Elizabeth Heeg: Forest Owners Association CEO on the court order forcing forestry companies to clean up slash

The Gisborne forestry industry wants to manage expectations when it comes to cleaning up slash.  

One company is appealing the district council's order, which would force it to prevent all woody debris from leaving a forestry block.  

Samnic Forest Management says it would likely go bankrupt if the order were to go ahead.  

Forest Owners Association Chief Executive Elizabeth Heeg told Mike Hosking there must be a compromise.  

She says the judiciary must understand what is and isn't feasible for the industry. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So we got the directors of a company called Semnik
Forestry Management. They've in tip of the courts to clean
up debris on their operations. It's the old slash thing.
They claim the cost would bankrupt them, so they're appealing
this now. Elizabeth hag is the New Zealand Forest Owners
Association boss and is with us. Elizabeth, morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
You, Good morning, Michael.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Is this a wider issue? Is this a specific case?
I mean, slash is not new, is it.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
No, it's not new, and it's a Gibsbon issue specifically.
Around the rest of the country, we've got plenty of
places where it's a lot easier to control flash. But
it's a function in Gisbon of the topography and of
the increasing storm damage that we've seen in the region.
That it's a particular issue and something we're working through

(00:44):
with the council there.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Okay, So part of the argument is, of course that
the forests say it's the person who owns the land's job.
That's why we're in court. Are these things not understood
before you enter into the contract?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
I think pulling out wider than this specific case, because
there's a lot of different arrangements you can have in
terms of forestry ownership. What we're really focused on is
how do we get engineering and land controls in place
so we can minimize any anything going outside of the forest.
Wood ending up in waterways is a bad outcome for

(01:19):
everybody involved. Obviously, that'll be folks investment that's going in there,
and it's not sustainable from an environmental perspective. So we're
really focused on how do we prevent this from happening.
If it does happen and we need to work with
counsel to remediate it, then we just need to make
sure that we've got workable conditions and that council and

(01:39):
the judiciary understand what's actually feasible in terms of how
we can then go about cleaning it up.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
And people don't understand that going in I mean, is
this an operational thing from the forest management company's point
of view? In other words, the way you conduct business
may or may not lead to problems or is it
not as simple as that?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, No, it can be as simple as that, And
that's something we're working through as well. Is are there
practice changes that we need to make And that's something
we work on as an association. Is you know with
these increasing intensity of storm events, what does good look
like for forestry practice? So it can be a combination
of how people are managing it, but also if you've

(02:19):
had a really intense storm, it's about making sure that
you know the expectations that folks have for cleanup are realistic,
because you know, if every pine cone that's rolled down
the hill is expected to be picked up, even from
a health and safety perspective, we're not going to be
able to action to that level.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Well, the courts sort this out, do you think to
everyone satisfaction or are you going to have to do
something different about this?

Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, in the broad sense, I would like to think
that the court's council and the forestry companies can all
work together so that we get a good outcome for
the community. I think Gisbon is it's a particularly tricky
place to do forestry, and we're committed to supporting the
local foresters there to try and get the best outcomes.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Good stuff, Elizabeth, appreciate your time, Doctor Elizabeth Hayko's the
New Zealand Forest Awders Association boss. For more from the
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