The Slash Inquiry report has a lot of good recommendations. However, it also has some unrealistic expectations.
An unsupported GDC has been expected to hold back a wave of logging and planting that has largely been generated by central government policies; first Rogernomics plus the East Coast Forestry Project, then the Emissions Trading Scheme and the Billion Trees initiative.
The report also says that in a hundred years we will see “pristine catchments where water flow is integrated through revitalised ecosystems, toward thriving coastlines”. Most people today understand “pristine” to mean “clean”. Gisborne has the two rivers with the largest sediment loads in the country. NIWA has modelled what would happen if today’s landscape were covered in pre-human vegetation; these river’s sediment loads would only drop by a third.
We can reduce the load of slash, but the goal of clean water is impossible due to our geology and rainfall.
There are many things that can be improved if the recommendations of this report are enacted, but it is wrong for this report to lead people to expect unattainable results.
