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Speaker 1: So we got the directors of a company called Semnik

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Speaker 1: Forestry Management. They've in tip of the courts to clean

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Speaker 1: up debris on their operations. It's the old slash thing.

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Speaker 1: They claim the cost would bankrupt them, so they're appealing

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Speaker 1: this now. Elizabeth hag is the New Zealand Forest Owners

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Speaker 1: Association boss and is with us. Elizabeth, morning to.

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Speaker 2: You, Good morning, Michael.

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Speaker 1: Is this a wider issue? Is this a specific case?

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Speaker 1: I mean, slash is not new, is it.

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Speaker 2: No, it's not new, and it's a Gibsbon issue specifically.

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Speaker 2: Around the rest of the country, we've got plenty of

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Speaker 2: places where it's a lot easier to control flash. But

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Speaker 2: it's a function in Gisbon of the topography and of

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Speaker 2: the increasing storm damage that we've seen in the region.

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Speaker 2: That it's a particular issue and something we're working through

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Speaker 2: with the council there.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So part of the argument is, of course that

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Speaker 1: the forests say it's the person who owns the land's job.

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Speaker 1: That's why we're in court. Are these things not understood

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Speaker 1: before you enter into the contract?

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Speaker 2: I think pulling out wider than this specific case, because

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Speaker 2: there's a lot of different arrangements you can have in

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Speaker 2: terms of forestry ownership. What we're really focused on is

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Speaker 2: how do we get engineering and land controls in place

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Speaker 2: so we can minimize any anything going outside of the forest.

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Speaker 2: Wood ending up in waterways is a bad outcome for

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Speaker 2: everybody involved. Obviously, that'll be folks investment that's going in there,

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Speaker 2: and it's not sustainable from an environmental perspective. So we're

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Speaker 2: really focused on how do we prevent this from happening.

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Speaker 2: If it does happen and we need to work with

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Speaker 2: counsel to remediate it, then we just need to make

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Speaker 2: sure that we've got workable conditions and that council and

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Speaker 2: the judiciary understand what's actually feasible in terms of how

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Speaker 2: we can then go about cleaning it up.

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Speaker 1: And people don't understand that going in I mean, is

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Speaker 1: this an operational thing from the forest management company's point

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Speaker 1: of view? In other words, the way you conduct business

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Speaker 1: may or may not lead to problems or is it

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Speaker 1: not as simple as that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it can be as simple as that, And

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Speaker 2: that's something we're working through as well. Is are there

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Speaker 2: practice changes that we need to make And that's something

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Speaker 2: we work on as an association. Is you know with

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Speaker 2: these increasing intensity of storm events, what does good look

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Speaker 2: like for forestry practice? So it can be a combination

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Speaker 2: of how people are managing it, but also if you've

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Speaker 2: had a really intense storm, it's about making sure that

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Speaker 2: you know the expectations that folks have for cleanup are realistic,

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Speaker 2: because you know, if every pine cone that's rolled down

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Speaker 2: the hill is expected to be picked up, even from

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Speaker 2: a health and safety perspective, we're not going to be

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Speaker 2: able to action to that level.

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Speaker 1: Well, the courts sort this out, do you think to

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Speaker 1: everyone satisfaction or are you going to have to do

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Speaker 1: something different about this?

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Speaker 2: Well, in the broad sense, I would like to think

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Speaker 2: that the court's council and the forestry companies can all

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Speaker 2: work together so that we get a good outcome for

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Speaker 2: the community. I think Gisbon is it's a particularly tricky

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Speaker 2: place to do forestry, and we're committed to supporting the

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Speaker 2: local foresters there to try and get the best outcomes.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff, Elizabeth, appreciate your time, Doctor Elizabeth Hayko's the

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Speaker 1: New Zealand Forest Awders Association boss. For more from the

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Speaker 1: My Asking Breakfast listen live to news talks. It'd be

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