FOREST TALK
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LOGGING CREWS ON THE EAST COAST ARE GETTING A REVISED SET of rules to ensure they are managing slash left on the hillsides in the wake of the Gisborne floods that left an estimated one million tonnes of wood debris on farms, around homes and roads at Tolaga Bay in June.
Forest Owners are focusing on measures to make sure there isn’t a repeat of the floods in 25 years’ time…..but they cannot guarantee there won’t be more scenes like that in the shorter term from land where trees have already been planted.
NZ Forest Owners President, Peter Weir, says different silvicultural planning and improved forest engineering and harvest management in sensitive landscapes will reduce the risk considerably.
“It’s a priority for our forest engineers, planners and managers to work with scientists, as well as local and central government, to make sure we reduce the risk of similar debris floods,” says Mr Weir, although he points out that research highlights how there are no easy solutions. “In the immediate term, we are printing a revised set of harvest slash management guidelines and making them widely available. We want to make best forest practise a universal practise.
“The industry will be putting more resources into understanding the mechanisms of hillside failures and what can be done to stop wood being entrained by them or reducing the impact if they do occur.
“We’ve already invested in research on how effective riparian strips of trees are in blocking debris carried by floods. The results showed they work well on a broad flood plain, but riparian strips aren’t as effective in steep incised headwater streams.”
Mr Weir has visited the region himself to get an understanding of what’s happening on the ground and says forest managers and their crews in the area have done a good job in cleaning up the beach and doing what they can to clean up the mess on neighbouring farms, including repairing fences and repairing some council roads. But it could be several months until it is dry enough for all areas to be cleared.
Meanwhile, the NZFOA is leaving it up to the three forestry companies operating in the area – Ernslaw One, PF Olsen and Hikurangi Forest Farms – to conduct their own individual investigations into how so much slash and other debris was washed downstream.
Gisborne City Council is also conducting its own inquiry to discover if forest companies breached their resource consent conditions when harvesting.