Gisborne landowners may seek compo for retiring erosion-prone land

The Government may be asked to provide compensation for Gisborne landowners whose steep, erosion-prone hills are set to be taken out of production following the devastating impact of cyclones Hale and Gabrielle last year.
Tairāwhiti is home to some of the country’s most erosion-prone land and Gisborne District Council plans to introduce a new rule, Land Overlay 3B, which would see the region’s most unstable, steep and dangerous land moved into more sustainable permanent vegetation cover to try and hold the soil in place and keep debris out of waterways.
Early governments encouraged the clearing of native forest off the region’s steep, erodible hill country, while more recent governments encouraged large-scale pine plantations – notably to stabilise the land after Cyclone Bola in 1988.
But following last year’s cyclones, where forest debris and soil caused environmental devastation, a Transition Advisory Group has been set up to work out how to help landowners make the change to a more sustainable land use. The group includes farmers, foresters, Māori landowners, environmentalists, council and government officials.
Its recommendations are due by April next year.
Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said compensation was one of the issues being looked at.
“I’m quite sure that will come up,” she said. “That is one of the barriers, or one of the challenges, that will be raised and we will then have to work towards coming up with a solution.”
She said the issue was “really really complex” and would involve discussions between landowners, council and government.
“It is not straightforward. People have bought land with the intention to develop it, and now maybe with rules changing, that is not possible. 
“It is not just a fact of saying this is not working, so let’s just stop doing it. We have those areas already planted up, and those trees will have to come out.”
She said the Emissions Trading Scheme also needed to be considered. Forest owners receive carbon credits under the scheme, which have to be paid back if the forest is cut down.
Stoltz said she believed in “right tree, right place” and supported planting natives in place of pines if it was found to be more appropriate on steep, erosion-prone land.
Still, establishing natives was more expensive and Stoltz said she would like to see the Government incentivise native planting through the likes of biodiversity credits.
The council is working with consultancy Habilis to assess the social, environmental, economic and cultural impacts of retiring the region’s high-risk land from commercial activities.
“We shouldn’t underestimate the huge amount of manpower, the huge amount of money, going into trying to resolve this issue,” Stoltz said. 
Forestry accounts for about 8.7 percent of the region’s GDP and 4.4 percent of workers in the region are employed in the sector, Stoltz said.
“Our community are well aware of the jobs created by forestry, and they are not against that, but what the community are saying is that we need to make sure it is done in a way where our natural environment is also protected,” she said.
The status quo was “untenable” for the community and spending millions cleaning up silt, sediment and woody debris was not sustainable, she said.
“Everyone agrees that the status quo is not working. We do need changes.
“We all want great outcomes for our community. We want to make sure businesses, whichever business you are in, can thrive, but we also need to balance that with what’s happening in our environment.
“It is complex, but I know there’s a willingness from everyone to try and compromise and work together.
“Everyone’s around the table, because we need to put all our heads together to hopefully find some solutions that we can then take forward, do consultation on, and hopefully make sure we protect what we have for our kids.”
She said Tairāwhiti was one of the first regions to show the impacts of climate change. 
“For the next few years, our work is cut out. We’re doing recovery. We’re trying to get fit for purpose.”
Stoltz has had something of a baptism of fire since being elected to the role in 2019.
Like the rest of New Zealand, the region was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, but as the rest of the country started to recover, Tairāwhiti was pummelled last year by two cyclones and seven extreme weather events.
“Our community has been through a lot,” she said.
“It’s bloody tough out there. We have had it much tougher than the rest of the country, because after Covid we had a horror year.
“We can do with a bit of good Tairāwhiti sunshine to lift our spirits.”
Stoltz said she had received assurances from Forestry Minister Todd McClay that proposed changes to national commercial forestry rules would not impact the region’s transition or Overlay 3B work, but was aimed at making it easier for foresters in lower-risk areas.
Asked for the Government’s view on paying compensation to landowners and introducing biodiversity credits to encourage native planting, McClay said: “We’re proposing a number of changes to the national direction and the council is currently working through a planning process. There will be a range of options available to us and the council in respect of forestry and land use once the process is complete.”