John MacDonald: Pine re-planter says some will think it's madness. He's right

I’m going to start by quoting someone I’ve quoted before - Dr Nicola Day, who is a plant ecologist at Victoria University in Wellington.

Knowing a thing or two about plants means she knows a thing or two about pine trees. And here’s how she describes them: “Pines are one of the most flammable plants on the planet."

I referred to the same quote last year when the Government turned down a request to change the forestry rules, so that pine forests couldn’t be re-planted after the big Port Hills fire in February last year. The second big fire within seven years.

And I thought of those comments again at the weekend when it was confirmed that the Christchurch Adventure Park is going to be re-planted in pine trees on land near a new housing development, which will eventually have 430 homes on it.

Which I think is nuts.

The owner of the adventure park land, John McVicar - who re-planted pines there after the first fire - knows some people will think it’s madness planting them again But he says arson is the problem - not the highly-flammable trees themselves. 

Credit where credit’s due - from what I’ve seen reported, it seems he has looked into the idea of re-planting in natives which, of course, are less flammable than pine trees.

But he’s saying that natives wouldn’t have worked and, what’s more, he’s saying that the highly-flammable pines themselves aren’t the problem - it’s people lighting fires who are the problem.

In 2017, there were two simultaneous fires and one of them is thought to have been deliberately lit. And there are strong suspicions that last year’s fire was deliberately lit too.  

I appreciate that the adventure park is on private land and John McVicar can do what he wants with it.

But when I heard about the pines going back in and then heard about sections in this new housing development near the bike park selling like hot cakes, and how eventually there’ll be 430 new homes there, I wondered whether we've learned anything from those two big fires.

John McVicar is the forest owner and he’s saying that, yes, he gets it that some people will think it’s madness that he’s planting pines again - especially after he re-planted them after the first fire in 2017, only to lose them after the second fire seven years later.

But he’s comfortable that he’s done enough looking into alternatives and he’s pressing-on with planting the pines this winter.

He says he’s had experts look into the idea of planting native trees - which don’t go up in flames at the rate pine trees do - but they found that the site was dry and windswept with rabbits and  goats and, for native trees to survive, they would need years of intensive care.

He says leaving the land as it is isn’t an option, either. Because weeds would take off and the experience of mountain biking in a forest would be gone.

All of that said - have not we not learnt anything from those fires? Especially the first one. Have we forgotten about the site of those trees going up in smoke?

I haven’t.

Just like the Christchurch City Council, the Selwyn District Council and ECAN haven’t forgotten. Because, last year, they went to the Government wanting help to stop pines being re-planted in the areas where the fires were.

Because the forestry rules, as they stand, allow anyone who has existing rights to have a forestry plantation to replace it like-for-like if it’s damaged or destroyed by fire.

The adventure park is a case in point. After 2017, the pines were re-planted there because the landowner had an existing right to plant them. There was nothing that could be done to stop that. This is what these local councils wanted to change.

And, because the Government didn’t want to change the rules, we’re stuck with the laws as they stand. Which means the pines are going back. 

In my view, what makes this worse than the

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm going to start this morning by quoting someone I've
quoted before, doctor Nikola Day, who was a plant ecologist
at Victoria University in Wellington, and knowing a thing or
two about plants means she knows a thing or two
about pine trees. And here's how she describes the quote,

(00:36):
pines are the most flammable plants on the planet. Pines
are the most flammable plants or one of the most
flammable plants on the planet, end of quote. And I
referred to the same quote last year when the government
turned down a request to change the forestry rules so

(00:57):
that pine forests couldn't be replanted after the big Port
Hills fire in February last year, the second big fire
in seven years. Do I need to mind you of that?
You know about that? And I thought of those comments
by Dr Day at the weekend when it was confirmed
that the christ Rich Adventure Park is going to be

(01:17):
replanted in pine trees on land near a housing development
which will eventually have four hundred and thirty homes on it,
which I just think is nuts. Now the owner of
the adventure park land, John McVicker, who replanted pines thereafter

(01:38):
the first fire. He knows some people will think it's
madness planting them again, but he says it's a commercial
forest and he believes arson is the problem, not the
highly flammable trees themselves. Now credit where credits due. From
what I've seen reported, it seems he has looked into
the idea of replanting in natives, which of course are

(02:00):
less flammable than pine trees. But he's saying that natives
wouldn't have worked. And what's more, he's saying that the
land where the bike parkers, it's a commercial forest, and
that the highly flammable pines themselves aren't the problem. It's
the muppets lighting fires who were the problem. Just on
that in twenty seventeen there were two simultaneous fires and

(02:25):
one of them is thought to have been deliberately lit,
and there are strong suspicions that last his fire was
deliberately lit. So that's the extent of the knowledge. And
I appreciate that the adventure park is on private land
and that John mcvickar he can do what he wants
with it. But when I heard about the pines going
back in, and then I heard about sections in this
new housing development near the bike parks selling like hotcakes,

(02:48):
apparently selling like hotcakes. And when I heard how eventually
there'll be four hundred and thirty new homes there, the
only conclusion they could come to is that we don't
seem to have learned anything from those two big fires.
So John mcvickar, forest owner, he's saying that he gets it. Yes,
some people will think it's madness that he's planting pines again,

(03:12):
especially after he replanted them after the first big fire
in twenty seventeen, only to lose them in the second
fire seven years later. So he says, Yep, some people
will think I'm mad, but he's comfortable that he has
done enough looking into alternatives and he's pressing on with
planting the pines this winter. So in winter now, anytime

(03:32):
from now, the pines to be going back in. He
says he's had experts looking into the idea of planting
native trees, which of course don't go up in flames
at the rate pine trees do. But these experts apparently
found that the site was dry and wind swept with
rabbits and goats and for natives native trees. For them
to survive, they would need years of intensive care. He's

(03:56):
also been saying over the weekend that leaving the land
as it is isn't an option either because weeds would
take off, and also the experience of mountain biking in
a forest would be gone. All of that said, all
of that said, have we not learned anything from these fires?
Especially the first one? Have we forgotten about? Have we
forgotten about the sight of those trees going up in smoke?

(04:19):
I haven't. Last year's fired just as spectacular when those
trees took off. The Christier City Council, the Saln Council
ecan they haven't forgotten because they were the ones who
went the government last year wanting help to stop pines
being replanted in the areas where the fires were. They

(04:40):
did that because the forestry rules as they stand, allow
anyone who has existing rights to have a forestry plantation
to replace it like for like if it's damaged or
destroyed by fire. So the Adventure Park is a case
in point. After twenty seventeen, the pines were replanted there
because the landowner had an existing right to plant them.
There was nothing that could be done to stop that,

(05:02):
and this is what these local councils wanted to change.
And because the government didn't want to change the rules,
we're stuck with the laws as they stand, which means
what what does it mean? It means the pines are
going back. And in my view, what makes us worse
than the time they were replaced after the first fire
is that we know there are eventually going to be
four hundred plus more houses near that Mike Park And

(05:24):
that's why I think this is so wrong. On balance,
it's so wrong.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
For more from Canterbory Mornings with John McDonald, Listen live
to news talks at be Christ Church from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio