GDC sets up forestry compliance team

Gisborne District Council is assembling a team to proactively enforce compliance of forestry waste in the region. Picture by Liam Clayton.

A forestry team created by Gisborne District Council to proactively enforce compliance across Tairāwhiti will get to work as soon as positions are filled.

Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann said the group’s formation followed a council-adopted recommendation in January.

Around that time, Gisborne councillors showed strong support for an 8500-strong petition to stop ongoing environmental disasters in the region following Cyclone Hale.

The staff recommendation included that staff would apply for an enforcement order requiring offenders to remove slash and debris.

Thatcher Swann said although the new team would undertake traditional compliance including prosecution and investigations, its priority was to be proactive instead of investigating past breaches.

It would have a particular focus on slash, logs and waste logging debris left in commercial forests post-harvest.

“There is still a vast amount of material in the catchments that will continue to pose a risk in future, and this must be dealt with,” she said.

“The team will specifically undertake work to apply to the Environment Court for enforcement orders that would require forestry companies and landowners to remove debris material that is at risk.”

Those parties would then need to dispose of the waste at a location where there was no possibility of it being mobilised in weather events, or when landslides occurred, she said.

The council was setting aside $1.3 million for the positions, depending on how many were filled, and contracts were set for 18 months.

That total included full operating costs, and was dependent on how many of the five currently advertised roles were filled.

Thatcher Swann said the community had made clear “in no uncertain terms” that investing in compliance was a priority.

Although the positions are fixed term, it is possible the new team could continue longer than 18 months.

If that were the case, a budget would need to be allocated in the Long Term Plan, Thatcher Swann said.