The Day-to-Day Reality of Clear-Fell Pine Logging

The end of 2019 and beginning of 2020 saw us here at Caretaker Farm in Ashton Road, Whangateau, New Zealand sitting on the frontline of the neighboring pine logging.

We have had the amazing, almost unique experience of watching first hand virtually at the front door of our property the clear felling of the pine trees that for the past 30 years plus graced the hill opposite to our front gate.

Everyday, for over three months except for 10 days over Christmas,  we heard the high screaming sound of the chain saw and then the death crash of the 30-40 year pine trees as they fall onto the ground.

The trees had to be felled as they were starting to fall on their own blocking the river that flows along the base of the steep hill slope.

The felling exercise in such large numbers on my doorstep however, for me was something that I have never experienced before.

We have seen the worker on the digger machine walk it up the steep bank on the other side of the river and use the digger arm to pull down the cut trees and then load up those trimmed and cut logs onto the various single trucks that have arrived to take them for export or for paper/pulp.

For me it is hard to understand the thinking of the planners in what was Rodney Council thirty/forty years ago that allowed the planting of pines on slopes that once they are clear felled will erode and silt up the beautiful harbour of Whangateau while any new trees planted take time to grow.  Also there is so much tree debris left behind after loggers leave which our huge rain events then carry down into the river to create blockages, floods or even landslides .  Clearly there was no long term thinking of the consequences.

At the base of the slope is a river which heads down to the harbour. At the time of the logging this was full of bits of trees and dirt. The neighbour pulled out a 1 metre dead eel thanks to the river pollution as the logging took place. There has been no real rain since before Christmas and even then we had no rain here in November and went into the summer already 400mls down in rainfall because the winter and last summer were drier than usual. When it does rain and if we get the volume very quickly as we have done in the past (Whangateau held the NZ rainfall record until recently for receiving 125mls in 45minutes), then all the earth will slip off the slope into the river, the harbour and the sea due to the force of the descending water..

This logging is just a beginning in what will be a long-term removal of pines from the whole area over the next years. It will change the landscape and the environmental impact will be problematic in the short term. Lets hope the replacement trees planted once the logging is finished and rain comes are NZ Natives, as has happened in the case of this logging on Ashton Road thanks to an environmentally conscious land-owner, and that planners think longer term before allowing such clear felling in the future.. The problem in so many is a lack of vision for the future and no thinking of what will it be in 35-50 years let alone 800 years as they make decisions on land-use everywhere. 

 Trees that take years to grow can be cut down, planked, pulped, chipped within hours or days-its no wonder humans feel so powerful when compared to other life forms. However we need to remember we are actually just one of the species living here on this planet and that each of us are just passing while the land is here for as long as the earth exists. 

Perhaps if we were a bit more humble and reflected on our overall vulnerability we might be able to think a bit longer term and plan better for the future generations who have to pick up the pieces of what we leave behind.









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