Illegal wood chopping along Marlborough’s Wairau River increased as winter temperatures dipped this year — with firewood believed to be the main motivator.
Rangers for the Marlborough District Council have found at least 50 instances of illegal wood chopping between April 1 and July 31. All but one of these were along the Wairau River, usually on the south side.
At an assets and services meeting on Tuesday, Wairau-Awatere ward councillor Scott Adams said it was concerning that it was happening at a similar rate as seen in previous years.
Last year, the rangers reported 61 instances of wood chopping from May 1 to the end of the year. It’s understood the wood chopping was taken for firewood.
Adams said while he knew people were trying to be self-sufficient and self-reliable it had a “dramatic effect” on the area.
“It’s a very hard one to control,” he said.
The committee collectively agreed they needed to communicate with the public about the effect that felling trees could have on the banks along the river, which were important for flood protection.
An information package prepared for the meeting reported there were 17 instances of wood chopping discovered this year prior to April.
“It was expected in April [2024] that with the cooler months on the way, there would be an increase in the cutting down of trees. This has been proven,” the report said.
The rangers patrolled the area daily, according to the report.
Last year, a Marlborough man caught illegally cutting down firewood ended up in a judge-alone trial in the Blenheim District Court after he ignored a Marlborough District Council trespass notice.
The man was found with a “chainsaw and an armful of wood” at the council-owned river protection reserve area, on the bank between State Highway 6 and Giffords Rd, on July 29, 2021.
Two days later he was caught again.
He was found a third time in August that year before he was issued with the trespass order, only to go back seven months later. A council ranger spotted his vehicle while patrolling the reserve.
Andy White, council rivers and drainage engineering manager, told the court that the trees along the banks of the river were an “integral part of the flood protection system” that helped to protect Blenheim and the surrounding area in flood events.
The man was sentenced to 80 hours’ community work, although not before arguing with the judge over whether he had the right to keep cutting firewood from the banks of the Wairau River after two decades of doing so.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
