AT LOGGERHEADS

Logs litter the beach, surf life savers couldn’t train because of debris in the water, the locals fear for their livelihoods if they complain, and the rain keeps bringing the forestry waste down. Rebecca Black investigates the plight of Tolaga Bay.

As temperatures rise in the Gisborne district, Tolaga Bay locals face a beach covered in logs and expect more debris every time it rains.

More than a year since a huge storm hit the district on Queen’s Birthday Weekend 2018, washing more than 40,000 cubic metres of wood on to beaches, rain is still sending forestry waste down the district’s rivers to Tolaga Bay beach.

On October 15, it was covered in 15,000 cubic metres of wood in what the Gisborne District Council described as ‘‘a storm that could be expected every couple of years’’.

In the council’s assessment, there was ‘‘minimal risk to the local community from the material that was mobilised’’.

But chairperson of the U¯ awanui Environmental Sustainability Project Victor Walker said the problem was ongoing and dangerous.

‘‘Our waterways are vulnerable to slash and debris intrusion after even medium rainfall, which means that the town and people are also at risk,’’ Walker said.

‘‘The high level of wood debris that continues to pollute our beaches is unacceptable, dangerous and a real damn pain.’’

Gisborne District Council’s principle scientist, Dr Murry Cave, said about 85 per cent of the wood came from plantation forests.

The council had undertaken a beach clean-up, burning piles of the waste on Guy Fawkes night, and the forestry industry had contributed to clean-up costs.

On social media Tolaga Bay residents have been expressing their concern over waste repeatedly washing up on the beach, but when contacted, with so many dependent on forestry, they were reluctant to be named.

One resident said that after the latest clean-up began, 96mm of rain had again covered the beach with logs.

Forestry waste was still everywhere and there was no path cleared through the logs to reach the water. Despite the heat, ‘‘it is so hard and dangerous climbing across these logs just to have a swim,’’ she said.

Another woman said the residue posed a danger in the water. ‘‘We went on the boat and the amount of debris was horrible,’’ she said.

Many, like her, were dependent on forestry for their livelihoods but she said the companies needed to respect the environment. ‘‘The big companies have a different way of looking at it. It’s a revenue aspect.

‘‘Someone needs to say, hey yeah, we need to be more vigilant and keep our log sites’ slash and debris to a minimum. That all costs money but nowhere near as much as it does to clean whole valleys.’’

Eastland Wood Council chief executive Kim Holland said forestry companies had checked their harvest sites to confirm no new wood had entered waterways after the October storm.

The latest waste was old wood washed out by heavy rains, she said.

‘‘Their systems to ensure there is not a repeat of last year’s floods are in place and working, and all harvested material is set back from the edges of streams and waterways.’’

But in council notes for a Tolaga Bay community meeting on April 3 this year, ten months after the Queen’s Birthday floods, concerns were raised over Waipare Forest.

‘‘There should be a change in regulation to ensure they have to leave a buffer zone/set back during harvest, and harvest in blocks not clear-fell the lot,’’ the notes read. ‘‘Is someone monitoring the harvest happening right now. They are felling all the way to the water.’’

The council’s Nick Zaman responded: ‘‘We’ll ensure there is active monitoring and send out compliance officer to this forest.’’

The record shows forestry waste was also affecting the beach in April: ‘‘Logs are being picked back up and mobilised back into the ocean. Training of the surf life guards and boats is too dangerous because of wood in the water. They can’t use their beach to train.’’

After the October storm, Cave said there was more material within the plantation forests at risk in large events.

The storm last month appeared to have flushed out much of the material sitting in the catchment below the forests, he said, although the assessment of that risk was incomplete.

Walker was confident the council was committed to providing solutions. ‘‘But in the meantime, our community is on edge with every downpour.’’

Holland did not answer questions about how the wood council would respond over debris washed onto the beach in the future.

‘‘The Eastland Wood Council appreciates and acknowledges the concerns expressed by some members of the Tolaga Bay/ U¯ awa community, and their vulnerability to extreme weather events, particularly given their coastal location,’’ she said.

Cave said that in the short term, forestry companies were

‘Our community is on edge with every downpour.’ VICTOR WALKER ‘The council considers slash catchers as the last resort.’ MURRY CAVE

proposing solutions such as slash catchers, which would collect the harvest residues before they left the forest.

‘‘The council considers slash catchers as the last resort and that the optimal solution is for improved forestry management practices that ensure harvest waste material is not left in vulnerable locations,’’ he said.

Following investigations into the damage caused during the Queen’s Birthday flooding, the Gisborne District Council started prosecutions against ‘‘a number of forestry companies’’ under the Resource

Management Act.

The prosecutions related to six different forests in the Gisborne region, including three near Tolaga Bay. The case is ongoing.

Holland said the wood council and member companies were unable to comment while there were still active and pending court cases.

Grant Dumbell has a property at Tolaga Bay. He said the community still didn’t know who was responsible for what happened on Queen’s Birthday Weekend. ‘‘Essentially, it was an ordinary flood with extraordinary outcomes, and that needs explaining.’’

Dumbell, an ecologist, was concerned a lack of leadership was allowing forestry to grow without measures to protect the environment and community.

‘‘There were processes that were happening that people on the ground, if they had’ve been knowledgeable about what they were doing, they should have been able to see that there was a timebomb going off.’’

Adding to the frustration in Tolaga Bay is a belief the council and foresters failed to act earlier.

In Easter 2017, ex-tropical cyclone Cook hit the Gisborne region. The rainfall caused extensive flooding which carried forestry waste to the U¯ awa River catchment at Tolaga Bay.

Cave said analysis of the event identified the key issues and risk factors in plantation forests. A report was provided to the Eastland Wood Council and forestry companies.

The council boosted its consent monitoring team with dedicated forestry expertise, and improved links with compliance teams in adjacent regional councils, he said.

But then the larger storm hit the region over Queen’s Birthday, 2018.

The effects are ongoing, Dumbell said. ‘‘An unbelievable amount of timber came out of the landscape in a six-hour period of time and caused massive devastation immediately, and it is still coming out.’’

It was hard to know how blame should be apportioned.

‘‘One has to ask, did this happen because the forestry companies did it, or did this happen because council didn’t police the forestry companies to stop them doing it?

‘‘The guy who chopped the tree down and left it lying on the riverbank, yes, he has a measure of responsibility. But who let him do it? Who didn’t stop him doing it?’’

Dumbell said only when those questions were answered could there be surety that it wouldn’t happen again.