Forestry companies in Taranaki New Zealand can expect more inspections of harvest sites to monitor whether operators are complying with new nationwide regulations. Source: Stuff NZ
The national environment standards for plantation forestry (NES-PF) enables local authorities to target ground based operators not complying with the rules, Taranaki Regional Council forestry compliance leader Mark Addison told a Taranaki Regional Council consents and regulatory committee.
The NES-PF came into force on 1 May to manage environmental effects of plantation forestry operations larger than one hectare. It covers a range of permitted or controlled activities including afforestation, pruning and thinning, earthworks, river crossings, forest quarrying, harvesting, mechanical land preparation, and replanting.
It also controlled where landowners can plant trees with setbacks from neighbours, rivers, lakes and wetlands so slash, the pruned branches of trees, is less prone to being washed into waterways.
The increased monitoring would help prevent the damaging consequences of forestry slash ending up in rivers as happened during storms near Gisborne, Addison said.
East Coast farmers face a NZ$10m clean up bill after forestry slash swept through properties and destroyed homes during storms in June.
The Taranaki region included just 1.6%, or 29,000ha, of the total 1.7m ha of plantation forestry in New Zealand. Around 15,000ha of forestry in the region would be harvested in the next six years, Mr Addison said.
Because of the smaller volumes the extent of the damage from slash runoff on the East Coast was unlikely to be experienced in Taranaki, he said.
TRC had previously inspected harvest sites for non-compliance but now it can issue abatement notices, or prosecute for non-compliance.
“Comparatively for Taranaki we are a relatively low risk compared to somewhere like Gisborne whose forestry land is predominantly on very large steep faces with deep seated erosion prone soils,” Mr Addison said.
“Our biggest risk would be the big catchments like Waitotara.
“For most of inland Taranaki, like east of Stratford, a large rainfall event would likely only effect the immediate downstream property from the forestry block and not make it any further, unless there were landslides or debris dams where impacts could be greater.”
TRC forestry staff would encourage planting in suitable areas with grants, plans and advice, he said.
