Clive Bibby: Shutting the door after the horse has bolted

The East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island is one of the country’s more remote farming regions but it has survived economically for decades mainly because the majority of its livestock farming soils produce some of the best red meat grown anywhere in the world.

But unlike other similar farming regions in Godzone, Tairawhiti has an “archillies heal” that has become the most significant factor, limiting economic development - while the soils are naturally fertile and respond well to fertilizer, they are mudstone based, which makes the hill country highly vulnerable to large scale erosion after above average bouts of rainfall and associated flooding.

This unique negative feature of an otherwise ideal place to grow top livestock has not been helped by poor local body planning of the obvious remedy for the hill country erosion problem - the introduction of “un checked” and in some cases, poorly managed pinus radiata forests to some of the Country’s most highly productive grazable undulating and even semi flat land.

This rapid expansion of the forestry estate across what would normally be considered “no go” areas has resulted in what can only be described as “desecration” and rightly so amongst the more traditional 5th generation farming entrepreneurs of the region.

Yet, because this rapid expansion was politically fuelled, mainly by the Labour Government’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, any attempt to correct the damage done to the highly productive flats after the floods of 2023 was simply a case of closing the door after the horse had bolted.

Furthermore the recovery was not helped by a Government-led “coverup” in the form of a “Clayton’s” Enquiry set up supposedly to establish who and what was to blame and if possible, recommend management measures that would help to ensure this type of disaster never happened again.

Unfortunately, as one of the farmers who, at the time, lived and fattened livestock at the “epicentre” of the flood vulnerable area (after 3 years with no farm income, l have just finished restoring my property back to its full productive capacity), we appear to be no further ahead at the local Council level trying to sort out a plan managing the established forests and roading infrastructure that must incorporate enforceable resource consents.

One of the main contributors to the Gabrielle flood damage caused by large volumes of forestry slash arriving on the river flats during and after the floods was the inability of Council to enforce resource concents that would have limited the amount of slash getting into the forestry streams that led to the main river basins. (the Hikuai and Uawa Rivers).

As a personal friend of the Gisborne Mayor, Rehette Stoltz, it was difficult watching her on a recent Network News report struggling to oversee the introduction of a workable compromise solution with the Forestry owners that would not only help reduce the threat of future forestry related flood damage but, perhaps more importantly, ensure the survival of the forestry industry itself as a major part of the regional economy.

There is no question that, in order for that to happen, some form of peaceful coexistence must be established between the forestry and livestock farming industries.

Some are suggesting that as much as a 40% reduction in the area currently used for livestock farming on the more marginal hill country must occur (most of it being permanently retired and planted in either natives or permanent pines - both of which would still qualify for carbon credits so it is not all bad news).

From a local resident of the East Coast’s point of view, these discussions between interested parties are being looked upon with anxious anticipation and a justifiable amount of scepticism.

We simply can’t afford to allow them to fail and, at the moment, there is good reason to think they might.

In my humble opinion, Tairawhiti has the potential to become, per head of population, the most affluent region in the Country bar none - but if they don’t get this one right, there is also the distinct probability that it will slowly descend into becoming “Tokoroa by the Sea” - with no disrespect to the good people of Tokoroa.

I kid you not!

Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.