Regional council winds up firewood collection scheme

Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Strategy and Policy Committee has today (3 December 2014) voted to end the Akatarawa Forest firewood collection scheme with immediate effect.

The scheme, which has been in operation for nearly 30 years, was suspended earlier this year pending an assessment of whether it meets appropriate injury prevention standards.

“The forestry industry’s approach to injury prevention has significantly changed over the past 30 years, with much tighter rules now coming into force.
We cannot stand apart from these changes and need to be confident the scheme can operate without undue risk to users.” says Cr Nigel Wilson.

Forest operations are now covered by the Health and Safety in Employment Act and the Approved Code of Practice for Safety and Health in Forest Operations, with which GWRC must comply.

Under the scheme, $50 weekend permits were issued for firewood collection, which involved separating wood from waste timber heaps and cutting it on site before removing it for personal use.

Cutting was undertaken without supervision and often in difficult conditions. Permits included a range of health and safety conditions with which holders were required to comply.

“However, our rangers have observed 17 breaches of permit conditions since 2013, and it’s a wonder that no-one has been injured,” says Cr Wilson. “The regional council must apply the law. We simply don’t have the resources to monitor permit holders and cannot assess individual members of the public’s competency to use a chainsaw. We know that some people will be upset by this decision but we will not continue to run the scheme because it poses a potential threat to life and limb.”

Cr Wilson said that as the scheme was seen by some people as a social service GWRC reviewed whether an alternative scheme could be put in place. However, it found the price that would have to be charged for the safe provision of firewood from a supervised location outside the forest park would be similar to normal market prices for firewood.

GWRC has written to recent users of the scheme to inform them of its closure.

ends

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