March 07, 2018
New forests legacy of Bola
It's been 30 years since Cyclone Bola tore through the country before stalling over the East Coast and dumping torrential rain for three days.
Willie Te Aho remembers travelling through the storm to Turanga with the body of his cousin and then waiting for a week while floodwaters receded from the urupa.
He says land development policies which had encouraged the clearing of bush to run sheep and beef led to widespread erosion in the back country, with soil and vegetation clogging rivers.
The clean-up was still going on when he took up a job as chief executive of Te Runanga o Turanganui a Kiwa five years later and it led to changes in land use.
"Over 15 percent of the plantation forest in New Zealand is within Tairawhiti. It is a no brainer we need to retire more lands and afforest them. It is just a debate over whether or not it should be in native or in pine," Mr Te Aho says.
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