forestry slash

[C_T_Russell]

Seems to be the blame for alot of the devastation such as bridges washed out.
Kinda ironic, since this industry is supposed to be our saviour to climate change!
Now they are worried about the timber industry suffering.
Well perhaps they should be farming the land instead of planting it all in pines.

Why don't the sell the stuff as firewood anyway?
They just leave it to rot, apparently the greens stopped them from burning it all off, so they have alot to answer for.
Even better, they should send it to the Huntly power station, since it turns out it can run on wood!
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climat...hort-trial

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Heavens. You don't really know a lot about our forestry, do you? It has quite an interesting history. Worth looking up.

[C_T_Russell]

Heavens. You don't really know a lot about our forestry, do you? It has quite an interesting history. Worth looking up.

Well they have been in enough hot water over all of this in the news right now. They are to blame for millions of dollars of damage to bridges.

[Lilith7]

The blame is fair enough; they're supposed to clean up, not leave the slash lying there - & had they done so there may not have been so much damage during the cyclone.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Heavens. You don't really know a lot about our forestry, do you? It has quite an interesting history. Worth looking up.

Well they have been in enough hot water over all of this in the news right now. They are to blame for millions of dollars of damage to bridges.

And most are overseas entities which are rather difficult to force into cleaning up their messes. Overseas entities because that's who we sold most of our forests to quite a few decades ago, pretty much gutting the industry in the process. I wonder which government did that then...

[nzoomed]

The blame is fair enough; they're supposed to clean up, not leave the slash lying there - & had they done so there may not have been so much damage during the cyclone.

It's also possible that a good amount of the silt deposited was from forestry land.
When trees are felled, it often leads to erosion until the new trees are established.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Well, rivers and streams do flow through forested hills and do a fine job of sorting out the grades of dirt...

[harm_less]

The blame is fair enough; they're supposed to clean up, not leave the slash lying there - & had they done so there may not have been so much damage during the cyclone.

It's also possible that a good amount of the silt deposited was from forestry land.
When trees are felled, it often leads to erosion until the new trees are established.

The problem lies not only in the felling of forestry on a regular basis which has been likened to the effects of 80 years of 'normal' erosion each time a harvest happens but also in the geology of the East Coast's hill country. Having worked in both Taranaki's and Northern Hawkes Bay's hilly inland areas in the past it became obvious to me that while they are both composed of sedimentary soil types, Hawkes Bay's soils are very much less stable than Taranaki's papa (mudstone) hills. Heavy rainfall results in massive amounts more subsidence on the East Coast than in Taranaki and Radiata pines do little to stabilise this country. Add to this the ground disturbance resulting from the logging process and a shit ton of tree waste left lying around and the whole caboodle heads off down the nearest valley and eventually the sea.

In hindsight this region of New Zealand should have remained in native forests which are far more effective at stabilising the terrain but also in absorbing heavy rainfall before releasing at in a gradual rate over days or weeks. I would hazard a guess that the forested hill country of the nearby Ureweras faired much better than the pine forests and grasslands which have contributed to the silt and slash avalanche.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Forestry can be developed for many reasons beyond short term harvest to recoup costs. As we need trees to sequester carbon, the slower growing long term selective harvesting schemes are obviously of more benefit to us all. The trick will be to get investment to plant these kinds of tree banks, the benefits of which will go to our grandchildren, and theirs.

[Lilith7]

Forestry can be developed for many reasons beyond short term harvest to recoup costs. As we need trees to sequester carbon, the slower growing long term selective harvesting schemes are obviously of more benefit to us all. The trick will be to get investment to plant these kinds of tree banks, the benefits of which will go to our grandchildren, and theirs.

"The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit."
Nelson Henderson

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Chinese proverb

[C_T_Russell]

I see lots of newly planted pines in the area have been blown down it appears.
Hopefully this is a lesson they learn and we see native forests planted instead that are better suited to NZ.
I want to see all the permanent pines gone.