Hon Dr Nick Smith
Minister of Conservation
20 June 2014
Government to allow recovery of West Coast windfall timber
Special legislation is to be passed by Parliament to enable the recovery of high value native timber blown over in
Cyclone Ita on West Coast public conservation land, Dr Nick Smith announced today.
“We need to take a pragmatic approach and enable the timber to be recovered where it can be done so safely and with
minimal environmental impact. This initiative will provide welcome jobs and economic opportunities for the West Coast at
a difficult time, and will provide a financial return to DOC that can be reinvested in conservation work,” Dr Smith
says.
Cyclone Ita hit the West Coast on 17 April this year and caused the worst windfall damage in generations, felling an
estimated 20,000 hectares of forest and causing significant damage to a further 200,000 hectares.
The West Coast Windblown Timber (Conservation Lands) Bill confines the recovery of useable wood to areas affected by
Cyclone Ita and specifically excludes World Heritage Areas, national parks, ecological areas and the white heron
sanctuary reserve at Whataroa. Authorisations are only to be issued where the Department’s Director-General is satisfied
the proposed method of removing the timber is safe for workers and the public, and minimises environmental impacts. The
recovery of timber is limited until 1 July 2019 when the Bill expires. All revenue from royalties will go to the
Department of Conservation.
“A law change is needed because the current Conservation Act makes no provision for timber recovery in this sort of
extreme event. The Bill will be introduced and passed by Parliament next week under urgency. This is necessary because
the large volumes of beech timber will soon deteriorate with sap stain and borer. I am grateful for the common sense
support from the United Future and Māori Parties that are enabling Parliament to quickly resolve this issue.
“It is estimated that several million cubic metres of beech, rimu, matai, totara and miro trees have been felled.
Stumpage prices for rimu are $250 per cubic metre, and $60 per cubic metre for beech. It is not possible to estimate the
volume and value of timber to be extracted because the safety and environmental constraints may require high cost
options like the use of helicopters. This law change will enable the detailed work to be done by operators on recovery
proposals so as to determine where recovery is viable and safe.
“It may be appropriate to consider a permanent change to the Conservation Act to enable windblown timber in these sorts
of situations to be recovered in future, but I am reluctant to do so with urgent legislation of this sort. The
Department of Conservation will be commissioning research on the effects on forest regrowth and ecology by comparing
similar windblown areas where timber has and has not been recovered to help make a long-term policy decision on this
issue.
“It is a tragedy that so much forest has been wrecked by Cyclone Ita but no good purpose is served by leaving it all to
rot. The wood will displace some of the $65 million of tropical hardwoods we import each year and give New Zealanders
access to our own beautiful native timbers,” Dr Smith concluded.
Further information:
1.Q
ENDS