Woodhill Diary

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Wednesday 4 October 2006

I'd have to say that, recently, every trip to the Forest has left me depressed. This visit was in fact to the Rimmers Rd access, but it was consistent with other experiences.

This is the last kilometre of Rimmers Rd, one of the more popular access points to the West Coast beaches near here, and to horse riding facilities. It's signposted from State Highway 16. This section has not been upgraded for more than a year, it's a well-used road, and is getting to a stage where it's unsafe to drive at anything much faster than walking pace. I don't know and I have emailed RDC find out whether road maintenance is the responsibility of Rodney District Council or of Carter Holt Harvey.

(061226 Boxing Day 2006 still no reply from Rodney District Council.)

A little history. The forest was originally planted as part of a conservation and soil stabilisation project to prevent west coast sand dunes from overtaking farmland and even the main railway line north, in the Kaipara Valley. First, marram grass, imported from France, and lupin were planted to stabilise the sand and provide some basic nitrogen. Between 1934 and 1951 the Ministry of Works established a tree nursery and experimented with a variety of tree types, exotic and native. By 1951, 3400 acres had been planted by hand. Much experimentation was undertaken to determine the most suitable species, and the commercial potential of the forest was becoming apparent.

The New Zealand Forest Service took over, under the management of Allan Restall, for whom Restall Rd, the principal road into Woodhill Forest was later named. When he first arrived, he saw 30 men with spades in bare sand dunes, planting Marram Grass.  128 acres were being reclaimed each year and Restall worked out that at that rate of progress it would take close to 300 years to plant the remaining 30,000 acres.

Operations stepped up considerably with mechanisation and the ready availability of war surplus equipment.  Bren gun carriers, trucks, etc, that were developed for the war in the desert were ideally suited for the sandy conditions at Woodhill.  In 1953, a machine was developed that was able to plant seven acres per day.  Later they made one capable of planting three rows at a time and 25 acres per day and so the annual planting increased to 1500 acres.

Over the next five years Mr Restall and his staff of around 50 set about improving every aspect of Woodhill Forest life.  Each year saw new roads being formed , which meant quick access to danger points in case of fire, and faster transport within the forest. Clay was mixed with the sand to provide a base for a gravel surface. Water was piped to large concrete storage tanks throughout the forest.  

Regular tending of trees, pruning and thinning resulted in a forest worthy of praise from many outside groups wishing to visit the forest.  By 1955 some of the earliest planting had already produced millable timber for use by the foresters for building etc. On show was a mechanical Lowther tree planting machine which was pulled by a bulldozer allowing two men to plant 5,000 young trees daily.  Woodhill staff were given credit for efficiency in all their tasks.

The road into the new headquarters was formed with some of the clay dug out from a local school swimming pool.

In 1965, Allan Restall moved from Woodhill to work in Malaysia.  During the period 1961 – 1965 the forest work became mainly routine.  The bulk of the reclamation work had been covered. Marram planting was supplemented by fertiliser for the first time, and lupins continued to be used as nitrogen fixers.  Rabbits were baited with poisoned carrots at intervals among the young trees.

Restall was replaced by Bill Drower at the end of 1965. Otakanini Topu on the coast midway between Woodhill and Kaipara South Head was not initially planted but retained by its Maori owners, though eventually a deal was struck so that both the Forestry Service and Maori owners would benefit economically. The yearly output of timber increased, making the transformation of the barren sandhills to productive forest a national asset instead of a liability. DOC established several native bush conservancy areas, and large areas of the forest were made available for recreational purposes - horse riding, orienteering, walking, 4WD, mountain-biking, picnic spots, quadbike adventure tours, motocross, hunting, and so forth.

Local Lions groups organised chainsaw days on cutover forest land to provide firewood for local old people.

In 1987, Rogernomics asset sale policy saw the Forestry Service turned into "Timberlands". In 1990, Carter Holt Harvey bought the harvesting rights to Woodhill. The Crown continued to own the land, and CHH now owned the trees. Part of the purchase deal by Carter Holt Harvey was that they would continue to keep parts of the forest open and easily accessible to the public so that the recreational activities could continue.

CHH also undertook,voluntarily, to co-sponsor Project Crimson, a campaign directed at preserving and replenishing the diminishing national population of rata and pohutukawa.

About a month ago, following CHH's purchase by Graeme Hart, CHH announced that it was withdrawing from further sponsorship of Project Crimson. The Project Crimson signs are still there, however, and on present performance, will likely remain until they too fall victim to the creeping decay of CHH maintenance policies.

Over the last several years I have watched these recreational facilities progressively diminish, in scope and quality. The gate giving access via Selwyn Rd to a picnic area and lookout has been shut for the last couple of years, providing access only to keyholders and the ranger occupying the neighbouring house. The Kaipara lookout point off Rimmers has been closed to the public and a large combination ditch/embankment erected across the former access.

Elsewhere, signs warning of danger from harvesting operations have peeling paint and on the surrounding tree trimmings there is not a pine needle that hasn't been brown for a long time. If signs are disregarded it is small wonder.

Further along a kilometre or two, some green trimmings indicate work has been more recent, and a little further along there seems to be work in progress. There is however, no moving machinery or logs to be seen, no high level noise.

Visitors' area? How did I miss that? Maybe there's someone in that caravan having smoko.

Maybe not. Uneven surface? Possibly...

Over at Woodhill itself, some 2 months after I spoke with the CHH recreational officer and was told harvesting had finished in the area, signs prohibiting access are still there.

Now the last big crop of workplace safety legislation that came through changed the nature of liability considerably, so that CHH became liable, for example if an inexperienced chainsaw operator, on a Lions firewood gathering exercise, damaged himself. (Farmers, too, became liable for anything on their farms which might cause harm to casual passers through, unacquainted with possible dangers.) Tempting to just put up the No Trespassing signs, and in the case of the Lions gathering firewood, and on many farms, that has happened, and possibly that's understandable.

So warning signs and closed access it has to be.

But in fact, if there's any hazardous forestry activity going on, you're going to hear it and see it long before you're in harm's way. And for the Keep Out and Danger signs to be there 2 months after everybody's gone home just creates a massive credibility gap.

And for the road signs to be still lying on the ground months later is sheer apathy.

In fact, to be crude, the area is becoming increasingly like a large unwiped bum as the legacy of the Forest Service is destroyed or decays in the wake of CHH management practices or lack of them.

I remarked last year after a trip up to Waionui that while considerable effort had once gone into track construction, and drainage to prevent washouts, nothing at all appeared to have gone into maintenance

A recent expedition up beyond Dargaville a bit produced the same ambience of neglect and decay

Project Crimson Loses Sponsor

26.09.2006 (Northern Advocate)

By Glen Prentice

New Zealand's richest man has pulled the plug on sponsorship for a project to save the pohutukawa, a decision the Department of Conservation says could have huge implications for Northland.

The Project Crimson Trust has been funding schemes to boost pohutukawa and rata numbers throughout New Zealand since 1990, sponsored by forestry company Carter Holt Harvey. The project was set up after a survey revealed large chunks of coastal pohutukawa had been destroyed by possums, fires and farming _ with Northland one of the worst affected regions. The trust has helped to significantly boost tree numbers in depleted areas.

But after Carter Holt Harvey was taken over by billionaire Graeme Hart, the company decided to end its 16-year sponsorship. Despite that, Project Crimson Trust director Bridget Abernethy said it would be business as usual. She was confident a new sponsor would be found before the end of the year. ``There is no risk at all to any of the projects that we fund throughout the country,'' Ms Abernethy said. ``Project Crimson is in very good heart.''

She said Carter Holt Harvey had indicated it would support the trust until a new sponsor was found. DOC community relations officer Lynnie Gibson said the trust funded 300 new trees a year in the Whangarei District alone. ``It's been hugely important for the whole of the region,'' she said. Apart from funding DOC's regeneration schemes the trust also provided seedlings to the public. ``It would be a huge loss if we can't get another sponsor.''

Ms Gibson was critical of Carter Holt Harvey's decision, saying its sponsorship had been innovative and an example of big business giving something back to the community. ``This seems to be very narrow-minded thinking. It was one of those projects which was turning the coast red again.''

The company is refusing to comment.

Ms Gibson said despite the good work to date, a lot of coastline still needed replanting. Carter Holt Harvey's decision did not affect the Whangarei District Council's planting programme, which receives funding from the Marsden Point oil refinery and is supported by the Whangarei Native Forest and Bird Protection Society.

Society member Marge Maddren said she hoped another sponsor could be found quickly. ``If money doesn't come that way I suppose it's got to come from our rates if it is to continue,'' she said.

However, she said Carter Holt Harvey had given generous support over the years. ``Perhaps he (Graeme Hart) thinks he has done his bit,'' she said.

Ironically _ despite all the efforts to replant pohutukawa on Northland's coast _ there is no protection for the trees on private land, which can be cut down at will. The Whangarei District Council has proposed changing its District Plan to protect coastal pohutukawa taller than 6m or with a girth of more than 1.5m. The proposal will go out for public submission in the next few months. In April an Urquhart's Bay landowner felled a pair of pohutukawa, one of which was thought to to be more than 200 years old.