January 24, 2023
Tairāwhiti slash an ecological disaster
Māori members of East Coast lobby group Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti want a moratorium on all forestry planting and harvesting until growers work out how to deal with millions of tonnes of slash.
Hapū spokesperson Hera Ngata-Gibson says it’s an ecological disaster.
The region is cleaning up after another round of floods made worse by the left-over pine waste clogging up rivers and strewn over paddocks and beaches.
“We’ve had years of what I believe is poor practice and now the people are jumping up and down. They’ve got to make up for a good 10 years of bad practice and how do you do that?” Ms Ngata-Gibson says.
Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti – which also includes farmers, horticulturalists and conservation workers – is calling on government to take urgent action – including setting up an independent inquiry.