Protection for regenerating forest in Gisborne

Forest and Bird, Issue 280, 1 May 1996, Page 7

Protection for regenerating forest in Gisborne

Duane Burtt

ONE OF New Zealand’s most important natural assets is the large area of regrowth native forest on land that had once been unwisely cleared for farming. In areas where most of the original forest cover has been lost, regenerating forest will form the high-forest habitat of the future. In the Gisborne district, containing some of the most extensive regenerating forest in the country, Forest and Bird has recently been able to achieve changes to the council’s regional policy statement to make sure that regenerating native forest will be given its proper status as a natural resource, not an agricultural nuisance. While some original forest cover remains in Gisborne,

most of the region was cleared in the early years of this century. The consequences of that clearance are well known. Apart from the obvious ecosystem loss, the geology of the local hill country was such that it could not hold together under pasture. The soil of the region began to slide down the hillsides and into the rivers — a process which continues today whenever heavy rains fall. The erosion effects of a natural disaster such as Cyclone Bola merely exacerbate the ongoing depletion. On most of this hill country, farming is uneconomic. Since the withdrawal of agricultural subsidies, large areas have been abandoned and an estimated 80,000 hectares of the region are now covered in regrowth forest — mainly kanuka. This is already proving a saviour for the region’s soil and water resources. Recent studies of soil holding capabilities show that kanuka is the best erosion control vegetation available, far better than exotic pine plantations in which so much faith has been placed in the past.

Afforestation with pines, seen in Gisborne as both an environmental and economic saviour, is occurring rapidly. However, it is often a mixed blessing for the environment as traditional plantations are just a partial answer to erosion problems. There is a window of up to five years after harvesting where there is an 80 percent chance of significant soil loss. Felling kanuka forest in order to plant pine trees makes even less environmental sense. This is the major problem with the government’s misguided East Coast Forestry Project, which provides subsidies for forest planting regardless of whether it involves the clearance of native vegetation. Against this background, the Gisborne District Council (administering the area from Mahia Peninsula to East Cape) prepared a regional policy statement (RPS) which identified the management of regenerating forest as a key issue, but gave no indication that the council would give it any form of protection. Since the RPS sets the parameters for the district plan

which will eventually determine the management of regenerating forest, Forest and Bird appealed against the proposed RPS to the Planning Tribunal. The council has subsequently agreed to most of our requested amendments and a costly court case has been avoided. The agreement adds a new objective and a policy to the RPS, which commits the council to ensuring the sustainable management of native forest, and to seeking "to maintain the abundance and diversity of indigenous fauna". Native forest has been defined to include kanuka. The methods specified recognise that the council needs to control the modification of indigenous vegetation, including the clearance of kanuka for plantations. They also ensure the council will actively encourage the full protection of these areas, although such protection will not be forced on landowners. Forest and Bird looks forward to working with the council, Ngati Porou, other landowners and interest groups to develop workable management prescriptions for regenerating forest in the district plan.