My Account
Whangateau residents and environmentalists, incensed by the logging of pine trees near Ashton Road this summer, can only expect much worse to come, according to some.
The logging of trees on less than three hectares of steeply sloping land over summer has dismayed environmentalists who fear debris, silt and felled logs will clog Youngs Creek at the bottom of the slopes and go on to pollute the Whangateau Harbour.
Whangateau HarbourCare Group founding member Elizabeth Foster says it’s fortunate that there has been little heavy rain of late, but if there is a big downpour there is potential for disaster.
“There’s a lot of rubbish that has been left behind, which is going to probably block the stream and no doubt demolish the bridges that the locals rely on to get in and out of there,” she says.
Moreover, she says silt washes down the now tree-less hillsides and ultimately into the sea, smothering cockle beds and destroying other marine life.
“You can see the great plumes of mud going down, and as the tide goes out it goes out into Omaha Bay,” she says.
Ms Foster blames a disinterested Auckland Council for allowing such logging to continue.
“Logging is a permitted activity, and people can do what they like,” she says.
However, Whangateau Residents and Ratepayers secretary Audrey Sharp says the current environmental damage is only the tip of iceberg.
At the same time, she is quick to defend small landholders currently logging, saying they had little choice but to fell ageing pine trees that were getting blown down and blocking the creek anyway.
Ms Sharp says the real problem began about 40 years ago, when farmers and other landholders were given grants and encouraged to plant pines on steep sloping land unsuitable for grazing cattle or sheep. Pines were seen as a potential cash crop.
“But there was no consideration at that time – because people were too stupid – to look at the environmental impact when those trees were felled,” she says.
Ms Sharp says there are at least another 150ha of pines that will need to be felled in the area in the coming years.
“Stand at Point Wells and look across toward Mount Tamahunga and imagine all that pine forest gone.
That’s what’s going to happen over the next 15 years,” she says.
Landowner Simon Mills, who has owned his land for only eight years and is among three currently participating in the logging, says there is no question the pines must go.
He says in addition to trees already falling over and blocking the creek, pines suck up large quantities of water, which creates cracks in the earth and causes more slips, ultimately generating more sediment for the waterways. Moreover, pines generate a vast carpet of discarded needles, which also end up in the creek.
Mr Mills says that falling pines create a danger hazard for both people and stock, ruin fences and make farmland unusable.
He says landowners are undertaking extensive measures to minimise the immediate detrimental environmental impacts of the logging and dramatically improve things for the future.
These include the creation of sediment traps, the planting of grass seed to inhibit erosion and replanting with native trees, such as manuka, which survive much longer than pines.
Mr Mills says the expectation of reaping a cash reward from the timber is a pipe dream for smaller landowners such as himself. The logging contractor takes the timber in return for removing the trees.
The landowner is saddled with the costs associated with environmental mitigation work afterwards.
Ms Sharp says although the felled slopes visible from Ashton Road have “freaked people out”, landowners currently logging are doing their best to make things better for the environment long term.
But she says this partly reflects the fact that the current logging can easily be seen. Most logging is out of sight and scores of hectares have still to be felled in areas where landowners will likely be more interested in profit than the environment.
“There will be siltation, siltation, siltation going out into the harbour and ultimately out into the ocean,” she says.
Ms Sharp says fish will die and mangroves will proliferate.
“We’ll end up living in an environment where we can’t actually swim in our harbours because they are all full of mud,” she says.
Meanwhile, Auckland Council denies people can do what they like when it comes to forestry.
Spokesperson Eileen Cameron says forestry works are subject to Unitary Plan standards, as well as national standards, specifically the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry, and Council’s compliance team assists with ensuring these rules are adhered to.
Ms Cameron says it received several complaints about the forestry operation in Ashton Road and has made several site visits to assess the situation.
“We asked for some remedial work to be carried out after a visit in early May and when we returned on May 20, most had been carried out,” she says.
“We are continuing to work with the owner and contractor to see that the remaining minor work is completed over the next few weeks, and to ensure the site continues to comply with the national standards.”
