Forestry debris prosecution begins
Forestry companies are facing legal action after a wall of timber washed into the Gisborne district during bad weather in June.
Following investigations into damage to farms in the area, Gisborne District Council has started prosecutions against ‘‘a number of parties’’ under the Resource Management Act.
The prosecutions relate to six different forests in the Gisborne region, including three near Tolaga Bay.
The prosecutions are due to begin in the New Year and council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann said there would be no comment while the matters were before the courts.
The forestry slash – scrap timber, branches and off cuts left behind in a felling area – crashed through houses near Tolaga Bay over Queen’s Birthday weekend in June 2018, with an estimated 1 million tonnes of debris swept onto properties.
At least three houses were destroyed. Stock was also lost, bridges were damaged, paddocks were drowned in mud and debris, and kilometres of fencing were damaged.
Farmers estimate the damage runs into the millions of dollars.
In August, the council issued abatement notices to a number of the forestry companies in the Tolaga Bay catchment.
Those abatement notices required companies to cease actions contravening their resource consent conditions related to forestry debris, skid sites, erosion risk and sediment control.
Gisborne was hit by two major deluges of rain in June. The event on June 4 caused flooding and erosion, forcing the evacuation of people in the Tolaga Bay area.
The rainfall on June 11 was more widespread and closed State Highway 2 between Gisborne and Opotiki.