Forestry owners say they are considering an appeal against a High Court decision which backed a council's move to stack its rating system against properties planted in trees.
The issue of productive farmland being bought by cashed-up foresters and converted to plantations has become a big issue in the Wairoa District, where the council believes it will have "significant negative impacts" on the region's future wellbeing.
Mayor Craig Little says more forest plantings meant fewer people farming, shearing and fencing across the district, and properties that used to have two or three families living on them now have none.
The Wairoa District Council last year changed the way its rates were charged, shifting the focus from fixed charges to capital value and setting a differential rate for forestry properties.