July 28, 2020
Wasteful logging leads to flood mess
Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Meka Whaitiri wants forest owners to change the way they harvest, especially in rugged areas of the East Coast.
Heavy rains this month filled rivers in the region with logs and timber slash, much of which found its way to the coast.
Ms Whairiri says while forest owners have accepted responsibility for cleaning up the beaches, they also need to stop leaving so much waste on the side of mountains.
"Transportation costs to get way up the coast to fell trees and get them down to the port means they're are only going to cut the logs that give the biggest economic return. A lot is left behind, rubbish trees or thin trees or trees that don't get a decent commercial return, and I've put to forest owners can't do that. If you're not going to take the tree and export it, you need to take it off the mountain," she says.
Meka Whaitiri says looking at the waste covering the beaches around Uawa-Tolaga bay, it’s clear much of the timber was not recently cut but had been lying on the land for a year or more before it was washed into the rivers.
Copyright © 2020, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com