The forestry industry has hit out at the regional council in the Hawke's Bay over riverside plantings, which it says contributed to the damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is expected to announce an inquiry into forestry slash issues on Thursday. An inquiry hoped to be completed within two months.
Meanwhile, the union that represents forestry workers is meeting with the Ministry of Social Development on Thursday morning to discuss support for 500 employees who can't work because blocks are inaccessible or unstable.
Forest Owners Association president Grant Dodson told AM on Thursday the industry supports the inquiry but says the Hawke's Bay Regional Council needs to be looked at for its riverside plantings.
"If you look at a lot of those Hawke's Bay rivers, these a significant area of willows that go some 30km upstream. Now, I know that a huge amount of those have been ripped out and that's contributed to the issue," Dodson told AM co-host Melissa Chan-Green.
"Climate change and the cyclone bares the responsibility here because those plantings, just like the forestry plantings were put in, in good faith and they've been destroyed by the cyclone. Just like the farmland has been destroyed and the roads and the power and phone and everything else."
Dodson accepts damage has been caused by forestry slash by not only Cyclone Gabrielle but also Cyclone Hale.
"What I would say is the forest industry doesn't want to be losing its soil, its trees or its slash off-site any more than the orchard wants to lose its trees or the farmland wants to lose its soil," he said.
"We've been impacted just like everybody else, and we want solutions going forward."
The forestry industry has come under fire recently after extensive damage was caused during the cyclone by slash in the floodwaters.
Large planks and other tree debris have been pushed down bloated rivers in the region and seen slash covering beaches. Last month, a 12-year-old boy died when he was injured by a floating log.
Dodson said forestry companies are currently contributing to the cost of the rebuild but also added the industry is hurting just like everyone else.
"Everyone's pitching in that is happening, but when it comes to getting back to run-of-the-mill forestry work, you've had significant damage to processing plants, you've had significant damage to roads, forestry can't be accessed and there is some major slipping, which we've all seen on TV, which is going to take a while to get that fixed," he said.
Dodson told AM forestry companies have been trying to fix the slash problem before the cyclone but the wild weather has made it challenging.
"One of the major forestry companies in Hawke's Bay logged a large area close to a waterway. They moved the slash in that harvesting process a couple of years ago, well away from the waterway. That was inspected by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council. The council was very impressed," he explained.
"The cyclone filled the whole valley full of water and took everything anyway. So there's only so much resilience you can build into the system. We know we've got really weak soil types, particularly in the Tairāwhiti region and you have to remember forestry was planted there to stabilise the land because farming wasn't a stable land use."
ACT Party leader David Seymour and Green's MP Chlöe Swarbrick both told AM later on Thursday they agree with the inquiry.
Seymour said a conversation is needed to make sure the right outcome is reached and everyone gets a full understanding of the issues.
"What I'm saying to you is, yes, we hear that frustration. I understand the damage it's done, but that's actually the reason to work harder on getting a rational response, understanding why it happened, what happened and really, if you care about those people, then you want the maximum level of understanding," Seymour said.
Watch the full interview with Grant Dodson above.
