Pugh Maureen; Rurawhe AdrianADVERSE WEATHER-AFFECTED TIMBER RECOVERY ON CONSERVATION LANDS BILLFirst ReadingMAUREEN PUGH (National): I move That the Adverse Weather-affected Timber Recovery on Conservation Lands Bill be now read a first time. I nominate that it be considered by the Governance and Administration Committee. Back on 17 April in 2014 Cyclone Ita wreaked havoc along the West Coast of the South Island and particularly hard hit was Buller. It battered property and cut northern Buller off. It took a couple of weeks to get power restored and roads open into Karamea. Punakaiki was also badly hit and then the cyclone moved further south to cause significant damage in the Grey and Westland districts. The damage to forests was enormous and although quite difficult to get an accurate assessment of the area of damage because there were pockets harder hit than others and to varying degrees the best estimate by the Ministry for Primary Industries was about 40000 hectares excluding the national parks. Including the national parks the figure would have been north 200000 hectares. This involved some large mature trees being snapped off tipped over or stripped bare of leaves causing the trees to die. Our thanks must go to the Hon Dr Nick Smith for taking a very pragmatic approach to conservation. He introduced and passed legislation in this House to allow the harvesting of some of those trees outside of the nature reserves outside of scientific reserves ecological areas and national parks. Urgency was required because there was a time limit to how long the trees can maintain their integrity before the mould and the borer starts to degrade the quality of the timber. That particular legislation the West Coast Wind-blown Timber (Conservation Lands) Act was for a period of five years to allow time to harvest the trees for this one-weather event and it expired in 2019. But then in 2018 came Cyclone Fehi followed a few days later by Cyclone Gita which devastated the Tasman region. In fact the repairs to the Tākaka Hill are still under way as a consequence. Further damage was done to other West Coast forests but because of the legislation that was passed in 2014 which allowed only for the extraction of trees that came down in Cyclone Ita and it was time limited no further extraction of any other trees could be made off Crown-managed land. That is the reason that this permanent legislation is needed. It will enable the Director-General of Conservation to authorise the removal of affected trees from certain conservation areas where they are irreversibly damaged by an adverse weather event. I anticipate that I would describe an adverse weather event as including floods land slips tectonic events storm events and the like but I imagine also that the select committee will receive advice on the exact definition of this term. I would like to address the great work that was done by the Department of Conservation (DOC) during the enactment of the temporary legislation passed in 2014 because it had to start from scratch and set up all of the systems for extracting timber. DOC had not previously had to manage anything like the scale of this event. They had to set up the tender process. They had to set up and define the areas that could be accessed. They had on-the-ground oversight of the operations and health and safety of course was a major consideration because the way the wind had rotated had brought the trees down in all directions like Pick-up Sticks. So the potential for accidents was high. Every log that was approved for extraction was tagged and those tagged logs were then tracked through extraction through transport though milling and then on to the sale. The health of the forest of course was always a priority so DOC was always careful that the forest areas were not completely cleared. In fact only a small percentage of the trees were able to be extracted and only a small percentage of each tree was able to be removed. There was always plenty remaining for the natural ecosystem. It's important to note too the value this operation brought to some of the small operators when this storm-damaged timber was able to be removed. About 100000 cubic metres of rimu came down and about 35000 cubic metres of red and silver beech. It created employment and work for the small mills and the small contractors and it also created this high-value raw material that went on to become high-value products. The regional economic benefits were very plain to see. In fact one of the ironies of it was that because of that legislation some of that material went on to repair the damaged caused by another major event which was the Canterbury earthquakes when some of the old villas were able to use that rimu timber for their repairs. I do recall in the debates that some members who were opposing that temporary legislation said that bulldozers would trundle into the bush they'd push in all the roads and that would create silting and degradation of streams and rivers. This was of course part of the consideration that the Director-General of Conservation had to take into account and no such degradation occurred. Now returning to those areas—and I have been back—it's almost hard to tell where those extractions happened because the bush recovers so quickly but what actually happened was that some operators broke down the timber into slabs in the bush on site so they were easily removed. But others were airlifted out by helicopter so actually the damage to the forest was kept to an absolute minimum. Those areas in the back country weren't even touched and so already those trees are going through the natural cycle of breaking down. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of leaves of branches and stumps are still decomposing into the ecosystem. So the systems are in place and they have been tested. Enabling this permanent legislation would enable a timely decision to be made by the Director-General of Conservation on each appropriate weather event without the need for passing special legislation. This is not an opening for wholesale access into our native forests. It's an enabling piece of legislation which will give the Director-General of Conservation the ability to assess any adverse weather event assess the scale of the damage and then assess whether access can be invited to remove some timber. There is huge interest from small milling operations around the country those with processing factories and those with portable mills. There are real job opportunities here at a time when we need to use every opportunity. This adds another practical tool to the tool box. Do not be influenced by the scaremongers who opposed the temporary legislation in 2014 because all the terrible things they said would happen did not happen. DOC managed it well. They managed it safely and efficiently. The details in the bill clearly outline the considerations that the Director-General of Conservation will turn his or her mind to. Paramount of course is the safety of the people working at the site and the public. The adverse effects on the environment will be kept to a minimum and the activities will not unreasonably affect conservation and will not cause soil disturbance. This is a sensible move to allow timely decisions to be made by the person who has responsibility for caring for our native forest—someone we can trust to have the oversight and systems to ensure there is a positive for the environment and for jobs. This bill has been assessed as being consistent with the rights and freedoms of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. I certainly look forward to members opposite seeing the sense in this member's bill and supporting it. It is common sense. I welcome the select committee process where the input of submitters will be welcome. Of particular interest to me is that we canvass the views of iwi of the local communities potential users and businesses from around the country who will have a strong interest in this enabling legislation. I commend this bill to the House. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.