Mayors plea for Eves Valley mill closure delay

Wednesday, 3 September 2025

Carter Holt Harvey was due to make a final decision on its proposal to close its Eves Valley sawmill, affecting 142 jobs, on Thursday.

The mayors of Tasman and Nelson have asked the owners of the Eves Valley sawmill to delay its proposed closure for a year so the huge volume of trees brought down in the region’s storms can be processed.

Carter Holt Harvey told its 142 staff at Eves Valley, near Brightwater, of the mill closure proposal two weeks ago as the company planned to centralise manufacturing at its Kawerau mill in the North Island. The company has not made any official statements on the proposal.

After a consultation period it was due to make its final decision on Thursday.

Trees blown over near Dovedale in the Tasman district during the July 4 storm.

In a letter to mill owners Carter Holt Harvey, made public on Wednesday, Tasman mayor Tim King and Nelson mayor Nick Smith said the storms in June and July felled an estimated 5500 hectares of forestry through a combination of sodden ground and strong winds.

“We believe it is in the best interests of the region and forest industry that the Eves Valley sawmill continue to operate to help us manage this wall of wood over the next year,” the mayors said.

“It defies logic to be removing significant capacity when more wood will be harvested in the region in the next year than has ever been or likely to ever be harvested in the future over a 12-month period.”

Tasman mayor Tim King has written to Carter Holt Harvey along with his Nelson counterpart Nick Smith seeking a delay to the mill’s proposed closure.

Another 1300-hectares of forest would need to be felled to access the 5500-hectares of windfall forestry, taking the volume of wood to be recovered to an estimated 3 million cubic metres, the mayors said.

Fletcher Building posted a $419m loss, Spark profits fell 18%, Kiwibank down 5%, SkyCity revenue down 11%. Meanwhile, Carter Holt Harvey proposes closing Nelson’s Eves Valley sawmill, putting 142 jobs at risk in a challenging economic period.

A significant portion of the felled trees still had roots intact due to the ground being so sodden which meant the timeframe to recover the wood was longer and was estimated at 12 months.

The massive harvest would add about 40 additional logging truck movements per day to Port Nelson that would stretch infrastructure to the limit, the mayors said.

“The part we want to bring to your attention is that the closure of the Eves Valley sawmill will add a further 20 logging truck movements to the port. We understand the long-term strategic reasons for your company wanting to close the sawmill, but we want you to understand why the timing is so poor.”

“We are asking that, as a corporate citizen that has operated this profitable sawmill in our region for 40 years, you not abandon us in our hour of need.

We emphasise how important this issue is to our region’s recovery from these storm events. We are also concerned about the effect on jobs, families and the wider economy. These are very unusual circumstances that require a broader perspective than just the needs of the Carter Holt Harvey business.“

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Smith said the mayors had not had a response from Carter Holt.

The company has been approached for comment.