Excellent and moving doco. Can only hope there is a concerted and well informed effort to remedy the issues.

Thank you 1News for keeping your comment section open mad respect!

Thank you John Campbell, your story telling and real hard hit journalism I grew up with is top tier. Come on forestry industry, sort your stuff out. We need to keep NZ and the families who are affected safe long term. It's always about money. The government should step up and fix the issues, then fine the absolute crap out of the forestry industry. Otherwise nothing will get done

Jesus - this is the most refreshing piece of TVNZ coverage I’ve seen in a LOOOOOONG time

Good to see your still covering the important stories John.

such an exceptional way of expressing this horrible situation; peeling the layers back for those like myself who are aware that bad practice is happening, but am cognitively dissonant to the situation.

If the government can't or won't help them......then we HAVE to. I don't know how, but they are OUR people down there. Isn't that what NZ is about? coming together and helping one another? I for one hope so.

Thankyou, finally some honesty coming from our media!

The issue here is cost, in particular the cost to harvest trees by forestry logging contractors. Relative to overall forest returns the price to cut down and process trees to load trucks of logs has increased significantly over recent years especially on difficult steep land common on many forestry sites across NZ and especially sites on the East Coast. Forest Owners want to maximize a return from their crop and forestry logging contractors are competing with each other to get the work especially to secure continuity of work to keep their staff employed over the long term. Log returns over time have been steadily rising but not in general great enough to offset growing costs. On some sites it close to or not profitable to cut down trees. While logging companies can remove or make less slash it will come at a much greater cost, cost that logging contractors will have to pass on to make a profit themselves. In a lot of cases there will be No return for the grower, in fact they risk facing a large bill. If this becomes a reality then No forest owner is going to harvest their trees. Why would they? The trees can remain standing quite happily for many years. That means the downward industry that the trees create will collapse. No jobs and massive layoffs over the whole sector. That’s the bottom line here. It’s all down to cost.

Makes me sad that despite producing so much wood, good luck finding anything affordable made of solid wood here in NZ. Its all composite garbage, or excessively expensive as if pine was infused with gold. This is a paradise where the things we produce and the land itself are financially out of reach of the inhabitants.

Great journalistic reporting. Thank you. We live in a Hokianga Valley that has recently had the pines removed. Above rivers and bridges. When we walked up the hills after the trucks had taken away the last loads to the port we were absolutely disgusted by the amount of slash left. Just mind boggling. Whole trees scattered and in piles all over the land. There is so much slash to clear it would need thousands of $'s and weeks of work for a different land use so it's probable that it will be replanted again. Another disaster waiting to happen in the future. Why have they got away with this.

Amen and Thank you 🙏 John ❤for speaking for the people

Correct me if i am wrong but wasn't it a change in legislation that prevents forestry from burning slash in place now? I think the legislation was wanting to prevent more CO2 in the atmosphere by preventing burning in place? However when these logs rot they will release very similar amounts of CO2 as if they were burned except if they were burnt we wouldn't have the massive slash damage problem. It would have been good if Mr. Campbell had looked deeper into the government legislation changes that allowed this to happen. Forestry plays a part in this mess however I don't believe they are solely to blame. I agree that it is not the people on the ground that are getting rich through forestry, its the massive overseas corps. that have been allowed to buy in and operate here. Much respect to the hard working forestry workers who work in difficult conditions to provide for their families. However the massive mono culture planting of forestry has never been good for our land or for allowing the people to thrive.

While the situation is awful and the doco is fairly informative, at 17:44 we have a minister starting to explain what they think needs to be done but the doco quickly fades this out. Isn't the minister's viewpoint something that deserves more time so we can evaluate it better - we're asking for the government to provide a solution after all?

30 years ago as students we thought oh no pines not the answer and sure enough … great doco thanks

thank you john cambell

12:55 John - please come up to Northland and witness what cuttings pine plants have done. This is not Carbon Credits this is Mountains of Hillsides washing out to sea - New Zealand needs a 9.9 Earthquake to lift the land and replace what we have lost in the last 30 days.

You did not show the ocean waterfront. Somewhere I saw coastal beaches covered in logs. Have not seen it since. Have you got footage?

Wow how very sad. Great doco and a lot to think about here.

So much of NZ's countryside is an eyesore. I came across a picture of massive hillside erosion in NZ on Facebook. Everyone's response to that was to plant more pine trees.

That's crazy keep replanting pine when the area is not been cleaned up! Come on foresty do the right thing..bagged the wood and sell it.

Welcome back John, good work with your doco. I voted for Mr Nash and quite frankly his response is weak as pi**. If he wants my vote again he'll need to stop walking on eggshells for the forestry industry and get them into a room to answer questions, open to the public. If these forestry company CEOs had any mana they'd front up and say something, gutless bastards.

Sending love to everyone impacted by this ❤

Sadly the generations before us only thought of themselves, only thought in the moment of that time, on quite a greedy basis.. They never considered us, they (or, our own older generations) sold our lands for financial gain, for personal benefit.. The boomer generation was the worst for this.. Its a generational/social issue, and we as the younger generations will now have to live with the mistakes of our ancestors.. We, as the younger generation have every right to pass judgement on the older generation for what they have done to us..

A bloody good doco.

Amazing Report. Absolutely 💔

Great piece of journalism

Excellent story. Thank you for showing us!

Informative and interesting. Well-presented as well. Best to NZ from AU

This practice by the Forestry was mentioned at an enquiry after the 1953 Tangiwai Disaster.

The scale of this destructive pollution is staggering. It is shameful that forestry plantation was presented as the solution to reduce soil erosion and potential flood damage when its core objective was exporting clear felled timber. Planting native forests is the obvious solution. That should have been done after Bola. It definitively needs to happen now. Id like to see the forestry industry commit to this work and be a leader in making it happen.

love you JC , you are such a good bloke

£130+ a cubic ton bag for fire wood in the UK last time I purchased a few years ago! I see a lot of free resources for decades!

Hard to understand why the forestry industry doesn’t chip the wood and manufacture other wood products for NZ instead of allowing this to happen over and over. They need to clean up this mess and be held financially responsible for the damage!

As a former consultant for a large American forestry company, it seems to me the solution is obvious and simple: Build more pulp mills and use the slash for paper production. Turn it into a valuable commodity. Otherwise, the slash just lies on the ground and decomposes, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere.

The slash that came down from forestry could probably keep the whole of NZ in Firewood for about 2 years.. The overseas companies who OWN the rights to forestry in NZ have to be taken to task about cleaning up the slash as the trees are felled... Chip the extra branches, so some trucks come away with logs and others with wood chips. Wood Chips are an exportable commodity. We don't have a pulp and paper industry anymore, which is a pity. Maybe NZ needs to look at producing paper again.

It’s time to hold those responsible, responsible and they must clean up their mess and the mess from their industry before what’s happening now

Jacinta's answer was more carbon credits and more pine trees. Should be millions of $ of fines. Common man is not even allowed access to cut fire wood in these areas?

I remember seeing the wood all over the beaches when I was young, catching fire and sweeping down kilometres of beach killing wildlife and and destroying habitats. landslides and bridges being destroyed are just a few of the many repercussions of the use of the land there. but just like those still living there its our home and a beautiful place that should be looked after.

Its so sad. Tears in my eyes watching this.

What has/is happening regarding forestry in nz, seriously needs urgent attention. Not enough being done to eradicate this awful problem. Really tragic for communities.

Great Job John........Slash broke the bridges not the water......

Great doco Mr Campbell. I hope we get some positive outcomes off the back of it!

Breaks your heart thinking its humans that are creating this problem and turned a blind eye for years. Disregarding the people of the land and destruction that they have to face. The old saying, " prevention is better than cure".

Theres still a decade of slash sitting up on those hills it will come down with every big rain

Nice one John !

Thankyou John

recent logging in the riverhead Forrest and there is so much debris still left there, which has been there for months

I cant believe the people who make the profit arent taking accountability for this. Its so clear whos responsible. Im no way near east coast but im so sad and mad for them people. The injustice makes me livered.

People should be given free access to forestry land to gather fire wood and even sell wood they collect from forestry skid sites . This would go along way to solving this problem of forestry slash . Most houses on the east coast have fire places to burn all this timber. It should be free access to the forest land

Government should mandate that anything that isn't used when cutting down trees should be put through a chipper and bagged up and sent to be turned into fire logs.

Owners of forestry and logging companies should be held totally responsible. They should pay.

Imagine if the cities were allowed to have fires 🔥 to heat their homes 🏡. Imagine the forestry industry being allowed to sell firewood to the people in cities. Imagine waste (slash) having a market.

Great documentary. Good to see real people telling their stories and how this is affecting them. The problem is never going to go away as long as NZ sees the foreign investors as gods and the profits filtering out of the country. My thoughts - needs a Kiwi entrepreneur to set up and manage a business that can process the slash? Can it be made into wood chips, re-established into pallets, wood products, there has to be potential for this waste - and the sooner the better

thank you John Cambell, save our Homes Land and Sea

No one from Gisborne District Council checks that forestry are sticking to resource consents. No one does quality control checks on roading or drainage jobs done by their contractors either. Routine maintenance on stormwater drainage has been stopped hence roadside ditches are blocked with grass and weeds. When GDC admit they're at fault on multiple levels and appoint more people who actually do the work they're expected to do, will the situation change

Thanks John, now I understand how this even happens at all. I couldn't believe it when I first saw the photos and videos. Now it makes sense. Definitely shameful behaviour by logging firms. Agreed with the Maori lady about slip prone areas being planted in permanent natives not pine crops. This must be fixed.

When that much slash is created, how can it not be environmental pollution? Imagine what they could do with it if they wood chipped a majority of it instead, and sold or gave away or used it for regeneration? Surely that much slash can't be legal?

i logged for ten years in the bay of plenty, the slash can be cleaned up after logging no problem, but it cost money, its always about the money, profits are whats important to the forestry, its the world we live in, me,me,me

Slash is killing the 35. Our beaches, our homes, our jobs, all of this for trees, trees that are killing us. Mr Hope, your hopeless, you should lose your job, look at what your management has done! How do you sleep at night and especially when it rains. You've help kill communities. Thanks John Campbell for putting this together, visit on a sunny day 😎

Intense logging taking its toll

It is time to read and heed “The Forest Farmer’s Handbook” by Orville Camp I personally witnessed the critical failure, of the forest management practices inflicted on the environment and people of Southern Oregon and Northern California.

Another example of big industry taking indigenous people for a ride.

The key thing i'm getting from this is: - Logging industry has improved, producing far less slash that can wash down rivers (whether this means they are hiding/storing it better, or producing less, i'm not sure). - The slash we're seeing is vast majority from pre 2018, and CURRENT logging industry doesn't want to be responsible for it, because they didn't put it there. BUT they will continue to clean up disaster prone dams etc. (probably because of immense government pressure to do so, as it's potentially very dangerous, not because of any sense of duty/merit to do so) I imagine this is a double edged sword. Logging industry is big money, if the industry is forced to spend huge money cleaning up previous industry mess, there may not be much value in continuing logging. And the industry disappears. And likely still nothing get cleaned up and quite possibly things get even worse with no one around to keep maintaining the forests. Things could get a lot worse. On the flip side, quality of life is being destroyed for people, and farm incomes/production is heavily affected. So there is no obvious solution, but one DOES need to be found. So what CAN be done about the slash? A solution that works for everyone? (I have no idea, i've only looked at this issue for all of 10 mins). Does anyone have an ingenious use for the slash? Can it turn a profit or benefit somehow?

Don't stop now John ,you see, you feel our pane, you have Momentum please tell our story carry on someone has to fight for us ,they're not listening to us .This will eventually affect the wider community 2 of the biggest Footboll in New Zealand have been devastated

Council were offered a good system to monitor what the forestry companies were doing using drones but council said nah

We as a country needs to march in solidarity for our brothers and sisters in Hawks Bay, telling the Government this is enough! With climate change and the crazy weather we are going to continue to have, industries, businesses and especially foreigners need to be held to account if they plan to do business here! We will not allow our people and our children of the future to pay for this greedy irresponsible way of doing business. We need to shout with one voice!!!!! We need change! We need correct Governance!

Natural bush was once cut down and turned into woodchips. Scandalous. I've seen slash left everywhere in NZ in my travels, on the hills. Why? What a mess. Is there no value in chipping this slash? Even if its not economical there needs to be a law that says after logging 99% of slash WILL be removed and chipped. Use it as fuel. Maybe more mixing of native species between the pine. There needs to be gradient limitations on planting. Also are houses in the right places? Now in March 2023, I'm going back to what seems like a relatively dry country; the UK!!

we first saw it with Bola actually, that was the canary in the mine

I've been going back and forward to the east cape since the seventies,they told us that our life would only improve what happened.?.

Happened three times in the last hundred years. It’s why river flats exist.

I'm watching this over 7mths after Cyclone Gabrielle, from Napier, and we still don't have our lives back.

Watching from the Netherlands with great interest. It is sad to see the devastation and how it destroy the lives from so many people. Especially when you realize that it doesn't have to be that way. It can be hard to change the old and bad habits from an entire industry, we see it in the Netherlands as well. We have a different problem with far too many farm animals per square kilometer, which causes the entire land and open water to become too acidic for many native plant and insect and bird species, and it also causes very poor air quality, but we get the same responses. The industry starts to play the victim, and they even try to undermine widely accepted scientific reports from the scientific community, with the most absurd arguments hoping to create enough anger and doubt among a large enough group of people so that they can get their favorite politician in power, so that they can keep destroying the land. We are living in a world where people are simply denying reality and the facts, and they try to mobilize a large enough group of people just for their own greed and selfishness, and they refuse to look beyond their own timeline of existence. As if what we leave behind for future generations doesn't matter at all. I am all for forestry and for protecting the land from land erosion and water evaporation. I am a huge fan from Geoff Lawton, the famous Australian Permaculture poly culture specialist. But when you create a mono culture forest for commercial purposes it needs to managed well or you shouldn't do it at all. To me there is a difference between making an honest profit and greed. Greedy people do not care at all about the consequences from their behavior. But keep this in mind, every time that we humans create a large mono culture, that is that we plant the same species of crops or trees over a large area, it never ends well. Nature needs biodiversity to be able to withstand changing conditions over longer stretches of time. Look what is happening in the US and their forestry. One beetle is destroying entire forests. That's because large areas are now a mono culture that is largely cultivated by humans. Anyway, I hope that the situation is going to be resolved, and that the people get payed for all the damage that they have. Big 👍for the excellent reporting.

Beautifully done doco, really illuminates the layers of issues here. The response from forestry is deplorable and frustrating. As long a profit is the goal and the laws allow them to, it will continue until the land is dead and unprofitable. Then all those 'opportunities' and 'jobs' will be no more and the community, already suffering, will suffer more. It's devastating and yet it's a shadow of the type of thing that happens in places like Africa where foreign business is allowed to take over precious resources, always to the detriment of the locals. Best thing to do? Litigate these forestry companies, levy huge fines, make them responsible for all damage caused by slash. Plant natives. Let the land regenerate. Create jobs related to that regeneration. New Zealand was never a land of pine trees to begin with, like possums, stoats and other invasive species, it should be treated like a pest.

A Ministerial Enquiry. Gee, that's getting tough. The only thing they will enquire about is how they can minimise the impact on their reelection prospects.

There needs to be operations to make economic use of the logging waste. For example, I saw a video on an activated charcoal factory in Africa making use of free waste wood.

17:16 Stuart Nash being an apologist for the forestry industry. What a disgrace!

No mention of the Greens not allowing the slash to be burnt off. They've gone very quiet lately

John much appreciation & respect. Great work you're doing reporting on the main issues that are affecting our Ngati Porou, Tairawhiti & Taitokerau whanau with Cyclone Gabrelle. Current governments, Former governments, Forestry companies have been neglecting their responsibilities now need to have a good look at themselves & start working & managing the work practices. Also start working with the natural world. Wake up people who are responsible for this & start working appropriately with the natural world.

its all been like something out of a movie im 27 and can't remember anything even close to this happening ever

Thank you team for bringing this to us. I knew it was bad but I really had no idea, being here in Christchurch. Though that emotional pain of wondering when the next time will be, I am very familiar with and it's not a great way to exist. But the quakes have all but gone. These communities on the east coast will endure the fall out of greed for potentially decades. It's a disgrace because there's no excuse for it that really stands up to scrutiny.

good doco, especially highlighting the destruction of roads caused by constant heavy traffic, which NZ citizens are left with the cost of, let alone the destruction of the environment and the tangatawhenua.

I remember seeing logs like this on the east coast of Tasmania............... wow - how come no one has done anything to stop this sort of damage....

The Pine Forest of NZ, became the new "meat export", look at the Forest blocks along the Napier - Taupo road. And as the demand grew, more land was taken from farming and planted in trees, again south of Taupo and also along the East Coast, Gisborne especially. A time long past, this was considered "good, as to assisted our carbon credits". It was also considered good, when China started buying - as this is where most logs go. We now have Ikea wanting out timber, that means more timber being cut down. So do we need to review Forestry as an Industry going forward?

What an opportunity with all that wood. Sorry for the wreckage its caused but there is such opportunity there.

What a totally ludicrous situation. Imagine watching another industry destroy your life’s work - there must be so much anger on the east coast. I hope the government enquiry is genuine and thorough. With standards and procedures put into practice, and a very very BIG stick employed to hold them to account! Let it happen again and we will fine you out of business!

There is money in wood chips. Would it be feasible for every forestry company to have fleets of wood chippers on site to remove the slash as they clear fell the areas? Or is that in the too hard basket. I'm sure there would be a market for it and even export.

Thank you John! We need the ranges planted in natives to prevent erosion and combat climate change. ASAP

Can someone tell me the name or names s of company/ies that own (plant and harvest) the pine plantation? This should be made transparent.

while the government is advertising "100% pure NZ"... Thank you for bringing awareness of this

All that free firewood, but yeah I always believed that selective logging with replanting 20% native mostly on the lower slopes that is not removed, only to be selective eg 1 /5 30- 50yrs with replanting behind it etc etc

So sad they could have given alot of the left over wood to people for there fires for free to reduce the waste so much devastation to such a beautiful landscape I can't imagine the emotional heartbreak to everyone who has suffered😢💞forrestrys need to take responsibility and not pussyfoot around and get in and clean it up show they care full stop.

Why is the slash there you asked. Simple economics. The logs are worth money, the bent broken peaces are not. Remember there is moor good wood taken than slash left behind. Exported bringing money into the country. We all need this to pay for the things we all import. Yes we can do better. May be a power plant to burn the slash making electricity. I know this doesn't help the problem you are all seeing now. Forest company's are happy to leave the slash as fertilizer for the next crop of trees, Burning it on sight is a waste of good humus and polluting the air.

In the 1800's California Gold Rush. Some used hydraulic mining. What used to be deep rivers eventually filled with rock and the water had no where to go but outward. And the river boats had trouble making it up river from San Sancisco to the gold fields.

We have had the same problems in the USA. It took decades to reel in the people who profit from this then deny responsibility. And the fight continues. In my mind I know the solution. It is selective logging. Clear cutting needs to stop. Every time the river turns brown the top soil that is needed for forests to continue to grow is washed away. I know of places where the water remains clear during these huge rain events. As the clear cutting continues, eventually you will be left wth land that will not grow trees. The logging companies will leave with their money and you will be left with barren land where forests should grow.

Iam afraid that it is happening almost everywhere in the world we live in, once a beautiful landscape and natural beauty but because there is a large wealth of natural resources present. The ugly truth is the greed of individuals whether it is landowners, developers, or government organization is their disgusting response and motive to motion such behavior of "money first worry later". The responsibility is with All parties to ensure that they have managed an agreement to the restoration of the landscapes to their best established natural habitat and professionally inspected before agreeing to sign up new sites to harvest wood. But never the less if you were approached with a beneficial opportunity of a lump sum of cash in six figures summary temptation is greater for irresponsible decision-making!!!

The people that manage the foresteries should be held accountable for the slash that destroyed everything in its path. 😮

Very good documentation we live in the Waikato near a Chinese forest and see all the slash and they took down the forest last year and planted new trees but the slash is still there and it look like in the moon

Here in Oz pine forestry creates a huge fire issue and depletes the soils….I believe EVERY ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE can be solved with 3 x new laws. 1. Land can ONLy be owned by those who are full citizens of the land. 2. Any action you make that harms or can harm another being, organism or land is your responsibility. 3. Everyone pays the same tax percentage regardless of wealth

Question to the forestry companies and especially the government. Whý is the slash/waste not mulching by these companies? To me it makes sense but what is it I'm missing? ?