Matariki Forests manages commercial forests in the area. Regional Manager for Matariki Forests, Hamish McConnan says he does not know the scale of the economic loss yet, but it will be significant.  

“So the trees are either broken or blown over, so it costs more to harvest them.”  

“We have to get in there and do that as soon as we can because a lot of the trees are broken, and they might start getting rot or fungal attack in them if we leave them too long.  

“And also a lot of the trees are younger than we would normally harvest as well.” 

A full recovery of the damaged forests will take until September next year, because winter is a dangerous season for forestry work, he says.  

“That's probably the main thing for us is keeping everybody safe. So that's the priority.  

“And then we've made a plan around how we're going to approach the winner.  

“We've got some extra crews in for that don't normally work for us or some of our contractors have got some extra people and machinery to help us get on top of it.” 

Locals are also getting stuck in. The pubs and Four Square did not close the day of the winds, and an hour afterwards, the locals were outside recuperating, says East Hurunui Ward Councillor Tom Davies.  

“But being the rural community that it is, no sooner had the winds dropped within an hour, but chainsaws were out, people were out there doing it.” 

One of those locals, Graham Frith, is a keen bike rider and has been helping to clear the tracks. He posts on Facebook telling the community he is going out, and up to 40 people will come and help out. The volunteers have been working alongside DOC, Matariki Forests, and a local maintenance group named the Gardeners. The initial damage was quite bad, Frith says.

“You had a lot of trees down on a lot of the trails. 

“Some of the trails, even two weeks afterwards, when we could actually get into the forest, I was trying to walk them, you know, going under trees, over trees, around trees and then you come back up against the big root stock.  

“There was a huge, big hole in the ground and big roots, you know, three times my height, then there was no trail.  

“So you know, some of the trails have been damaged extensively.” 

However, this has not deterred them from working hard to get the tracks clear. With the busy Christmas season, a bike and running race all taking place by March, the cleanup is well underway.

“In the Heritage Forest two major trails or three trails they're working on this week, and some of them will be open by the end of the week.  

“Others have will take a little bit longer, and on the mountain bike on the north side, there's probably three trails that we haven't been able to start yet because we're just tidying up other, other trails.” 

Firefighter and manager of Hanmer Springs Top 10 Holiday Park, Marty Grounds, says the winds did not damage much at the park because of preemptive cutting and trimming of trees. He spent most of his time comforting guests who were not used to the weather. General recovery is coming along, he says.  

“It's slow, and obviously there's an awful lot of work because there's an awful lot of damage done in the forest, particularly to the mountain bike tracks and the huge trails and the walking tracks.  

“And, you know, there's only a limited amount of resources and people who can do that.” 

Business for the park has returned to normal in the past few weeks, he says.  

“People are still coming and show weekend or Canterbury anniversary weekend was really, really huge, which was fantastic.  

“Of course, Labour weekend directly after the storm was a bit quiet, but you know, within, you know, by the Monday everything was just back to normal numbers, to be fair.” 

“We’ve been pretty lucky.”  

Grounds encourages tourists to come to Hanmer despite the damage. With the tracks being cleared, he thinks business for Hanmer Top 10 will be fine.  

“Look, if they can get the tracks opened, we'll be fine.  

“And people will still make their own fun.  

“There's always the Saint James Cycle trail, and that wasn't affected, and there's an amazing trail over the backcountry.”

There is plenty to do outside of the trails as well, he says. He encourages people to check out the Clarence River, the pools, and other activity businesses in the area. 

There is a large portion of tracks already open, says Councillor Davies.  

“The best mountain bike tracks are open. 

“The bridle paths, some of them are open, and the classic walks of Mount Dumblane, Mount Isabel and Conical Hill are all open, so you know the major attractions are all open and up and running, so we hope that it won't detract too much from people's enjoyment.” 

Appreciation to the locals, maintenance groups, council, DOC and Matariki forests for the immense effort to reopen tracks.