Production forestry should be stopped in extreme erosion zones around Wairoa and Gisborne, a damning inquiry into forestry slash and land use has found.

The Government commissioned a ministerial inquiry into land use and forestry slash after Cyclone Gabrielle, concentrating on the Wairoa and Tairāwhiti (Gisborne) regions.

Severe slips and erosion resulted in woody debris and silt washing onto land and down waterways in those areas, causing significant damage.

More than 10,000 Tairāwhiti people petitioned for land use to be better managed and helped lead to the inquiry.

Controversially, the bulk of Hawke’s Bay such as the wider Hastings and Napier areas, were not included in the inquiry, despite large amounts of woody debris, including pine, washing down rivers and causing destruction in those areas.

Findings from the two-month inquiry were released in a report on Friday with 50 recommendations. That report has been titled Outrage to Optimism.

Slash and other wood debris along the beach near the Mohaka River mouth. Photo / Alice Grace Jarvis-Basher

“We are not a Third World country. We heard from experts that the situation is perilous and the time to act is now. In their estimation we have five to 10 years to turn this environmental disaster around,” the report reads.

Tairawhiti experienced greater and more-widespread impact and damage than Wairoa, according to the report.

“The panel found that the forest industry has lost its social licence in Tairawhiti due to a culture of poor practices — facilitated by the Gisborne District Council’s capitulation to the permissiveness of the regulatory regime — and its under-resourced monitoring and compliance,” the report reads.

“Together, these factors have caused environmental damage, particularly to land and waterways, and they have put the health and safety of people and their environment at risk.”

The recommendations from the inquiry (for the two regions) included a call for an immediate halt to wide-scale clear felling of forestry and replace it with a mosaic of staged logging, to transition extreme erosion zones out of pasture and production forestry into permanent forest, and a broad package of government support for cleanup, infrastructure and economic development in the region.

“Any production on erodible hill country must be sustainable forestry and pasture practice, and extremely erodible land and gullies must be retired from production,” the report reads.

There is also a recommendation for the establishment of a world-leading biodiversity credit scheme to incentivise permanent indigenous forests, piloted in the region.

“Our recommendations reflect the fear, anger and doubt, but also the hopes and aspirations we heard at the numerous hui we held in the Gisborne and Wairoa districts,” inquiry panel chairwoman Hekia Parata said.

“We believe that, if these recommendations are implemented, they will deliver that better future the people need and deserve.”

Members of the inquiry panel included Parata, Matt McCloy and Dave Brash. The inquiry received more than 300 submissions.

The report was delivered to Environment Minister David Parker and Forestry Minister Peeni Henare on Friday morning.