Forestry is one of our region’s four most important industries alongside fishing, horticulture and farming. It employs more than 2000 people, accounts for more than $180 million of the region’s GDP and makes up 62% of the export tonnage through our councils-owned Port Nelson business.
The industry is reeling from the double whammy of the windfall of thousands of hectares of forest from the 11 July storm and the Carter Holt Harvey proposal to close the Eves Valley sawmill. Our councils have been grappling with the regional implications and what we can do to support the industry, maximise the recovery of wood and retain as many jobs as possible.
Recent storms have damaged homes, orchards and farms but the greatest economic impact will be the windfall of about 5,500 hectares of forests. This loss is ten times that of any previous windfall event. The wind speed at about 65km/hr was not particularly severe. It was the sodden ground and unusual wind direction that did the damage.
Many of the fallen trees have their roots still intact, which means the timeframe to recover the wood is longer at about 12 months. To access the fallen trees, a further 1,300 hectares will need to be harvested. This means nearly 4 million tonnes of wood will need to be recovered over the next year, double the amount of our normal harvest.
Nelson’s forest owners, managers and contractors are currently reconfiguring their harvest plans, equipment and workforces to manage this wall of wood. This extra volume of wood equates to another 40 logging trucks per day travelling to the port. We are working with them on planning more journeys at night to help manage this increase.
The proposed closure of CHH’s Eves Valley sawmill will mean an additional 20 logging trucks per day (on top of the 40) carrying wood that would have been manufactured into structural timber for the domestic market. Tasman Mayor Tim King and I have written to CHH this week, pleading with them to defer the closure for a year given these extraordinary circumstances.
CHH has profited for over 40 years from their Nelson sawmilling business. They should not be abandoning us in our hour of need.
