The Coast has been battered for years by decisions made by those who don’t live there and don’t have any connection to the place. It started early.’

Based on his investigative Newsroom series, Aaron Smale’s Tairāwhiti: Pine, Profit and the Cyclone goes deep into the region’s struggle with colonial legacies and environmental mismanagement.

Through personal stories, interviews and critical analysis, Smale uncovers the multifaceted impacts of pine plantations, land confiscation and climate events of increasing severity on a landscape and its people.

Text #109

What are BWB Texts?

BWB Texts are short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers. Spanning contemporary issues, history and memoir, new BWB Texts are released regularly, and the series now amounts to well over fifty works.

Comment

'A very punchy and timely contribution to the current debates on the future of East Coast forestry, and what sustainable land uses could in part, replace it.'
Harry Broad, RNZ Nine to Noon, October 2024.

Media

'Tairāwhiti: Pine, Profit and the Cyclone,' Saturday Morning, RNZ, 2 November 2024.

'Book review: Tairāwhiti:Pine, Profit and the Cyclone,' Harry Broad, RNZ Nine to Noon, 3 October 2024. 

'An obligation in Tairāwhiti,' Aaron Smale, Newsroom, 23 September 2024.

'Paying the price of pine,' Aaron Smale, E-Tangata, 15 September 2024.

'Aaron Smale: The need to know,' Dale Husband and Aaron Smale, 15 September 2024.

'The Hoon around the week to August 30,' Bernard Hickey, Peter Bale and Aaron Smale, 30 August 2024.