine that a conservative and precautionary approach is required – one that ensures as far as is possible that works are undertaken under appropriate guidance and supervision to address the debris and sediment problem,” the ruling said.

The companies must cease discharging woody debris and/or sediment onto or into land where it may enter water and must install water controls at all skids/landings and on all tracks and roads by October 30.

They must also install a network of slash catchers in Kanuka Forest by August 31, 2025, and permanently retire a block of the forest, for which it must prepare a native revegetation plan for it.

An environmental group, which was an interested party and gave evidence in court, Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti (MTT), said the ruling should send a clear message to all forestry owners in the region.

“Harvest and post-harvest practices clearly need to change” the group’s spokesperson Manu Caddie said.

“The industry has had a free run for way too long. Gisborne District Council did not enforce consent conditions properly for many years, but as the Court decision shows, that does not mean the companies can ignore regional plan rules or the consent conditions they accept before harvesting starts,” he said.

The ruling noted that CFG’s New Zealand-based director Yuxia Sun, who the council had sought to make subject to the order, had resigned from that role days before the matter was heard.

“We record our disappointment at the way in which matters relating to Mr Sun’s tenure at the company have unfolded. Given we were provided with no explanation as to why he had resigned as director a week and a half prior to the hearing, it is difficult to conclude that it was not designed to frustrate the making of any orders against him,” the ruling said.

Sun could not be made subject to the orders.

Lawyer acting for CFG, David Allen, told Stuff the company “was considering the orders with its expert advisors and will develop a detailed plan, in line with the orders, to implement them”.

No decision had been made on whether to appeal any aspect of the decision, he said.

The cost of required works to comply with the orders would not be known until plans had been developed with experts, Allen said.