Forests, with their complex networks of relations among different life forms, have their own life histories, often intimately entangled with the lives of people. In Māori philosophy, the whakapapa or kin networks that trace the exchanges among land, forests, rivers, the atmosphere, the sea and human beings echo the patterns of these living systems. Around the world, richly diverse old growth forests have been felled for industrial uses and replaced by monocultures—pasture or tree plantations, for instance. This chapter explores the history of industrial forestry in Aotearoa New Zealand, underpinned by colonial ideas of ‘property,’ ‘progress’ and ‘profit’. While industrial forestry has caused environmental harm in many parts of New Zealand, the impacts have been particularly severe in Tairāwhiti, the east coast of the North Island, which has some of the most erodible land in the world. In this article, we examine these dynamics, including the devastation caused by logs, fallen trees, forestry waste and sediment mobilised during Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, the response initiated by Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti, a Māori-led community group, and a visionary programme, ‘Recloaking Papatūānuku’ that seeks to heal ravaged landscapes with indigenous afforestation.