Experts to get firsthand look at landslide damage

This massive slip caused by Cyclone Gabrielle at Taurau Valley Road went dangerously close to the home (left in the picture) of Manutuke couple Clive and Helen Foster. The pair were having a barbecue at 6pm on Tuesday, February 14, when a neighbour came up the drive and told them “you’ve got to get out”. GDC scientist Dr Murry Cave estimates the region-wide number of slips from 2023 storms could be as high as 100,000. He is a keynote speaker at the Australia New Zealand Geomorphology Group’s biennial conference which started in Gisborne yesterday.Picture by George Heard/NZ Herald

Australasia’s leading landscape scientists are in town this week for the Australia New Zealand Geomorphology Group’s (ANZGG) biennial conference.

The five-day gathering, which started yesterday, is expected to attract up to 200 people.

It includes presentations, discussions, workshops and field trips focused on the theme Geomorphic Disturbance Recovery.

A public forum is being held tonight.

Gisborne District Council principal scientist Dr Murry Cave, a keynote speaker at the event, said it was exciting to have such highly regarded experts in the region.

“These are the best on landslides and land management from Australia and New Zealand and include some world-class experts.

“They will learn and take their experiences away and apply it elsewhere, but more importantly, I hope they will inform the decision-makers when they are considering land use changes within the Gisborne region in the future.

“That is a critical component for us.”

Dr Cave said it was widely recognised that changing land use was not going to be easy and would take a lot of work.

Geomorphologists have long had a special interest in the landscapes of the East Coast, especially given the region has some of the highest rates of sediment generation and movement per unit area in the world.

That has led to ground-breaking research and multiple field trips over decades.

While the East Coast is something of a geomorphologist’s dream, to others it is more of a nightmare scenario as the lived realities of flooding, erosion and sedimentation issues have wreaked havoc.

The feedback from local groups at the community forum will highlight the local, national and international work undertaken to look after the landscapes and ecosystems of the East Coast region.

“This will give them a chance to understand the bigger picture as to what actually happened in the 2023 storms,” Dr Cave said.

In the Waimata catchment alone there are around 14,000 landslides and Dr Cave estimates the regionwide number could be as high as 100,000.

“We have been here before in Bola when we made land use changes and planted lots of pine trees. We have now learned more and it is time to reconsider what is the most appropriate land use.”

The field trips are taking conference attendees around the East Cape, to the Waipaoa River, Wainui Beach and Māhia, as well as into parts of Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatu and Kapiti Coast.

The gathering is the first big technological conference to be hosted in Tairāwhiti since 2018 and while Cyclone Gabrielle was the trigger that saw the group head to the provinces, Dr Cave is hopeful good will come from it.

Anyone keen to attend the free community forum from 7pm to 8.30pm at Lawson Field Theatre tonight should register their interest at anzgg2024.com