TALL TIMBER

A man of action

StoryStory: Hayley Leibowitz

“F ORESTRY IS NOT JUST ABOUT BURLY men and women wielding chainsaws and driving big yellow machines. It’s an industry that provides scope for a broader range of involvement than most others, with opportunities in a wide range of disciplines from technology to biotechnology, business, finance, and people, land and environmental management,” says Russell

Dale. And he ought to know. Recently retired from both the Forest Owners Association (FOA) and Forest Growers Research (FGR), his career in forestry spans close to five decades and a world of knowledge. Looking back, he has no shortage of notches in his belt. His involvement in the

Forestry Corporation of New Zealand led to the resolution of long-term supply contracts and the sale of the business, with “an exceedingly good return for the Crown”. He is proud of his role in building “a high performing and successful forestry and wood processing company”. Then there was the establishment of a new forest management company for the Central North Island Forestry Partnership (CNIFP) that enabled receivers to sell and bring in new owners with the right resources and interests, adding value to NZ’s leading strategic forest asset.

And over the years, Russell has never backed away from industry involvement on all levels. “The reorganisation of industry research activities, taking a more strategic approach to R&D investment and helping our research organisations become more focused on industry priorities and delivering outcomes of value,” is just part of the legacy he can be proud of, in not only recommending, but having the opportunity, to implement those changes.

Back to basics

But where did it all begin? In the bush of course. Russell first became interested in forestry through school geography studies and an interest in tramping and the outdoors gained through an active involvement in scouting. This is what he credits with his “early learnings in leadership, self-reliance and being able to look after myself and others in the outdoors”. Growing up in Christchurch, access to mountains and the outdoors was easy. This led to a degree in forestry science at Canterbury University School of Forestry. Though his initial interest was in mountain land management, Russell quickly became aware that there were more opportunities in commercial forestry.

There began a fascinating journey encompassing much of the recent history of the New Zealand forestry industry. His first job was during the school holidays pruning trees at

Bottle Lake Forest on the edge of Christchurch. Then he secured a four-year cadetship with New Zealand Forest Service (NZFS) to train as a forester. After graduation Russell was posted to the King Country, spending time at Pureora and Te Kuiti working on a range of indigenous forest management projects including conversion of indigenous cutover to exotics. This also involved introducing riparian margins in indigenous harvesting areas and working with Forest Research Institute scientists to set aside scientific reserves to protect podocarp forests.

He also worked on the introduction of selective logging trials at Pureora, the team’s enthusiasm not dampening even after a TV crew in a helicopter declared “but we can’t see the difference”. Part of Russell’s responsibilities at the time included managing a survey of the Kaimai Ranges to get a better understanding of the impact of browsing animals on the forest and land – this followed a series of devastating floods in the area. “Leading field surveys in the area gave me valuable leadership and people management experience,” he says.

Moving North

His next move was to Auckland Conservancy office in Auckland in 1976 as Environmental forester to look after recreation, Forest Park management and indigenous scientific reserves. A variety of roles followed, more focused on exotic forest management across the Auckland Conservancy (King Country to Aupouri Forest in the North) culminating in being appointed the Assistant Conservator of Forests for Auckland Conservancy. He counts as one of his career wins, playing a leading role in the introduction of grazing into Auckland Conservancy Forests when pampas grass invasions were threatening the viability of the forests. He also led the Forest Service input into a major land use survey in the King Country that followed proposals by NZ Forest Products to afforest large areas of state and private land.

“During this time there was increasing public opposition and antagonism against logging in publicly owned native forest such as Pureora, Whirinaki, Tihoi and Westland,

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1: Russell Dale (centre) working on the 1974/75 Pureora Forest Indigenous

Survey. 2: Russell in 2016 as CEO of Forest Growers

Research. 3: In 2019 with Phil Taylor, Chair of Future

Forests Research and Chair of the Forest

Research Committee. 4: An article from 1976 covering the New

Zealand Walkways Commission, King

Country proposed Tawarau Forest walkway.

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and this resulted in the spotlight shining on the financial performance and efficiency of the Forest Service,” says Russell. “Following the near economic meltdown and in the midst of a divided society (the time of the Springbok tour, anti-nuclear protests and the like) under Muldoon and change of government in the mid-eighties, Government made the decision, as part of sweeping changes, to disband the Forest Service and split its functions. It was spilt between a new Department of Conservation, Ministry of Forestry (policy, forestry encouragement) and a new commercial organisation, NZ Forestry Corporation – with responsibility for all of the exotic commercial forest, timber processing and remaining commercial activities in indigenous forests in Westland and Southland.

“As a result, in 1986/87 a lot of people lost jobs and there were large clearing sales of plant and equipment as the NZ Forestry Corporation adopted an outsourcing business model for all forest operations. It was a difficult time for a lot of people.”

1: At a 2019 Forest Growers Research field visit to Robert Holt Arboretum, Hawkes

Bay with MPI staff, standing next to an impressive E fastigata. 2: Russell (left) in 1995 presenting the

FCNZ Red Stag Rotorua Business Award to Bev and Scott Thompson of Damar

Industries. 3: Russell (centre) in 1995 in his role as

FCNZ General Manager Forest

Resources. 4: Planting selected Californian Coastal

Redwoods in Whakarewarewa Forest in 2013. 5: In 2013 (far left) with the Future

Forests Research Board.

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Corporatisation and privatisation

In 1987 Russell secured a position with the Northern Region of Timberlands, the forest arm of Forestry Corporation, a State Owned Enterprise, as Business and Planning Manager. This covered most of the North Island except the Central North Island. His role was to help develop a viable regional business unit from a group of former Forest Service forestry assets.

“After two years of negotiations with Government over the value of the forestry assets to be purchased by Forestry Corporation – procedures for valuing commercial forests of this scale did not exist at the time – Government decided to establish their commercial value by selling the forest assets, through an international tender process, at the end of 1989 to private investors that included Ernslaw One, Carter Holt, Fletcher Challenge, Rayonier and Juken,” says Russell.

The Central North Island forests –Kaingaroa, Whakarewarewa and Rotoehu – could not be sold due to issues with long-term log sales contracts with Fletcher Challenge, he explains. A new State-Owned Enterprise was formed, Forestry Corporation of New Zealand, incorporating these forests along with the Waipa sawmill, with its head office in Rotorua. Russell was appointed General Manager Planning and Resources and moved from Auckland at the end of 1990 to take on this role, with his family following in early 1991.

“The objective was to establish a successful, high performing, forestry and wood processing business, get the long-term supply contracts with Fletcher Challenge onto fully commercial terms and prepare the business for sale,” he says.

“After a long, expensive and at times bitter arbitration process, the log prices paid by Fletcher Challenge for sawlog and pulplog supply were moved to more commercial rates, a significant back payment was made by Fletcher Challenge and the way was cleared for a sale of Forestry Corporation along with associated long-term sale contract commitments.”

At the conclusion of a 12-month international tender process the business was sold at the end of 1996 to a consortium of Fletcher Challenge, Brierley Investments and CITIC (a Chinese government-owned investment company) for some $2.2 billion (Forestry Corporation paid the government $1.2 billion in 1991).

Following the sale, Russell was appointed General Manager Forest Resources for Fletcher Challenge Forests, based in Rotorua, responsible for merging the forest operations of Forestry Corporation (180,000ha) with those of Fletcher Challenge (130,000 ha) into an integrated forestry business comprising over 300,000 hectares.

New challenges

“After a restructure and a move towards a more centralised structure, I left in 1998 and was appointed as Regional Manager for Carter Holt Harvey Forests Central region based in Tokoroa. Major challenges in this role were rearranging forest growing contract arrangements, working on a cultural change process and managing harvesting and log supply contracts to improve efficiency and value recovery,” says Russell.

“By 2002 the Central North Island consortium was in financial trouble and receivers were appointed.

“Carter Holt Harvey Forests showed interest in both acquiring and managing the forest for equity investors but eventually withdrew. They continued to provide advice to the receivers who were keen to establish their own management company and remove Fletcher Challenge from the management role,” he adds.

“I assisted with this and in early 2003 was appointed as Chief Executive of the management company to establish and take over the management of the business from Fletcher Challenge Forests. This was successfully achieved and in late 2003 the forest assets were sold by the receiver to the Harvard University Endowment Fund for $1.2 billion – a billion dollars less than what the consortium had paid three years earlier.”

In late 2005, Russell left Timberlands and spent three years on a range of consulting tasks in Australia and New Zealand, including looking at how the New Zealand Forest Growers could reorganise their research arrangements to put industry more in the driving seat and ensure better outcomes from research for forest owners.

“In 2008 a new company, Future Forests Research, later becoming Forest Growers Research, was formed and I was appointed as Chief Executive and Research Manager for the Forest Owners Association from 2014, a role I held until I retired at the end of 2020. The role involved identifying industry research needs and priorities, securing funding from Government and industry sources, including the Forest Growers Levy Trust, partnering with research organisations to undertake the research and, importantly, communicating the outcome of the research to end users across Government and industry.”

With a wealth of experience behind him, it’s no surprise then that Russell was recognised by the New Zealand Institute of Forestry as Forester of the Year in 2010 and was awarded the Institute’s top award, the Kirk Horn Award, in 2018.

Not all plain sailing

Of course, despite all his achievements, it’s not all been plain sailing. There have been the practical challenges of business like “being in the position of implementing changes or initiatives that you don’t personally agree with” but ultimately for Russell, it comes down to people: “Being involved in downsizing and restructuring due to market downturns or business changes that lead to people losing jobs or

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1: Russell at Parliament in 2019 for the Primary Growth Partnership presentation. 2: At the New Zealand Embassy in Beijing with the High Commissioner. 3: Breakfast in Chongqing en route to

Beijing as part of the Minister of Forests China visit in 2018. From left: Lees

Seymour, Peter Weir, Robert Green,

Phil Taylor and Russell Dale. 4: At Wingspan Trust with a native falcon – karearea – as part of an FOA group visit in 2018. 5: Taking the NZIF New Zealand Forester of the Year award in 2010. 6: At the Future Forests Research annual conference in Napier.

having to relocate is always the hard part of management.” Some of these changes impacted him personally but he always landed on his feet, “fortunate in being able to secure new opportunities and roles”.

Another difficult aspect for him over the years has been dealing with serious accidents and four fatalities in forest operations that he oversaw – one drugrelated felling accident and three road accidents. Then there was a serious fire that resulted in the loss of 250 hectares of forest.

Still, it’s Russell’s resilience and ethical approach that have always carried him through. “I have a high standard of personal integrity and respect for others, being open and honest with people and accepting that as a manager or boss you don’t have a monopoly on good ideas or what is right. I believe in being fair and seeking winwin outcomes to problems or disputes. Essentially, I believe you should lead by example and deal with people how you would want to be dealt with.”

He’s certainly done that, being involved in an impressive list of industry organisations over the years, including as: Forest Owners Association Executive and Committee Chair, Forest Technology Board member, Chair of Biotech Company GEENZ for a period, STIMBR (methyl bromide) board member, FGR CEO, National R&D manager for FOA, NZ Institute of Forestry Chair of the Fellows Committee as well as on the Institute’s Council, and on numerous forest research advisory boards and steering committees – ranging from biotechnology to forest management, forest protection to harvesting and supply chain management. Community input has also been important, chairing school Board of Trustees and as President of the Rotary Club of Rotorua.

And in his various roles, along with upheaval, Russell has seen plenty of change over the years, not least of which has been the introduction of technology in all aspects of forest management, administration, forest protection, resource assessment and harvesting equipment and trucking.

“There are a lot less people involved now, due to technology and mechanisation – in harvesting especially, less so in forest establishment and silviculture. A growing focus over the years has been on health and safety and environmental performance. In 2010 FGR started a new harvesting research programme with the vision of “no worker on the slope, no hand on the chainsaw,” says Russell.

“In 2013 we had a terrible year safetywise and this provided greater incentive to mechanise and get people away from hazardous activities such as tree felling and breaking out. This has led to increased mechanisation and we are seeing the benefit of this in reduced accident rates,” he adds.

Another change he has noted during his career has been the increasing outsourcing of the workforce in all forest and harvesting operations. “At the same time we have seen increased regulatory controls like the Resource Management Act, Health and Safety in Employment Act and National Environmental Standards to name a few.

“It has been interesting to watch the changing role of Government from being heavily and directly involved up until the 90’s, through to exiting with little involvement and interest, through to recently becoming actively supportive and directly involved again,” says Russell.

Forward thinking

As to the big issues facing forestry today, Russell says conflicts over land use, attracting new wood processing investment and a high reliance on a single export

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1: A 2018 Douglas fir XLam evaluation with Minghao Li, Associate Professor, Civil and

Natural Resources Engineering, University Of Canterbury. 2: Skiing in Hakuba, Japan, 2017. 3: Russell completing the 210km round Port Phillip Bay bike ride in Melbourne in 2014.

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market for at least 60% of our log harvest stand out: “The conflict over land use stems from the common view in New Zealand that land not in grass is not in productive use. Recent issues in the East Coast and the Tasman District have resulted in outright hostility towards forestry, particularly in some areas like Wairoa. In addition, people need to change their practices to be more resilient. Our reliance on a single species is viewed as a major issue by society. Of course, the increasingly complex and expensive regulatory costs don’t help. On top of that there’s a relatively low level of investment in R&D in forest growing and almost zero investment in innovation by the wood processing sector. That all needs to be addressed.”

Where then is forestry headed? Russell is clear on that: “Forestry has an incredibly exciting future. Trees can provide raw material for everything that is made from oil. As the world aims for a low carbon future, trees and wood products will play an increasingly important role in a circular bio-based economy.”

To that end, he stresses that forestry is “not just a career for males” and a greater degree of diversity is needed. This starts at school, ensuring maths and sciences are well covered for all, along with “early handson experience wherever possible across a range of activities”.

As to his own future, Russell is looking forward to spending more time with family, friends, his children and grandchildren, “boating and fishing on our lakes, working with Rotary, biking, exploring New Zealand and further afield when COVID permits, catching up on a backlog of home maintenance chores and restoring a 70-year-old Ferguson tractor”.

He says he will continue to be involved in forestry “through the NZIF, our family’s personal forestry investment and some other business interests”.

“Those countries that have a forest resource like New Zealand will increasingly see this as a key strategic asset for their future well-being,” he adds. NZL