28 minute read
FOREST TALK
by nzlogger
Drop the politics
MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE OF FORESTRY
in climate change may rob New Zealand of one of the few remedies available, says New Zealand Farm Forestry President, Graham West. He adds that “misuse of information that’s building alarm and public hysteria around forestry is not helpful”.
This comes on the back of a Beef + Lamb NZ and Federated Farmers statement on recent results of an opinion survey on forestry offset.
“Picking selective facts from surveys they commissioned is building a narrative that suits their political purposes and deflects from the real issues,” says Mr West. “Asking those surveyed whether they support a limit on forestry offsets to mitigate fossil fuel emissions or whether there is concern around the conversion of farms to forests to meet climate change, addresses only a part of the issue. Both avoid the obvious question, ‘What alternatives do you prefer?’. A more relevant question might be, ‘What global temperature increase is acceptable before we start using land use change as a method of cooling the planet?’.”
Beef + Lamb NZ also released an update on whole farms sold to forestry interests. They reported that in 2021 a total 52,000 ha was sold.
“They ignore that 2,292 was to Manuka interests, and only 19,717 was for carbon forestry. They simply use a total from the
bottom of the table. Importantly for the public to receive total disclosure, Beef + Lamb NZ fail to give the numbers context. The total of whole farms sold to forestry interests that year was less than 0.5% of the area in pastoral farming. Far from “ripping the guts out of rural communities” the change is less than what a free-market economy would expect anyway. Their report usefully maps where these changes occurred and show it was not concentrated in any district. Instead, they are widely dispersed and occurred in almost every New Zealand Farm region of New Zealand,” says Mr West.Forestry President, “These leaders have also said in radio interviews
Graham West. that farming should not be held responsible for cooling the climate. I don’t see why not. Farming’s contribution to heating the planet is evident in all the emissions reports going back 40-50 years. Farming’s leadership should be addressing the lack of progress in reducing global warming instead of deflecting public awareness on to the issue of a relatively small area being sold to forestry interests. “Current flooding, droughts and windstorms indicate climate change will destroy rural economies at significant scale unless tree crops are used to provide financial and environmental buffering. We need a better-informed debate than this. Let’s drop the politics and deal to the issues – all the primary sector depends on the weather. New Zealand cannot afford climate change.” NZL
Incompetence or theft?
NATIONAL’S FORESTRY SPOKESPERSON, IAN MCKELVIE, SAYS
some foresters could be millions of dollars out of pocket thanks to a poorly communicated change in application deadlines.
“The Ministry of Primary Industries sent an email to foresters announcing that it was moving the effective deadline to register forests for the Emissions Trading Scheme from the last day of the year to 25 October 2022, simply due to long processing times in their office.
“This left forest owners just three working days to submit their applications. Following that date, their applications will not be processed until 2023. This change will prevent some forest owners from claiming five years’ worth of backdated credits to 2018.
“Some forest owners stand to lose millions of dollars as a result of this poorly communicated change. An owner of a large native forest in the South Island claims he will lose $6–$8 million. This is more than just incompetence, it is theft.
“Newly revealed information shows processing times to register a forest in the ETS have more than doubled in the last five years, while staff numbers have also doubled in the same period.
“Foresters should not be punished because of mismanagement and a lack of leadership from Government.
“It is crucial that landowners who planted their native and exotic trees in good faith are treated fairly. It is not good enough that foresters had almost no notice to submit their applications and stand to lose millions, simply because MPI isn’t prepared.
“To maintain confidence in the ETS, the Government must honour the commitment to issue backdated credits for the current return period. The Government should direct MPI to allow forests with backdated credits that apply in 2022 to be registered in the same year.” NZL
EDS “should know better”
ONCE AGAIN THE COMMERCIAL FOREST
industry is having to point out its sciencebased environmental credentials to organisations such as the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) which “should know better”, says President of the Forest Owners Association, Grant Dodson.
This comes after EDS and Pure Advantage joined forces to draft a submission on the review of the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry seeking significant tightening of the rules governing exotic forest management in New Zealand.
“It is well proven that commercial plantations produce better water quality than other commercial land uses, such as farming or urban environments. We are second only to pristine native bush. It is also well known that plantation trees reduce erosion, produce less sediment, store carbon and produce valuable wood for housing and bioenergy,” says Mr Dodson.
He adds that the Environmental Defence Society has failed
to provide any evidence of ‘significant adverse environmental impacts’ ‘in most instances’ from when plantation forests are harvested. “Just look at the effect of the recent storms on the East Coast, where forests held and pasture collapsed on a vast scale. The evidence is there to see in plain sight.” Mr Dodson says the FOA does not represent carbon-only foresters, rather the interests of commercial forests that are to be Forest Owners Association well-managed and will be harvested creating President, Grant Dodson. employment, as well as storing carbon. “The carbon-only foresters can argue their own case to the government. But we do hold concerns that the so-called permanent carbon forests may become a fire and disease risk in an unmanaged state. “There is a need for some rules around carbon-only forests and we are encouraging the government to create a separate National Environmental Standard for this land use. “However the EDS submission is way off the mark about the current regulations for plantation forestry.” NZL
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Challenges ahead for exporters?
POST-PANDEMIC GLOBAL TRADE LOOKS DIFFERENT. BUT HOW
different, and what does that mean for exporters and how they work with this new normal? These were some of the questions raised at Go Global 2022.
Catherine Beard, BusinessNZ Head of Advocacy, says hot topics were new export business models and investing in people, technology and sustainability.
“Go Global 2022 marked the first time in two years that we’ve had exporters from across New Zealand come together like this,” she says.
“Exporters arrived with their own stories to share, including individual experiences throughout recent COVID-19 disruptions.”
The Government’s key message to exporters has been that prevailing headwinds and challenges still lie ahead in 2023 for the shipping and logistics sector, she adds.
“Exporters continue to face compounding issues, both at home and abroad. But it’s not all bad. At Go Global, it was inspiring to hear stories of entrepreneurial Kiwis trading throughout what has been a rough couple of years.”
EMA Chief Executive, Brett O’Riley, says it will continue to work on behalf of its exporting business members to offer more opportunities to share knowledge, as well as practical initiatives to support them.
Metalbird’s Phil Walters was the last speaker of the day, sharing his story and learnings of scaling a hobby selling products at a local farmer’s markets, to manufacturing and exporting internationally. NZL
Rotating freely to save downtime
PONSSE’S NEW HH360 HARVESTER HEAD ROTATOR ALLOWS THE
harvester head to rotate 360° degrees freely without limitations. The hoses stay in a fixed position from crane tip to rotator, all the time. With the harvester head rotating freely there is no worry of unexpected downtime caused by twisted hoses.
“We’ve developed an innovative solution by listening to our customers’ needs. The rotating harvester head speeds up processing wood, makes working easier for the operator and reduces hose failures,” says Janne Loponen, Product Manager for harvester heads.
“Compared to competing products, the rotator is strong, powerful and above all, energy efficient, and Ponsse has exclusive rights to the product in forest machine use,” he says.
The powerful and energy efficient PONSSE HH360 rotator is available for H6, H7, H8, H7 HD, H8 HD, H7 HD Euca, and H8 HD Euca harvester heads when installed as a loose head installation. NZL
“At Southstar they know what they’re talking about when it comes to forestry attachments. The back up is great and their guys listen to what I have to say especially when it comes to any improvements I want to make to fine tune the head.” Rob Lamb – Fast and Hilltop Harvesting
FD750
The FD750 felling head is designed for the toughest environments, for the largest sized stems with an optimum operating size of 5-55” in diameter. This heavy duty directional felling head is packed full of design features that set it apart from the competition.
Wide chassis structure
Wide Chassis Structure for improved structural strength and increased capacity.
Tip grip
Angled tip grips on grapple arms for improved grip when shoveling or picking from a stack, timing link on arms for prefect balance.
Southstar saw system
3/4 pitch South star saw with auto & manual tensioning system ,with 48” saw bar for unmatched capacity.
Main control valve
Main control valve in head requires only three hydraulic and one electrical hose on fit up.
Dual tilt cylinders
Dual high pressure harvester tilt cylinders with halite packing kits.
Saw box footprint
Reduced saw box footprint for minimising stump height on steep ground.
Clean hose through design
Powerscreen Premiertrak 600 in use at the Bay of Plenty.
Stevens Group acquires Lincom NZ
“THE PURCHASE OF THE LINCOM NZ BUSINESS FITS PERFECTLY
with our aspirations to grow our already successful machinery and equipment business into the quarry, mining, and recycling sectors. The two businesses share many synergies,” says Stevens Group General Manager, Ken Johnston.
Effective from 11th November 2022, Stevens Group has purchased Lincom NZ – the New Zealand subsidiary of Lincom Group. With its hand in forestry including roading and wood chippers, the transaction includes all machines and parts stock, and the sales rights to the brands represented by Lincom NZ, including Powerscreen, Terex Washing Systems, Pronar, Anaconda, Rapid International, and Kiverco.
Third-generation family-owned, established in 1974, Mr Johnston adds, “All the Lincom NZ staff coming across to Stevens Group was a key part of the transaction for us because good people are everything. My Team and I are confident that the same timeless three rules that Dad and Grandpa instilled into the business over the past 48 years will help the brands take a fresh burst of energy in the New Zealand market, namely:
You must have parts on the shelf in NZ when you are at the bottom of the world.
You can’t sell from an empty barrow.
Look after the customer and he will look after you”.
Lincom Group Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Watterson, comments, “The acquisition of Lincom NZ by the Stevens Group strengthens their market offering and will position them as the market leader for crushing, screening and materials handling equipment in New Zealand. Both companies share a common vision, and the Stevens Group have some great growth plans ahead. This acquisition is part of their platform to expand into other developed markets.” NZL
Remote worker safety
GUARDIAN ANGEL SAFEY, PROVIDER OF LONE AND REMOTE WORK
solutions in Australasia, has launched the Guardian Angel Portal to enable organisations to be more responsive to the changing safety needs of mobile workers working alone or remotely.
The portal allows customers from forestry to government agencies, finance and environmental organisations to securely view and manage all safety devices, data and planning for workers, in realtime, via an easy-to-use interface. In addition, all device monitoring, vehicle impact, and rollover alerts are delivered to the portal – with an immediate response from Guardian Angel Safety if required.
“Our portal improves connectivity and productivity for people and assets. Customers can securely view and manage all safety devices in real-time in one place, including satellite devices, smartphone apps, cell pendants, vehicle impact and rollover alerts, locationbased services, and APIs,” says Guardian Angel Safety CEO, Petra Håkansson.
“We’ve designed our portal to be flexible so customers can add new devices and solutions any time, regardless of manufacturer, as their safety needs change. In addition, within an organisation, people can be assigned to any monitored devices as required, allowing device sharing among different teams, with an incident response tailored by device and person.
“So, if a change was made via the portal only five minutes ago, with devices moved between people, that’s fine as it’s live. There’s also a complete audit trail to see who changed what and when. We’ve removed a lot of pain for customers and reduced human error potential. Customers no longer have to manually update spreadsheets from device manufacturers and send them to us to make changes.”
The portal also circumvents the emergency number process and links customers to its response software at its graded monitoring stations, with trained operators to speed up the emergency response for mobile workers working alone or remotely, including suddenonset injury or illness, road accidents, vehicle failure, or other emergencies.
Ms Håkansson says long-standing customers such as WorkSafe New Zealand and Suncorp Group in Australia are already using the new portal. She adds that the portal will provide a valuable opportunity to collect industry insights on incidents by collecting anonymised data. NZL
Fuchs Lubricants Managing Director, Allan McFall, completes the refill for chain and bar.
Sustainability in the forest
FUCHS’ DISTRIBUTOR IN NEW ZEALAND, MCFALL FUEL, IS
innovating in New Zealand forests. McFall Fuel doesn’t just manage its lubricant packaging – which used to be a big waste issue for forestry customers – it refills and reuses it.
The fuel distributor runs a fleet of mostly Euro 6 category tanker trucks that recently increased to 80 vehicles after McFall took over the Toll Petroleum transport fleet in Northland. Managing Director, Allan McFall, says Fuchs lubricants are an ideal match to the company’s main fuel business, as vehicles and equipment that use fuel also need lubricants.
Chain and bar oil is distributed in 20-litre containers that can be easily handled in the forest for frequent lubrication of cutting equipment. Chain and bar oil is used in significant quantities, not just on standard manual chainsaws but large tree-processing, felling, and harvesting heads.
“Chain and bar lubricant is a very high-use item for forestry customers. We import that in 20,000-litre bladders and we decant it into 20-litre containers,” explains Mr McFall.
Such is the scale of use that empty 20-litre containers would rapidly pile up into a big headache for forestry companies. McFall Fuel agreed to take back all the empty containers, which was already an added-value service, but there were so many of them Allan quickly realised there had to be something better than sending them to landfill or even for recycling. It was at a school camp, while using a fast commercial dishwasher, that the answer came to him.
“It got me thinking; if we could get industrial versions of these washers we could actually wash those containers and send them back out again. That’s where it all started. We developed a few different ways and means of washing them and ended up with an industrial steam washer that washes the outside of them and gets them all spick and span again.”
The energy savings from avoiding transportation and reprocessing, plus the efficiency gains in a fast reuse cycle, are many times better than recycling the plastics in containers, he says.
“Some of those containers have been round the circle 15 to 20 times, so that’s a lot of containers saved from going to landfill over the years,” says Mr McFall. “It’s quite a process to do it but it’s well worth it as the customers love getting rid of their plastic containers, which are a big problem for them, and we love that we manage to reuse them and send them back out again instead of having to dispose of them.”
He explains that containers that come back but are not able to be reused are sent off to be shredded and are then put into posts by a Napier business.
Any waste oil collected goes to a tomato-growing business for use in its furnaces.
The ecological benefit is not lost on forestry customers, who are increasingly conscious of environmental performance. Mr McFall says he has seen a significant change over the years.
“There have been a lot of technological changes in a number of the lubricants like the engine oil and hydraulics; they have got a lot more advanced and fuel efficient. In terms of chain and bar, operators pay a lot of attention to what goes on them now because efficiency is really important. Back in the old days, it was old cooking oil and old engine oil that they used to chuck on their bars; now it’s a product in its own right, so the technology has moved on a lot.”
Mr McFall worked with Fuchs – the only major oil company to operate development laboratories and blending plants in Australia – to develop a bar and chain oil with the optimum mix of lubrication and tackiness for work in the New Zealand forests. Those qualities of innovation and value have helped cement the position of Fuchs and McFall Fuel as a major supplier to the forestry industry.
“We tried a biodegradable chain bar a few years ago. We haven’t yet quite reached the right price point, but I think that time will come as they are getting more and more conscious all the time of the environmental piece of the puzzle,” he says.
“It’s always a quality/price trade-off for forestry customers. They want quality products but, because they are big users, they are quite price conscious as well, so Fuchs is a good match.” NZL
AFTER MASSIVE COVID DISRUPTIONS,
ForestTECH 2022 was the first in three years to run its New Zealand and Australian series back-to-back. With the latest developments in remote sensing, data capture, forest inventory, tree crop management, forest establishment and mechanised planting in the spotlight, the conference did not disappoint. Developments jump in leaps and bounds each year and the conference left delegates with plenty to muse on.
Of course, one of the technologies that continues to amaze is GPS or GNSS, Global Navigation Satellite System, as it now goes by. Its applications in forestry, are significant, down to the individual tree monitoring level. 4D Global Managing Director, Australia, Peter Terrett, spoke on Innovations in GNSS, highlighting recent advances in satellitebased corrections to assist in field mapping, data capture and activity reporting.
While there have been significant developments for all users – such as integration to internal sensors and ease of use – since the days of receiver technology running on a car battery with only four channels, it’s in forestry applications that advances have been significant.
Being away from infrastructure, in a harsh environment, accuracy and performance depend on: • satellite geometry, • design and quality of the receiver and antenna, • availability of a suitable correction service.
GPS accuracy is no longer hit and miss. With more frequencies and multiconstellations, for forestry Mr Terrett said the four greatest recent advances are: • receiver and antenna design, • GNSS for accurate positioning, • SBAS, the Satellite Based Augmentation
System, and • external device integration.
Besides the obvious advantages of lower cost, better equipment and more features, a big plus is that this technology is no longer just in the realm of surveyors. Non-spatial professionals can easily use the technology for forestry applications.
“It is easy to take high-accuracy location for granted, but it has come a long way in just a few short years,” he adds.
Drones too came into the spotlight. James Rennie, Director at Australian UAV, emphasised that what was experimental 10 years ago is now “business as usual”. Drone use uptake is significant, however, he cautioned users to be careful when adopting new technology and to ask if it is “safer, faster, better and cheaper” than what they are already doing.
From thermal fauna monitoring of Koalas in Australia to ecological restoration, weed spraying and even firefighting, the technology is there, he says, the regulations just need to keep up. NZL
GPS/GNSS has come a long way since the days when it ran on a car battery with only four channels. Here, 4D Global Managing Director, Peter Terrett, is sitting on the antenna box.
Forwarder base units in mechanised planting
WHILE MECHANISED PLANTING MAY BE the latest buzzword, several speakers at ForestTECH pointed out difficulties arising from ground conditions, types of seedlings, erosion, irrigation, slope angle and the like.
Product Manager at Plantma Forestry, AB, Sweden, Christer Larsson, spoke remotely on trials of a new mechanised planting system, Plantma X which uses forwarder base units rather than the traditional excavator.
One of the main features of this system is the ability to do ground preparation and planting in one go. This means there is only one operation to coordinate and no need to wait for ground settling. The adaptable machine allows for flexibility in handling different seedlings and ground conditions, as well as preferences in plant spots and distances between plants.
Consistency and power as well as the easy addition of fertiliser, water and additives open up more options.
He added that spot scarification allows for scarifying only around the seedling, thus reducing erosion risk on slopes.
In perfect conditions, the machine has the capacity to plant a maximum of 3,000 seedlings per hour in continuous planting, with a seedling storage capacity of up to 30 000 depending on the size of the seedlings.
The distance between seedlings, how fast the machine can travel on the terrain while preparing the ground, and the size and shape of the area all impact productivity, said Mr Larsson.
Data collection provides information on planting spots, the operator, tree species and the like for later analysis and the trials demonstrated that the Plantma X handles slopes with ease, he added. NZL
Mobile laser scanning for pruned stem detection
JAMIE DODD, GIS TECHNICIAN, HQPLANTATIONS IN AUSTRALIA also spoke remotely at ForestTECH. He highlighted Pruned Stem Detection in Araucaria Plantations using Mobile Laser Scanning.
About 40 000 ha of the land the company manages around Queenstown is allocated to Araucaria cunninghamii (Hoop Pine).
This low-resin wood, the only native conifer planted for timber production in Australia, allows for high-end applications in veneer and the like. With high-value pruned butts being worth up to four times the value of lower grade saw logs, pruning is critical to maximise the value of this species, he said.
“Pruning is expensive, so to make it cost-effective we want to only prune the trees with the best potential outcome, best form and the like,” explained Mr Dodd.
New scanning techniques thus come in valuable for decisions on which trees are worth pruning, particularly with no reliable external indicators to identify unpruned butt logs. The crew targets between half and two thirds of a stand, pruning to 4.8m at around a decade old.
The solution? Use mobile laser scanning in the form of the Emesent Hovermap ST-X. With 88% accuracy, the new Hovermap system provides high density data and good resource analysis, also avoiding double handling costs compared to a CT scanner, he added.
“Useful for foresters short- and long-term, extracting other metrics also allows for multiple outputs and an overall highprecision inventory of stems.”
The Hovermap allows for clear distinction between pruned and unpruned stems without manual annotation. Mr Dodd emphasised that the process is in its infancy and more work is needed on data collection, cost comparison with alternative methods, and noise around stemmed areas in the form of inherent variability of the subcanopy environment eg, thick undergrowth, small branches and close neighbouring branches.
He concluded that, “Any improvement in ability to identify pruned stems is useful given the significant price differential.” NZL
Grooved Drums and Sleeves
Truck driver health concerns
THE DATA FROM A LOCAL SAMPLE OF 120
truck drivers reveals concerns, in particular in regard to sleep, lifestyle choices and an ageing workforce.
In response, Otago University Medical School researchers hope to launch a national survey of truck driver health and lifestyle issues in 2023.
The study will be based on the initial findings of a small-scale sample survey of Otago truck drivers, Life Behind the Wheel. Dr Rebbecca Lilley from the Otago University Injury Prevention Research Unit presented the results at the Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand Road Ahead national conference in September.
The initial survey was developed to test the methods and suitability of questions for surveying Kiwi truck drivers. A wider national study of over 1000 professional drivers would highlight any regional differences and any concerns that are more or less prevalent among Māori drivers who represent about 23% of the driver workforce.
Fatal injury study findings indicate improvements in driver health are needed, while at the same time minimal information on truck driver health has been collected in New Zealand.
“Truck drivers are an important and essential workforce, something that is now understood even more widely following COVID,” says Dr Lilley.
“It’s also an under-researched workforce compared to groups like farmers and forestry workers. Or airline pilots and many others who are in charge of operating machinery.”
Dr Lilley says stage one of the Life Behind the Wheel survey delivered data that highlights the need for a larger and more regionally representative sample.
“This work is a follow-on from a series of other studies we’ve completed into workrelated fatalities and how to reduce them. This group (truck drivers) has concerned us in terms of health concerns being a factor in fatal accidents,” she says.
“Of course, driver health concerns also contribute to non-fatal accidents and there’s also the extra level of concern because of the risk to the general driving public.
“There are some consistent concerns we are seeing from both the small sample and from overseas research which suggest more extensive research is needed,” says Dr Lilley.
Dr Lilley says working conditions can dictate many of the lifestyle choices available to truck drivers.
“Essentially due to the nature of the job there are fewer options available to truck drivers, such as for healthy food choices, opportunities to exercise or comfortable sleep environments.
“There is now plenty of research coming out of Australia where there has been an increased focus on the health and working conditions of truck drivers.”
Dr Lilley says the initial small-scale survey is not representative of truck drivers as a whole, but it does identify some concerning trends in the current state of truck driver Health & Safety that should be acted upon and managed by employees and employers under the Health & Safety at Work Act and by Government regulators of transport safety.
Data from the stage one survey suggests many of the pre-existing conditions and poor lifestyle factors for heart disease are very common in truck drivers. On average drivers are more obese or over-weight than the rest of the New Zealand adult population.
“Sleep problems are also common and are troubling drivers while they work. Much of this sleep disruption is due to work, suggesting work schedules need deeper investigation,” says Dr Lilley.
“One in four drivers self-reported that their current health status was very poor. The most common health complaint was pain caused by work, most commonly attributed to back pain, followed pain experienced in the knees and shoulders while driving.”
Other commonly reported diagnosed health conditions included high cholesterol and high blood pressure – common preconditions for Cardiovascular or Heart Disease which can manifest itself through sudden heart attack or stroke. Asthma also affected one in four respondents.
Dr Lilley says the 2018 New Zealand Census shows that there are over 37,000 professional drivers in New Zealand and that this group is predominantly male, and mainly European followed by Māori. This group is also ageing with over 60% of professional truck drivers aged over 45 years and 20% being over 60.
A long-term average from 2005-2014 identifies 346 road deaths annually including 10 professional driver deaths on average each year.
“What has us most concerned about these deaths is the major role that driver fatigue and driver health is playing in triggering, or contributing, to these truck crashes – particularly the single vehicle crash events,” says Dr Lilley.
“Our study identified that in one in three fatal crashes resulting in the death of a professional driver, the driver was impaired – be that due to fatigue, to pre-existing health conditions and in a very, very small number of cases due to legal or illegal substance use.”
She says the most common health conditions highlighted in Coronial investigations included heart attacks and other cardiac events and loss of consciousness events such as blackouts due to diabetic, epileptic, or other unexplained causes.
“To underpin our increasing concern regarding the health status of our truckdriving workforce and the increased risk of fatal injury in drivers with health conditions, the truck driving workforce is rapidly aging therefore we can expect this workforce to have increasing health concerns that may affect their safety – but also public safety and vital supply chains.”
A larger sample and a refined survey format would deliver the information needed to improve the health of truck drivers and help to develop the interventions for achieving a reduction in fatal and non-fatal accidents in which driver health issues are a contributing factor, she says. NZL
Initial results from the sample survey were presented at The Road Ahead conference in September.
Reliable equipment is essential in New Zealand’s thriving yet challenging forestry industry. High altitudes, rough terrain and extreme weather conditions put pressure on your people as well as your machinery. An environment where the right oil or lubricant is key to a safe, uninterrupted and profitable forestry business.
Forestry on display
THE FAST & FORWARD FORESTRY EXPO, HELD IN ROTORUA IN
November, aimed to showcase the significant transformation in technology and mechanisation in the forestry sector over the years.
“The monumental changes provide an environment that reduces the risks of what were manual operations across the forestry supply chain,” says Forest Industry Contractors Association (FICA) Chair, Ross Davis.
There were a good few thousand visitors to the two-day event, showcasing more than 100 heavy machines brought to site, ranging from one tonne to sixty tonne, trade stands, hospitality, kids entertainment, a hot saw competition and static displays.
“A sold-out industry charity auction dinner with Jeremy Corbett as MC, and keynote speaker, newly appointed Rotorua Mayor, Tania Tapsell, raised more than $40,000 for a mental health and wellbeing initiative,” says FICA CEO, Prue Younger.
“We’re proud of where forestry has got to today with mechanisation and technology, so it’s been great to showcase that, while also looking at future development opportunities and getting the industry together for a catch up,” she adds. NZL
