SILVICULTURE

BACK TO THE FUTURE OF THINNING

Story: William Grogan and Neil Woods, Aratu Forests

WHEN WILLIAM GROGAN, ARATU

Forests’ Manager – Tree Crop, first pitched the idea of an in-house thinning crew to senior management, the initial response was one of skepticism and fear. CEO, Neil Woods, and the board had a few questions; • Why do no other corporates do this? • How will we manage health and safety? • How will we maintain production tension? • Without more staff how will we fit all the admin in that the contractor currently does?

It was generally thought that rolling the clock back 40 years to the Forest Service days was a risky strategy. In essence this is exactly what Aratu Forests Limited (AFL) has done; by bringing the crew in-house, providing them with a salary, and a vehicle and equipment they have turned back the clock and taken the ‘old-school’ approach to operations in the forestry industry, but with modern-day systems, management approach and technology.

The Aratu thinning crew was established as a trial in November 2021 from staff within one of Aratu’s existing contract crews when the Principal decided to hang up his saw. After a six-month trial, the crew had surpassed all expectations, allayed senior management and the Board’s concerns, and was made permanent with approval to increase it from four to eight people. Adrian Whiting (crew foreman) and Mark Grayson took the brave leap to commence working for a corporate on a salary in November 2021 and were the first two members of the crew. They liked the arrangement so much that by February 2022 they had managed to recruit two more crew members, Willy Henderson and Mark Hunia.

Like many other forest owners, Aratu has stopped pruning in recent years and now runs an unpruned structural regime. This regime is simple and requires a thinning at ages 8-10 years reducing stocking from 1000sph to 500sph. Thinning is undertaken on around 1200 hectares per year in Aratu’s estate to ‘open the area up’ to sunlight so the dominant trees may continue to grow and put on volume, and trees that are smaller and of poorer form are removed to reduce competition.

Right: The AFL thinning crew, from left: Reece Spooner (AFL Silviculture Coordinator), Mark Hunia, Mark Grayson, Willy Henderson, Adrian Whiting (Foreman) and Willy Grogan (AFL Manager – Tree Crop).

A recently thinned block, showing even spacing and great form of the crop.

“Timing of the thinning is very important. If the thinning is too early the crop runs the risk of producing large branches, decreasing the value of the final crop by reducing the volume of high quality small-branched saw logs. If the thinning is too late (average height >16m), the crop runs the risk of toppling (windthrow) as the trees become increasingly vulnerable to windthrow the larger they get,” explains William.

How it works

The crew are permanent employees of Aratu. “Essentially, Aratu Forests runs the crew similarly to a contractor, but there is now one less step (i.e., contractor interaction) when it comes to negotiating or communications,” says William.

Adrian Whiting deals with the day-to-day running of the crew and AFL management/ supervisors schedule and oversee the operation, providing up to date plans and working through the forward planning

Above: Adrian Whiting putting his scarf in on a pre-trimmed tree. He is attempting to put the tree through the gap beyond where he is standing. Right: Willy Henderson making his scarf cut on a tree he intends to fell into the gap in front of him.

with Adrian. All Health & Safety and documentation is the same as is required for a contract operation.

“A lot of work was put in by AFL to create a Health & Safety Management system for an operation of this nature, as previously this was provided by the contractor,” William adds.

He says together the crew brings more than 130 years of silviculture and thinning experience to Aratu, which is important given the size of trees being felled (mean crop height 14 metres), and very steep terrain involved. The crew has worked together for many years within the estate and throughout forests within the East Coast region.

“The experience, leadership, consistency, and positive manner of the thinners creates an autonomous crew, that requires minimal supervision and management. This makes pre-planning and scheduling of the thinning programme straightforward and simple. With experience also comes quality, and since the crew’s inception they have not recorded a single rework or required any corrective action for quality or safety. They take great pride in their work and always strive to achieve outstanding results,” he says.

Incentivised production

Aratu pays the thinners an annual salary regardless of whether they go to work or not. For example, if the weather doesn’t allow the crew to work safely or comfortably then they will either be offered alternative work, or they will stand down for the day and receive payment.

“This provides stability of income for the thinners and doesn’t push them to go to work when the conditions do not allow for safe and productive working conditions,” says Neil.

The crew’s remuneration also includes a production-based incentive scheme. At the start of the block, William’s team, will agree on a fair target with Adrian in the same way they do with a contract crew, based on modelled predictions and an inspection of the site by Aratu’s supervisor in charge of the crew and Adrian. If the crew achieves target, they will receive a bonus for each day they have worked; this will increase if they exceed target.

Neil explains: “The incentive provides a drive for more production, but the payment does not push the thinners to always achieve target. For example, if a crew member is ‘not feeling up to it’ they can take it easy and work the easier areas at lower production, but still receive their salary. We feel this is a step in the right direction, ensuring they are not pushing production to achieve their desired outcomes at the expense of safety or quality outcomes.”

The model combined with the quality of the team has resulted in a highly motivated crew who have consistently exceeded production and quality expectations, he says. On average the crew is thinning more than 0.5ha per day and at times, depending on stand characteristics, they are thinning over 0.65ha per day. Since the crew’s inception, they have received a bonus for every block and continue to exceed expectations of targets daily.

Safety-driven culture

The most important part of this team is their responsible management of risks on site and their willingness to engage in Health & Safety, says William. “Adrian fills in the required documents to a high standard and the crew works methodically and has a very safe working environment. An external training provider audits the crew at least every two months. The audit is in-depth and lasts in excess of three hours, covering

The crew’s setup on site prior to commencing work down the hill.

A recently thinned block showing the form and spacing of the crop.

tree selection and felling technique, stump quality, gear, and PPE.”

The crew scores consistently >95% on the external audits and some crew members have recorded in excess of three 100% audits. These high-scoring audits are “testament to their unwavering positivity, experience, and professionalism” when it comes to tree felling and thinning, he says.

“Although the crew is very productive and safety driven, they continue to produce a high standard of work. Adrian and the team have thinned a total of 314ha since the trial inception, an average of 32 hectares per month. This is a great achievement considering the disruptions the crew has faced in the 10 months of work. The East Coast region has experienced three one-in -100-year weather events within this period, which disrupted efficient workflows and reduced the crew time on site. Aratu tries to

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have a series of windy weather jobs to fill in their time on those days, but if there aren’t any the crew doesn’t work,” William says.

Adrian sums up the experience from his and the crew’s perspective: “Working as a direct employee for Aratu Forests as a thinning crew has brought about a different outlook on what we do out on the workface and internally with what the company strives to achieve. Having that direct connection within the company gives a better understanding of how and why things are done the way they are.

“Although very much the same as working for a contractor, being an employee of Aratu Forests as a thinning crew has brought about job security with the benefits of being company employees which has made work life better. I have yet to hear any complaints from within the crew about working for AFL… so that pretty much sums it up.”

Forward thinking

Neil adds: “Aratu has learnt a lot from this process, with the most important being an up-to-date understanding of the factors involved in running a thinning crew from both the crew member and ‘contractor’ side. We are able to understand what the crew wants and what works best for them but also benchmark the economics of crew operations. The crew members themselves are the overarching key to success for this initiative; they are always willing to help and constantly exceed expectations, whether it be Health & Safety-based, quality-based, or production-based.”

The future of the operation is to expand it slightly to eight people, running two vehicles and sharing a gear trailer. Aratu sees this structure as being ideal to provide training for new cutters who can then potentially go on to work in other crews within the company as skilled and ticketed operators.

Neil says that at this stage there is no intention to expand this in-house model to other contract functions, but nothing is off the table forever. NZL

Top: Willy Henderson in action, putting in his back cut on a tree. Middle: Adrian Whiting putting in his back cut on a tree.

Bottom: Adrian Whiting observing the tree as it falls.