NZ Logger October 2023

October 2023 | 9.50

big engine, s t l u s e r g bi runty beast ISSN 2703-6251

Ag

An alternative approach to logging

Road access innovation

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contents

OCTOBER 2023

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FOREST TALK “We must do better” at workplace safety; Judgment sanctions “abuse” of minority landowners; Rising pressure for transport operators; Hawke’s Bay cyclone recovery milestone; Prioritise roading resilience; Looking to India for economic growth; Greater clarity needed from Government; Log yard efficiency; PF Olsen purchases Rotorua Forest Nursery; Conference coverage: Desperately seeking Certainty.

SHAW’S WIRE ROPES IRON TEST Knight Logging owner, Zane Knight, says the Ecoforst T-WINCH 30.2 is

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“one of the best investments” he’s made. Turn to our Iron Test pages to find out why.

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BREAKING OUT Freya Logging is demonstrating an alternative logging approach in the Canadian British Columbia interior, including on a research project site involving different forest ecosystems.

HEALTH AND SAFETY Forestry contractor, Vincent Yeoman, is testing prototypes of his new barrier arm for safer, more reliable road access to forestry sites. So far, it’s had a big thumbs up!

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NZ TIMBER We last caught up with the Northland Tōtara Working Group (NTWG) in the May 2020 edition of NZ Logger.

Intricate carvings and eye-catching furniture are just some of the fruits of the project’s labour.

DEPARTMENTS 2 editorial 50 fica 54 top spot 58 Greenlight New Iron 60 classifieds

October 2023 | NZ LOGGER 1

from the editor October 2023

big engine, lts big resu grunty beast A

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PHOTO: TIM BENSEMAN

| 9.50

Road access innovation

An alternative approach to logging

FORCO’s Chris Auchlin (left) and Iron Tester, Shaun Field, with the Ecoforst T-WINCH 30.2 at Knight Logging.

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Long days and logs THE PAST FEW MONTHS HAVE BEEN A TIME OF UNCERTAINTY, BOTH FOR forestry and the country at large. As we approach the 2023 General Election, China, our biggest consumer of logs, is in the midst of an economic downturn. With domestic processing not where it should be, export volumes are, of course, top of mind. Some are looking to India. While New Zealand does not currently have a Free Trade Agreement with that country, the recent business delegation there offered the promise of opening more doors to trade and investment.

We look further afield too, as we take a step into a Canadian logging operation this month. “The ethics of forestry are changing and we have more values to consider now,” says Freya Logging’s Liam Parfitt. With no bunchers or skidders in the fleet, the approach is one of sustainability, keeping in mind ‘social license’, habitat and biodiversity – something New Zealand is hyper-aware of since the recent extreme weather events.

The old adage that necessity is the mother of invention rings true as circumstances drive the industry to more thoughtful approaches like that of Freya, or to develop better, safer ways of doing things. The innovative outlook of one contractor to something that affects all of us, every day, on the ground, is a good example.

A desire to find a more efficient, safer and reliable way to control road access to forestry sites prompted contractor, Vincent Yeoman, to create an automatic barrier arm that can be controlled by machine operators sitting in their cabs via a phone app – something that has been a long time coming.

Also this month, we look at the end product of what can sometimes seem an endless flow of long days and logs. While tŌtara may not be everyone’s stock-in-trade, the creations coaxed out of this sustainably harvested resource by carvers, reminds us that we are dealing with a living product which carries our livelihood and deserves our respect – something that makes those days in the forest seem a little more worthwhile.

As day-to-day life in the ngahere carries on, we watch with interest to see whether the incumbent government holds tight or a new broom sweeps cleaner. Meanwhile, the trees keep growing and forests planted in recent decades approach maturity, hinting at many more days to engage with this versatile resource.

Until next time, stay safe.

forest talk

“We must do better” at workplace safety

NEW ZEALAND’S WORKPLACE FATALITY rate is double that of Australia’s and four times that of Britain according to a new report, which says we are trailing seriously behind other countries in mitigating workrelated harm.

The State of a Thriving Nation report pulls together a range of economic and qualitative data to better understand this country’s health, safety and wellbeing performance. It puts the total cost of lost lives, lost earnings and serious injury and health costs from work-related harm in New Zealand at $4.4 billion.

Produced by Sense Partners and economist, Shamubeel Eaqub, on behalf of the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum, the report highlights our current performance as well as looking at two issues facing businesses in 2023; an economic slowdown and a general election – and how they play into workplace health and safety in this country.

“The report makes confronting reading.

While we’re making progress as a country, it is too slow,” says Forum CEO Francois Barton.

“If New Zealand could improve its performance to match that of Australia, we would reduce our costs to the country by nearly $1 billion per year,” he says.

“Fatality rates remain stubbornly high and are similar to those the United Kingdom experienced in the 1980s.”

When pulling together data and literature on how economic cycles affect health and safety outcomes, Mr Eaqub says the causes of harm tend to be different at different stages of the economic cycle.

“When the economy is booming, there is too much busyness, which can crowd out good systems and processes, and culture.

When the economy is weak, there can be a tendency towards cutting safety, training, and culture/wellbeing resources,” he says.

“We surveyed Forum members for a pulse check on the economy and business plans over the past year, and the year ahead. While the Forum membership is weighted towards larger firms, the results show that economic growth is expected to be moderate, but continue to grow, defying pessimism in many current surveys of business.

“The survey also told us that businesses expect to continue making significant investments in capital, technology, and training, even more than in the last 12 months,” he says.

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When considering this month’s general election, the report calls for the new government to prioritise the importance of a level playing field through clear regulatory expectations on businesses and effective follow-through and accountability.

“New Zealand’s health and safety performance is a nationally significant issue, and demands action from across government and business,” adds Mr Barton.

“The Health and Safety at Work Strategy 2018-28 has not yet published a workplan – first planned for delivery in 2019, nor established any form of system oversight or governance. This needs to be prioritised,” he says.

“We can, and must do better, as business leaders, government, and the regulators to change this economic and social toll to our people and our country.”

She’ll be right?

Wayne Scott, who heads the mining and quarrying sector body MinEx, adds that Kiwi ‘she’ll be right’ attitudes are a major factor in New Zealand’s high workplace death rate and match American tolerance for gun deaths.

“I worked in Australia for 30 years including in health and safety roles. If someone dies in a workplace there, it’s a big deal; here we tend to think, ‘sh*t happens’ and move on.”

He says every week this year on average, one or more New Zealanders will likely be killed in a workplace accident.

The worst death rates are among forestry, agriculture and construction workers in preventable accidents.

He adds that the number of WorkSafe inspectors has fallen over the last ten years from its target of 8.4 per 100,000 workers to 6.3.

“We have 213 inspectors. That’s one for every 13,200 workers. We are seeing in our sector, as in others, that we have plenty of regulations but not enough regulators.”

He says while losing at least one worker on average a week in a workplace fatality is bad, it’s a fraction of the 750 or more Kiwis who die annually from illnesses related to their work.

“That’s about twice our annual road toll which we devote huge budgets to reducing.

Our hospital system can also expect to receive 100 people each week suffering from a variety of illnesses caused in their workplaces including musculoskeletal

damage, cancers, respiratory harm and mental health issues.

“As much as America needs gun control, we need to end the toll of workplace injuries and health harm. The starting point is understanding that virtually all deaths and harm caused in workplaces is avoidable,” says Mr Scott.

According to Worksafe, Forestry remains a key sector where they will actively maintain a regulatory presence, with 390 workplace assessments undertaken in Forestry in the 22-23 Financial Year.

This found 71% of our workplace assessments did not require enforcement, suggesting that the sector is managing most risk effectively, says Worksafe.

With forestry inspections and enforcement activities over 2020 to 2022, it has seen significant ups and downs. The first big dip was related to the first COVID lockdown, with a second period of very low activity during COVID restrictions where all of the WorkSafe inspectorate resource was tasked with monitoring compliance to COVID rules – masks, QR codes etc.

Since then, WorkSafe has seen a steady increase in activity, helped by the three regional Circuits.

Overall forestry inspections for the period July 2022 – June 2023 have resulted in: • 19 verbal directions, • 36 directive letters, • 75 Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) improvement notices, • 22 HSWA prohibition notices, • 25 sustained compliance letters.

Worksafe has been working on a capability building programme with its inspectors and those that were identified went through a one week training programme with workplace coaching and participated in regional circuit where they were supported by industry.

Worksafe continue to engage with key industry bodies such as FISC, FICA, FFA, FOA, Regional Wood Councils and MPI/TUR. NZL

forest talk

Judgment sanctions “abuse” of minority landowners

THE FOREST OWNERS ASSOCIATION (FOA) WANTS THE incoming government to change the Local Government Act to protect minority ratepayers in rural areas.

The FOA says the recent Court of Appeal judgment, against forest owners in Wairoa, opens the way for local councils to make arbitrary rates decisions against minority landowners.

The Court of Appeal in Wellington dismissed a judicial review against Wairoa District Council, which had imposed rates on larger forest owners five times above neighbouring farms.

FOA President, Grant Dodson, says the judgment, which follows a similar Supreme Court decision, is “a dreadful precedent” which legitimises councils’ ability to abuse minority landowners under the guise of democratic process.

“Wairoa District Council is responsible for acting in the best economic, environmental, social and cultural interests of the community. Yet the Mayor is trying to force new forestry out of the region with a preposterously high rates bill.

“He may have succeeded. I know many forest companies will no longer invest in planting in Wairoa, due to the impact the higher rates will have on returns over a 30-year rotation.

“I’ve seen the new rates bill for just one medium-sized Wairoa forest. It’s barely 800 hectares. The Council will be charging more than four-million dollars in rates before the owners can harvest a single tree.

“Yet next door, farmers with woodlots of up to 100 hectares, have been left exempt from the new rate.

“Wairoa foresters will look elsewhere, which will reduce local farm prices, and lock the land into the single land use option of sheep and beef farming forever. This is an own goal for the farming groups who supported this.

“The huge differential won’t benefit the Wairoa community. It will also hurt the Wairoa District Council as its future rates take will fall.

“Wairoa Council ignored independent evidence which we had drawn their attention to – that there was more employment in forestry than hill country farming.

“Instead, it preferred incorrect assertions from Beef + Lamb NZ that

forest employment was far less, because harvesting was so infrequent that harvest workers shouldn’t be counted.

“The whole reason Wairoa Council said they decided to review the rates system, was it realised that hill country farming was in decline.

“Yet they then discounted the benefits of forests, which offer economic opportunities and improved diversification and resilience for the local community. Then there’s the stability for erodible land classes which forests protect, and the fact that production forests in Wairoa sequester three quarters of a million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. The Council dismissed all of this.

“The Council and most of the pastoral community know forestry is not responsible for most rural community decline. Depopulation has a range of drivers. This is merely a convenient justification to charge a sector, which it inaccurately sees as easily able to afford to pay higher rates.”

Mr Dodson says he appreciates the funding dilemma the Wairoa Council is in: “I really hope whichever government is in power after the election, that it takes notice of the special environmental and economic vulnerabilities of Tairāwhiti and Wairoa in particular. These were identified by the Parata Inquiry into land use.

“The Council is quite right to complain that some forest industry benefits flow out of the region to the industries and ports of Gisborne in the north or Napier in the south.”

“More local forest processing would help Wairoa flourish. These opportunities are clear in the Forestry and Wood Processing Industry Transformation Plan which was unveiled last year. But processors need a dependable supply of wood which the local council is actively discouraging.”

Mr Dodson says at the national level any incoming government needs to address the ‘fairness’ factor identified by the Court of Appeal.

“But the judiciary has now given the green light to any council which resists change and wants traditional farming to be subsidised by other land users. I hope our parliamentarians see the problem and act on it.

“Farmers have been complaining about unfairness in rates setting for years. They are not alone.” NZL October 2023 | NZ LOGGER 5

forest talk

Rising pressure for transport operators THE PORT OF AUCKLAND (POAL) PRICE INCREASE ANNOUNCEMENT is the latest in a series of hikes besieging the road transport industry which continues to experience significant increases across a range of cost inputs. Escalating costs are threatening the viability of many carriers, and with no cost decreases to mitigate, the reality is domestic freight charges are on the increase, says National Road Carriers (NRC).

For a typical New Zealand carrier, costs have increased by around 23% in the last 12 months alone. And while the cost of international freight is trending back towards pre-COVID rates with capacity and stability returning to the oceans and skies between New Zealand and the rest of the world, costs at our largest port are, unfortunately, on the increase.

New Zealand importers and exporters will be faced with rising domestic transport costs with Ports of Auckland POAL signalling a 59% increase to the Vehicle Booking System (VBS) prices from 1 January 2024.

This comes on the back of large increases which have seen POAL move from a flat vehicle booking rate of $8 to new Peak and Offpeak rates that are now up to 10 times higher than operators were paying two years ago.

“While VBS charges are eventually paid for by cargo importers and exporters, the challenge for transport operators is they are forced to carry the costs in the interim, while contracts are renegotiated, often out of cycle, in an effort to be reimbursed appropriately,” says Justin Tighe-Umbers, NRC CEO. “It’s clear POAL is under pressure to improve profitability, and that the Mayor and the Council are asking for a better commercial return for Auckland rate payers.

“This is why we’re pleased that POAL has taken on board NRC’s advice to give transport operators plenty of warning with four months’ notice. My advice for transport operators is use the time wisely: alerting your customers now is how you can help to avoid any price shocks,” says Mr Tighe-Umbers.

He adds: “We met with POAL seeking more detail on the relationship between the underlying operational costs with 6 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

facilitating container road transport and how this relates to the VBS charge. With the charges going up we were clear that our members expect service enhancements in return for this increased investment. POAL has confirmed they will be investing in better parking and driver facilities, alongside improved service level reporting and issues management.”

NRC has also asked the port to investigate aligning nationwide pricing changes with all 13 ports and the main container depots.

“But there must be a quid-pro-quo here – transport operators need to see improved services and should not just be considered an easy revenue tap to turn on. These increased charges turn up as more expensive goods for consumers, so there’s a fine balance to be struck here – between fair returns to owners, while not losing sight that the port is a strategic enabler to both Auckland and national economy. Overcook it and you introduce distortions that hurt the wider economy.”

There is no doubt the impact of these VBS increases will be significant for the transport operators servicing the port. Cashflow squeeze becomes the challenge as these increases hit, so NRC has asked the port to consider extending terms of payment to make allowance for this.

POAL has communicated the following 1 January 2024 VBS price increases: • peak VBS charges increase from $65 to $95, • off-peak VBS charges increase from $20 to $40, • average VBS charge increase from $42.50 to $67.50.

NRC has spoken to POAL previously about the need for charges to be related to actual operating costs or cost of capital for future investments. Mr Tighe-Umbers believes principled pricing is important given any price distortions are magnified on the wider economy due to the port’s critical role as provider of strategic infrastructure to the supply chain, and its near monopoly in the Auckland region.

“It’s clear POAL is on a journey to return sustainable profitability, we’re asking for a clear five-year price path so transport operators can better manage the impact,” he says. NZL

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forest talk

Hawke’s Bay cyclone recovery milestone IMPORTS AND EXPORTS CAN NOW MOVE FREELY ON RAIL TO AND from Napier Port once again with the reopening of the rail line to Napier. This is an important step for Hawke’s Bay cyclone recovery, says KiwiRail Chief Executive, Peter Reidy.

Scheduled freight services resumed last month, following a sevenmonth pause after the rail line was badly damaged during Cyclone Gabrielle.

“This is another step towards Hawke’s Bay’s recovery from the cyclone, but it is also important for New Zealand Inc. Napier Port is a key part of central New Zealand’s economy, and to once again get our customers’ freight to and from the port efficiently, and using lowemissions rail, is an important step toward reinstating the Hawke’s Bay supply chain and ensuring the region’s economic success,” Mr Reidy says.

“A huge amount of credit must go to the dedicated KiwiRail staff, engineers, contractors, and our contracting partners, such as United Civil and local firms like Eastbridge, who have helped to bring the railway back online.”

Napier Port Chief Executive, Todd Dawson, welcomed the opening of the line through to Napier Port’s operations.

“It’s a fantastic result by KiwiRail and everyone who collaborated in the rebuild, as well as our partners who have supported the interim road-bridging operation set up to keep freight flowing to our port during this time.

“This is positive for Hawke’s Bay, but also for cargo owners throughout the North Island who rely on Napier Port and the many international shipping services that call, to move cargo to and from international markets.

“As one of New Zealand’s key international gateways with good capacity across our wharves, Napier Port is a vital link in the New Zealand supply chain. Reinstating the rail line to connect directly through to our container terminal and bulk cargo yards means increased efficiency and service to customers needing to move cargo in and out of the North Island, as well as adding resilience and more value to supply chain,” Mr Dawson adds.

Cargo that is typically carried by rail includes wood products such as logs, pulp and timber, chilled and frozen meat, food products and imported machinery and consumables used in manufacturing.

Following the cyclone in February, KiwiRail reopened the Palmerston North – Gisborne Line to Hastings at the start of April. Temporary Container Terminal sites were also set up in partnership with Napier Port, transport operators and cargo customers so that freight could be railed to Hastings, then trucked to Napier.

The section of line between Hastings and Napier, particularly around Awatoto, was badly damaged in the cyclone, with track and embankments washed away, and major damage to Bridge 217, which lost piers and spans in the floods.

The work included rebuilding two-metre-high embankments, replacing 800 sleepers, 140 metres of rail, laying 3,000 cubic metres of formation (the rock foundation under the tracks) and 3,500 tonnes of ballast.

KiwiRail also railed steel casings to Hastings from Christchurch for replacement bridge piers on Bridge 217 – which have been driven 30 metres into the riverbed.

The rebuild of Bridge 217 is temporary, in order to get rail freight moving as quickly as possible. A permanent new bridge will be designed and built over the next couple of years. NZL

Prioritise roading resilience

GOVERNMENT HAS COMMITTED TO INVEST $22 MILLION DOLLARS across 18 projects in the West Coast to improve the resilience of roads that have been affected by recent extreme weather. These investments are part of the $419 million dollar Transport Resilience Fund, established in Budget 2023.

Transporting New Zealand Interim CEO, Dom Kalasih, says that increasing the resilience of the roading network is a top priority for its freight operator members. Having a reliable and resilient roading network is essential to supporting the forestry, mining and agriculture industries that drive the West Coast’s economy – and the same goes for New Zealand’s entire national transport system.

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“Severe weather events are occurring more and more frequently, wrecking New Zealand’s vulnerable roading network, and putting people’s safety and the security of the supply chain at risk. Our members want to see our regional roading connections strengthened against adverse weather impacts like slips, rock falls, and flooding.

“That’s why Transporting New Zealand is calling on the Government Policy Statement on land transport 2024 to make road network resilience the overarching strategic priority. The Transport Resilience Fund is a good start, but we need all transport investment decisions

by Waka Kotahi and councils to have resilience at front-of-mind,” says Mr Kalasih. NZL

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forest talk

New Zealand Minister of Trade, Damien O’Connor, with Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal.

ents, for the diameter. This heavy

at set it apart from

Looking to India for economic growth ments, for the

AT A TIME WHEN INDIA’S SUCCESSFUL MOON LANDING WAS gaining world headlines and several other significant stories were breaking, positive developments in the bilateral trade relationship between New Zealand and India was the lead story on Indian national television.

Just as Rocket Lab and Rakon were involved in the Indian moon landing, New Zealand’s largest ever business delegation to India has uncovered significant trade and investment opportunities over a host of sectors, with support from the Indian government and business organisations.

The combination of five business organisations working together with ministerial and government agency support clearly struck a chord with the host nation, showing New Zealand’s commitment to re-prioritising the economic relationship Mission leader Michael Fox, Chair of the India NZ Business Council (INZBC) says he was gratified by the renewed interest and sense of focus from both sides.

“I was very grateful to receive such a warm welcome from our Indian hosts. India is an incredible growth story – it’s the world’s fifth largest economy and will soon be third in the rankings. Our visit was about showing that we can complement India’s success and be a valuable development partner. It was partly an acknowledgement that we haven’t always given India the attention it deserves but that we are determined we will become valuable economically”, Mr Fox says.

“This was New Zealand’s largest business delegation to India, but I expect we’ll break that record with visits next year and the year after ents,that.for the Having the support of the Minister of Trade and Export Growth,

Damien O’Connor was very helpful and the resulting discussions with several Indian ministerial counterparts has produced an MOU on civil aviation linkages, which I hope will eventually result in direct flights. We’ve seen progress on re-starting the log trade and explored opportunities in areas of shared interest like horticulture”, Mr Fox adds.

On the subject of a future free trade agreement, he notes: “New Zealand has already explored an FTA with India. While we will always be interested in a comprehensive agreement, there is much to be achieved, even in the absence of an FTA, to grow the relationship.

The best way to prepare for that possibility in the future is to invest in broadening and deepening trade and investment ties now.”

CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber, Simon Bridges, says, “Perhaps the most significant outcome of the visit was in the relationships that delegation participants were able to build. India is now an economic superpower, and its pride and confidence is very evident. It has a young and talented population and there is just so much opportunity for New Zealand companies that are prepared to take a medium-term view and build on those relationships.

“The other significant thing that this delegation has created is a platform for the next one. New Zealand businesses need to return in 2024, ideally with the support of the Prime Minister. We need to demonstrate a clear strategy which includes building on emerging partnerships with India’s priority sectors and focusing on a few key Indian states.”

The Indian government has identified forestry, agriculture, agritech, education, fintech, horticulture and renewable energy as key priorities. NZL

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forest talk

Greater clarity needed from Government THE FORESTRY SECTOR HAS NOT SEEN strong enough political leadership, says former Forestry Minister, Shane Jones, adding that New Zealand First remains committed to boosting the sector as a key contributor to regional development, decarbonisation and foreign exchange earnings.

“The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), a key feature of our net zero architecture, has incentivised forestry planting, and this sector is critical to achieving least cost abatement of emissions. It is inevitable that future forestry will be transitioned to grades of land not suitable for agriculture.

Such changes may come through new ETS criteria.”

He says stronger political leadership is needed for forestry: “Although there is an Industry Transformation Plan there is an urgent need for genuine legislative reform.

The suggestion that new forestry will require Resource Management Act (RMA) consents is chilling.

“James Shaw has already presented several ETS reform options to lessen the

role of forestry. They have been presented to the sector and consultation is now over. Any changes will take place after the election. The entire sector needs greater clarity and confidence from the next government. We have heard far too much from the Climate Change Commission and too little from Forestry Ministers.”

Foreign investment into the forestry sector is already substantial, says Mr Jones. Its continuation will depend on the net value to our economy. This means overseas investors have to address how to derive more value from the raw resource, he explains.

He says bioenergy is an “exciting economic opportunity” with positive environmental impacts. “It is unlikely to happen without a robust market which is willing to pay. The government funding of our largest steel producer and Fonterra to decrease emissions is a promising precedent.

He adds that there is some uncertainty as China, our largest foreign market, enters an economic downturn causing local

harvesting instability: “Global factors have major impacts on our regional forestry firms and their employees. The next government has to provide direction, incentives and confidence. NZ First looks forward to engaging with all stakeholders to actively deliver practical results.” NZL

NZ First’s Shane Jones.

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forest talk

PF Olsen purchases Rotorua Forest Nursery ONE OF NEW ZEALAND’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT FORESTRY service providers, PF Olsen has purchased Rotorua Forest Nursery.

Supplying around 15 million Pinus radiata seedlings in New Zealand per annum, the nursery will change ownership after the retirement of its current Chief Executive, Peter Harington.

Mr Harington, who has been in the forestry industry for more than 40 years, will stay on for a further two years to help with the transition.

Despite the change, the nursery will operate as usual, says Jason Rogers, Chair of Ōwhata 2B and 7 Ahuwhenua Trusts, the Ngāti Te Roro o Te Rangi land trust that leases the whenua to the nursery.

“The nursery employs up to 34 people, so it is an important hub for our iwi and hapori,” he says.

“Peter Harington has done an outstanding job for our community, Iwi and the Trusts. This is the end of an era. We welcome our new partner, PF Olsen, who has a long history in the forestry sector,” says Mr Rogers.

He says the changeover will be seamless and the new owners will bring a number of improvements to the nursery operations. In addition, Educational Scholarships will be offered to whānau who are interested in forestry and this relationship will open up pathways for Iwi members wishing to work in the sector.

PF Olsen’s GM Business Services, Wu Khoo, says the company will continue to enhance nursery operational standards and prioritise sound environmental nursery management practices.

“We are committed to doing things well and will build upon the 14 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

strong foundation Peter and Jenny Harington have established,” he says.

“This acquisition is important to PF Olsen’s growth strategy, and strategically aligned to our purpose of optimising the value of forestry for a better future. It complements our containerised seedling business at Waiuku (that produces 6m seedlings per annum) and gives us greater flexibility to meet our clients’ needs.” Ōwhata 2B & 7 Ahuwhenua Trusts manage and administer two land blocks of approximately 28 hectares lying closely together on the east side of Rotorua. The lands are owned by the descendants of the eponymous tupuna, Te Roro o Te Rangi. NZL

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Carbon Forestry 2023

Desperately seeking certainty

Q&A Session following the Keynote Session at Carbon Forestry 2023 From left: Jarden’s Nigel Brunel, Manulife Investment Management’s Nick Ping, NZ Carbon Farming’s Peter Casey and Scott Pollard and Anderson Lloyd’s Dan Williams.

WITH A DIVERSE SET OF SPEAKERS AND topics, delegates received insights into both local and international carbon forestry market developments and updates at the recent Carbon Forestry conference held in Rotorua.

In his ‘Natural Carbon Solutions’ presentation, Nick Ping, from Manulife Investment Management’s investment team, brought an international perspective on carbon markets. He noted that voluntary carbon credit demand is taking off, also saying that corporate buyers are taking longer to choose what credits to buy and from which projects, adding that higher quality credit supply is constrained.

He highlighted that forests are among the top natural climate solutions for mitigating climate change, stressing that carbon credit quality is critical to addressing climate change.

Jarden’s Nigel Brunel gave an informative and animated summary on carbon market volatility and the reasons behind it. He said it is vital to understand the true costs to New Zealand taxpayers of not being able to meet Paris Agreement commitments with local carbon emission reductions or plantings.

Among the risks we face if we don’t meet our Paris Agreement commitments are exports being penalised through carbon border adjustment mechanisms and potential legal action in New Zealand’s free trade agreements.

Sean Weaver from Ekos shared his considerable expertise on using carbon and biodiversity credits for an integrated response to sustainable land 16 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

management. His presentation was based on his published scientific papers, wellrecognised in the forest science community and appearing in recent NZIF journals.

Keith Woodford, an expert commentator on farming, forestry and the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) noted that carbon farming must include both indigenous species and introduced species. Arguments for indigenous species ignore indigenous species economics, pest control issues and key aspects of evolutionary ecology, he said. Mr Woodford emphasised that indigenous species sequester carbon much more slowly than introduced species and are more expensive to establish.

He concluded that if we want to plant indigenous species at large scale for carbon farming, it can only be funded by Government at considerable cost.

Mr Woodford also delivered a key takeaway not previously highlighted in tree species debates for carbon sequestration in the New Zealand context. Our indigenous fauna evolved in times when our islands comprised only lowlands, with ample rainfall derived from oceans. This was before the mountains rose from the sea, with associated rain shadows. Linked to this, long-lived trees have very long generation intervals, and hence evolve slowly. Hence our indigenous species are still evolving to the current climate. And they have yet to start evolving to survive environments containing exotic pests.

By contrast, the introduced species from the Northern Hemisphere were able to migrate over millions of years as needed,

between the Arctic and the tropics. Fauna migrates much quicker than it evolves.

Hence, many species currently found in temperate zones around the world are remarkably adapted to the New Zealand environment, including at sub-alpine latitudes.

On day two, James Shaw, Minister for Climate Change, delivered his views on the role of forests in meeting our international commitments. He also participated in a 30-minute panel discussion and Q&A session, taking a wide range of questions from the floor. His participation was received well in the current circumstances of political uncertainty.

Rounding out the final session were entrepreneurs, Nick Butcher of Carbon Crop and Jamie Heather from Carbon Critical, also a boots-on-the-ground, active redwood forester. Both presenters demonstrated the power of new technologies their teams have developed to automate and ease the burden of interacting with NZ ETS reporting systems. NZL

Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw.

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Iron Test

, e n i g n e big s t l u s e r big nseman

Story & photos: Tim Be

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Above and inset: FORCO’s Chris Auchlin (left in main photo) and Iron Tester, Shaun Field, inspect the Ecoforst T-WINCH 30.2 in operation.

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The T-WINCH at work for Knight Logging near Atiamuri.

TOWERING OVER THE SOUTH WAIKATO VILLAGE OF ATIAMURI, the mountain that Knight Logging is harvesting is proving a bit tough. The skyline is about a metre off the ground before any chokers are hooked up to logs and there’s a couple of truckloads of stems to be dragged off this spot and around the hill to the landing.

In a classic case of ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’, Knight Logging owner, Zane Knight, is breaking out by himself today down the hill while his crew are all in machines processing, loading out or, in the case of Johnson Peri, shovelling stems to his boss while tethered to the new Ecoforst T-WINCH 30.2 which is up above us in the standing trees.

“It’s one of the best investments I’ve made, buying the T-WINCH,” Zane says as he takes a short break for lunch. “When I was looking into the T-WINCH I was almost sold on the idea when Ian Wilton, FORCO Managing Director, said, ‘look, why don’t we take you to Melbourne where there’s three of them working and we’ll show you’.

“So, we went to Melbourne and on the first job we visited, where they were running a Madill 124, I stood on the hill and saw a T-WINCH 30.2 pulling a Tigercat 822 feller buncher and the smaller model T-WINCH 10.2 hooked up to their excavator tail hold machine over the hill on similar sort of slopes to what we have here. The tail hold machine walked backwards, up over a stump, no problems.

Then the operator on the 822 came up over a rock face and they slid

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a little bit and I thought, ‘nah he’s not going to make it’, but he just poured on the power and up it went.

“On the next job we visited, we saw this guy Conrad… he was on a 548 Cat, flat cab, with a root rake on. He was on a steep slope raking the eucalyptus in front of him in a flat cab! He went up to the road, over the road, up the batter and over the top and went back down for another slice. Really impressive stuff.

“Our operator, Johnson, has been up and down this track here eight or 10 times and it’s only just got a little bit of a muddy furrow now, so it makes a huge difference to the footprint on the land.

That winch is holding him in place constantly and pulling him when required so he is only getting the cleat marks in there because this machine is that much quicker than the old one. The faster reaction time means a much lighter footprint.” And that translates to less environmental damage, and topsoil staying on the hill where it can grow trees.

The ease of connecting and using the T-WINCH and its associated added safety is also something Zane likes a lot, and is something he is encouraging even on moderate ground after a recent rollover of the Tigercat 855.

“We made no secret that we had a rollover when it wasn’t connected to our old winch machine,” Zane says. “What really ticked Johnson off was that it wasn’t even steep where it happened. All credit to him that he switched it off fast, so no engine damage done. But what he has

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learned from it is that it’s better to stay on the tether and have that safety catch unless it’s absolutely flat. It means you can work faster without having to worry and slow down your moves, especially your loaded moves when you are on an angle. The T-WINCH is so easy and convenient to hook on, so he just hooks on.”

The tough get going Zane started out in logging in 1985 as a 17-year-old. In another nod to the tough get going mantra, Zane’s early days in logging started out tougher than most: “Things were a lot tougher back in the day with a lot more manual labour, and some outfits had it tougher than others.

And then there were a few sadistic characters that liked to make it even tougher. My first day was very rudimentary as far as instructions and quality of gear supplied went. I was given two bleach bottles, one had saw fuel, one had bar oil. There was a chainsaw but no spanner, no file, no chaps, no earmuffs. Instructions were, ‘cut all the trees down on that face and don’t come back until it’s done’.”

Sounds a bit grim but then Zane says that this was in native bush in Pureora on the west side of Lake Taupo. That sounds like barber chair and widow maker city. Those who have tried to fell an even slightly leaning Tawa for instance will know that, while it is exciting, it is incredibly dangerous if you haven’t been told and shown how to bore and release.

“It was a bit rough,” Zane says, “but in some ways it was good. I learnt how to cut trees down and survive and come home every day.”

Zane took the positive side of the lesson and was soon thriving in the industry and acquiring a deep base of experience, as well as the critical perseverance required to start out on his own.

“I spent years on the saw in Pureora and down in Masterton and didn’t get onto a machine until I was 24 or 25, and that was only because the guy who had been on the loader didn’t come to work. I spent a few years on the loader and a lot of other gear as well.”

Zane wanted to see a bit of the world and try his hand at refereeing Rugby League before doing more logging so he went off to Australia.

He was told he would not get into the NRL purely because he was a Kiwi so he went off to do some FIFO scaffolding in the mines in the Northern Territory for a year.

He also had a hankering to drive as many different kinds of trucks as he could get his hands on, so he also did that before joining Smiley at Fast Harvesting as a crew manager.

After a while Fast got a contract in National Park with Pulp and

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Paper and Zane decided it was time to buy in to the machine he was running. That was the price it would take to get him to work that southern volcanic plateau area from home in Tokoroa and run the crew in that contract for about five years.

“I ran a processor for about 10 years all up and then decided it was time for the next move into crew ownership. Smiley didn’t sell me the crew I was running but he did sell me 20% of this hauler here with a contract in Taumarunui. After almost a year I wanted the whole lot so I went and saw Smiley at his office and he threw a number at me.

‘If you can get this you can have the crew,’ he said. I had that money before I got downstairs as I already had a good working relationship with UDC,” Zane says.

“Looking back on it, Kevin Goodman had a role to play as well. He was the bigger part of Ribbonwood and at one of the annual crew foreman do’s he noticed that I showed up after work at 6pm while the others had gotten underway about 10am. Kevin said to me then that I had made a smart choice and I would go far. I didn’t think so at the time just owning a processor but I met him a few years after I’d bought the whole crew and I shook his hand and said, ‘Thank you’.

“It’s still a long journey from here but I’m in the right place now.

There’s nine of us here in the forest including my son. I have made him 10% partner because it’s just too hard these days to buy in to a crew with the several million required. And I have seen quite a few of my mates just tip over dead lately even though they were fit, so you just never know when it’s going to be your time. We can’t take anything for granted these days, so at least with my son being a partner he is already on the ownership ladder so succession will be smooth whenever it happens.

“I remember what it was like being a disgruntled employee and I vowed it would never be that way. My son reckons I’ve made them soft but they all do their jobs and we hit target which is 240-tonne a day in this ground, so I’m happy. My son is 29 now and he reckons I’m a new man but that’s because he remembers the frustrated, grumpy and trying to make it Zane, and things were a lot different back then.

Now we can be on the hill tree falling together and life is good. ” We discuss the importance of men on hills taking magnesium for their heart health and it turns out Zane is right into the sports nutrition buzz having played competitive hockey for decades. “All those electrolytes and hydration issues are taken very seriously here.

SERIOUS POWER FOR BIG TIME LOGGERS In summer I order bulk Sqwincher electrolyte ice blocks and our HBO freezes a pack each night ready for all the crew next day. Being in

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1: Central greasing makes for easy maintenance.

2: Iron Tester, Shaun Field, inspects the workings of the T-WINCH. 3: The two big hydraulic pumps.

4: The 625-litre diesel tank.

5: Hydraulic pump to swing engine out for walkaround maintenance access.

6: The rope and fairlead on the T-WINCH.

DIA DG I ANGONSO E S•E D•E D S IEGS N I G•N D•E D L IEVLEI V RER

Above left: Part of the tech that makes the T-WINCH so fast.

Above right: Iron tester, Shaun Field and Knight Logging owner, Zane Knight, discuss the winch machine.

Below: The landing at Knight Logging’s Atiamuri operation. the HBO job, he probably has the greatest need for electrolytes and hydration so he is very reliable and has an added vested interest in that role. I also provide all the drinking water for the team so we make sure they are well hydrated throughout the day.”

Regular T-WINCH/855 operator, Johnson, seems well grounded and has been on the tether for, “Not enough” time he says, but he is doing a great job shovelling today. “I have been in it for about a year but not all of that was tethered. I started off cutting and shovelling a lot of flat ground first.”

Johnson worked for Sinton for 15 years doing ground base on the loader and processor: “It was a lot of new stuff to learn moving into a hauler crew, but I didn’t mind working in the cutover as I had done a lot of that already.

“This T-WINCH is way quicker than the old winch-assist machine… no lag in winch responses at all. The biggest improvement I would have to say is the remote control shifts of the winch machine. I don’t have to go all the way up to it and get out of the 855 and into another machine, I just do it all from the 855 with the remote, lift the blade,

operate the tracks, turn it to my new position, put the blade back down. Way easier and way quicker. Chris from FORCO taught me how to use it in a day but he hung around for a few days just in case I had a problem and after that he was just a message away if I needed him.”

Johnson enjoys getting to work early and seeing the sun rise up through the fog, and the view today over the Waikato is impressive even for us latecomers. The crew has another six or seven weeks in this block and the next block is about five kilometres away at Thorpe.

There’s a corkscrew track up to the top of the mountain so we take our utes up there and soon arrive at the T-WINCH in the standing trees. First impression is this thing is a lot bigger than we thought it would be in an impressive way while also being standard width, so not a big cost to transport it as it’s not over width. The last T-WINCH we tested was the 10.2 (see NZ Logger, October 2022) so this one is 20 tonnes bigger!

It’s engine is running and the tether rope is moving.

Every time that rope moves the revs change very quickly on the machine. It’s like we are sneaking up

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MADE IN CANADA FOR NZ CONDITIONS

EST EST 1909 1909 |TO CALL WWW.SHAWS.CO.NZ JONNY EDWARDS 021 944 894 THE THE SUPPLIER SUPPLIER NEW TO NEW ZEALAND ZEALAND HEAVY HEAVY INDUSTRY INDUSTRY 24 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

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on a robot working away by itself in the bush. The cooling fan must be quite powerful because it’s blowing the ponga fronds about eight metres away from the machine. That’s some serious cooling power right there.

Peering into the rear of the machine we see the big winch rolling out more rope with a very organised looking spool controller in operation.

This winch is bigger than we expected too.

“Everything is overbuilt on the T-WINCH,” says FORCO Operations Director and co-owner Chris Auchlin as he shows Shaun the finer points of the machine. Chris has worked as a tree faller along with many other roles in forestry in multiple countries before taking on the role at FORCO. “For example, in the unlikely event that one of the two blade cylinders fail, one is more than enough to anchor the T-WINCH and hold the tethered machine without moving.”

Pioneering tethered extraction What really gets Chris and Ian enthused is the prospect of the T-WINCH eventually replacing yarders in some crews altogether.

“I think the main point is moving from tethered felling to tethered extraction, which is only productive with fast line speed and big pulling power at the same time,” Ian says.

“The key to this is having a big engine, the T-WINCH 30.2 has a 305 kW or 414HP engine – most 30-tonne excavators have around a 200 kW engine so the 30.2 has around 50% more power than most other large winch machines.

“That makes the Ecoforst T-WINCH 30.2 the most powerful winch assist machine on the market. The T-WINCH has a big engine for the same reason that yarders have big engines. It is a very important comparison because what we are trying to achieve is exactly the same

Operator, Johnson Peri, Iron tester, Shaun Field and FORCO’s Chris Auchlin discuss the benefits of the T-WINCH system.

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Far Left: Operator, Johnson Peri, shovels logs down the hill to the hauler ropes.

Left:The T-WINCH remote in its holder in the Tigercat.

Right: Iron Tester, Shaun Field, shovels logs down to the hauler ropes.

– if you want big breakout force, heavy payloads, and fast line speed you need engine power! There is no way around this, it’s physics.

The great thing is, power and line speed are also excellent for felling and bunching. Traction on slopes is achieved best with a combination of pulling force and line speed. Every millimetre you gain with the connected machine must be pulled in and held by the winch. If the winch is too slow to react, the tracks/wheels spin, leading to rutting, digging into the slope, and eventually getting stuck. Flotation is the key, staying on top of the ground parallel with the slope.

“It is important to remember that we need line speed to achieve quick reaction time and to maintain tension. If the winch is slow, it may not pull in rope quickly enough and you can lose the forward movement you have gained.”

Consistent faster line pull The T-WINCH 30.2 is unique because it provides 18-tonne pulling power and 8 km/h line speed on every layer of the drum available at the same time. This can only be achieved with engine power and the T-WINCH’s clever hydraulic system and that is why the 30.2 has such a big engine.

You can also think of it like a loaded log truck – of course, you can grind your way up the hill very slowly in low gear, but if you want to go up the hill fast you need engine power. To move heavy loads uphill fast you need engine power, there is no other way.

“Most other large winch providers advertise max pulling of around 20 tonnes, but it’s very difficult to know if this is theoretical or measured, at bottom of drum, mid drum, or top of drum and it’s not usually stated what line speed is possible at maximum pulling.

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It’s very important to ask these questions to compare machines properly,” Ian says.

As covered in the 10.2 Iron Test, the 30.2 is also a ground-up purpose build. One of the benefits of that purpose-built system is half or less fuel burn at just 11 litres per hour which is enough to make an oil baron weep.

Ian says another benefit is that it’s a much quicker set-up time: “It’s also a one-person job to move as the T-WINCH is remotely controlled from the tethered machine’s cab. Loggers and forest owners will also like the easy and low-cost transport between job sites as the width is just 2990 mm, so no pilot vehicle is required.”

That line speed of 8KPH seems to be the quickest out there. Is anyone using it at that speed?, we ask.

“Yes, our customers in Australia are running skidders tethered full time at this speed. The system is highly productive. The T-WINCH 30.2 with a skidder competes directly with the production levels of a swing yarder operation in the same terrain, but with fewer people and machines, and lower running costs,” says Ian. “They often pull up 30-degree slopes to a mid-slope track and drop the drags for a second skidder to take along the track to a landing. The skidder on the slope attached to the T-WINCH 30.2 can often pull a bigger drag than the same skidder on the flat. In other words, the exact make and model skidder on the mid slope track has to drop a tree from the drag to get moving.”

The rope going on and off the winch looks very controlled with that spool guide system, we note.

“Yes, it is. Ecoforst wants to make as compact a machine as possible and without distance to the fairlead we have to guide the rope into place which this system does.”

Industry experience and support “Chris and I both have a background in logging,” says Ian. ”We know what it means to have debt and production pressure and how critical uptime is. We try to service and maintain the machines we sell as if we owned them ourselves, doing preventative maintenance and computer upgrades usually at no cost to our customers. We both know every machine by serial number.

And how are sales going in this region?

“FORCO has now sold 22 T-WINCH’s across New Zealand and Australia – 15 of the 10 series and seven of the 30 series. The reason for selling more of the 10 series is because this model was available first.

Ecoforst celebrated building machine number 300 in July this year and to the best of my knowledge this makes Ecoforst the largest manufacturer of winch assist machines. Also, this number will rise quickly as production capacity is now around 100 units per year,” says Ian.

The T-WINCH at Knight Logging.

“ SERIOUS POWER FOR BIG TIME LOGGERS

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28 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

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Iron Tester: Shaun Field

a grunty beast I WANT ONE OF THESE RIGHT AWAY. My worry going in to this test was how you would get it to where it needs to be if there’s no road or track there. With my excavator-based winch machine I can drag it with the bucket more places than I can my felling machine, whereas to get this dozer there, sometimes it will need to be strawlined and winch-roped up to where it needs to be for felling. That was going to be a tough one from the start, so it was going to need some big things in its favour to counter that.

If you are just using it for extraction then that’s not an issue because you aren’t going to take forwarders or

skidders into insanely steep ground anyway. So, for that use alone I want one in the crew I work for now because of the advantages it has with line speed and power that can speed up all our ground based extraction, complementing the swing yarder. And ultimately, seeing if it can actually match the swinger for a much smaller fuel burn is also something I’d like to see for myself in the types of blocks we do in Kaingaroa and Rotoehu Forests. I’ll be trying pretty hard out for us to get a T-WINCH on site to try out as soon as possible, that’s for sure. Then I’ll get my answer about no road or track too.

The fact that you can shift it most places

Iron Tester, Shaun Field. from the cab of the tethered machine is primo as far as time and hassle goes. Just back it in to where it needs to be, bury the blade, give it sh*t on the tracks to bury it in nice and you’re ready to go.

The winch is impressive. It functions really well, it holds good weight and it monitors its tension and reacts a lot faster than the other winch machines I’ve tested.

It’s within milliseconds, it reacts that quick.

This is a good, simple product to run. The controls are all easy. The rope spooler is really cool. You never have to worry about

1: The winch and auto spooler.

2: The hydraulic oil cooler.

3: The remote can be used anywhere to shift the T-WINCH. 4: The front idler sprocket.

5: The rear drive sprocket and track motor.

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IFICATION

SPEC S T-WINCH 30.2 – SPECIFICATIONS ENGINE

REFILL CAPACITIES (LITRES)

8.7 Litre Diesel FPT C87, Tier 4 Final Rated power 305kW (414HP) @ 1800

Fuel tank Engine oil Hydraulic tank DEF tank

HYDRAULICS Working system: Winch pump Winch Drive Open Pump

1 x 280 ccm 1x170ccm 1x190ccm

WINCH Maximum pulling force Maximum rope speed Rope diameter Rope length Supported machine weight:

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Breaking Out

Story: Tony Kryzanowski

With ‘social licence’ top of mind following the recent extreme weather events in New Zealand, it seems prudent to look further afield at different logging practices. Freya Logging is demonstrating an alternative logging approach in the Canadian British Columbia (B.C.) interior, including on a research project site involving different forest ecosystems.

34 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

T

HERE ARE NO SKIDDERS OR TRACKED feller bunchers within the 20-piece logging fleet owned by Prince George, B.C.-based Freya Logging. The fleet consists primarily of wheeled harvesters and forwarders – and that’s by design.

Company forester, Liam Parfitt, describes the majority of the company's harvesting activity as “selective logging where most of the merchantable wood is removed”.

Overall, Freya Logging leaves more standing structure and understorey in the forest

while creating less ground disturbance compared to conventional clearcut logging using feller bunchers and skidders – and what they are doing has lately caught the attention of other loggers and several forest companies.

Their fleet and logging method is without a doubt an alternative approach and could rightly be described as following the European model. However, the question for Canadian loggers has always been economics. Mr Parfitt says that they are competitive with conventional logging.

“We can compete with conventional logging on a clearcut and we can do it cheaper than they can on selective logging,” he says.

What could be driving this recent interest in Freya Logging’s approach is the issue of ‘social license’ becoming more prominent within forest management circles, where governments and timber license holders are demanding a more careful logging style to earn benefits, such as maintaining habitat and biodiversity – something New Zealand is hyper-aware of since the recent extreme weather events. Greater uptake of this style of logging remains to be seen, although Freya Logging is finding no lack of work these days.

“The ethics of forestry are changing and we have more values to consider now,” says Mr Parfitt. “I think that we at Freya Logging are at that point where we are realising the value of what we are doing, and we have been rewarded for that.

Deep roots Freya Logging definitely has deep European roots. It is partly owned by Mr Parfitt and his Swedish wife, Sofia. Another share is owned

by Claudia and Olaf Weber. The Webers moved to Canada from Germany about 10 years ago. Olaf, a trained mechanic, was the company’s service supervisor until his recent retirement. The majority of the company is now owned by Mirko and Suzanne Jansen who recently re-located to Canada from Switzerland. Jansen is the company’s General Manager and holds a

four-year logging diploma. Also, about half of their equipment operators come from Europe.

Mr Parfitt, who has a forestry degree from the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), says having spent time in Sweden with his wife, he noted the difference between how logging was managed in B.C. – despite the goals stated on paper – versus how it was being managed in Sweden, where he felt that logging was being implemented properly. It definitely influenced his attitude when he and his family returned to Canada, he says.

“What I saw in Sweden was that there was a technological difference between how they log there compared to here, and many times technology drives the logging approach more than anything else,” he says.

When he returned to Canada in 2006, “I committed myself to forwarding the technology of Scandinavian logging systems in B.C”.

Undaunted It was tough going to gain acceptance for this logging style as he worked in several equipment sales jobs, and then for a B.C.-based logging company with some experience with European harvesters and forwarders. Eventually, and to Mr Parfitt’s dismay, because of employee resistance within the company, they abandoned their harvesters in favor of conventional logging.

But he was undaunted, striking out on his own with the Webers to establish Freya Logging in 2016.

Today, with the Jansens primarily at the wheel, the company harvests in the range of 350,000 cubic metres annually, mostly for Prince George-based Carrier Lumber, but also for other clients like Lakeland Mills, West Fraser and even Jasper National Park. During the company’s first year of operation, it only performed about two percent selective logging. Today, it is more like 85 percent.

The logging fleet comprises of eight harvesters: five wheeled and three tracked

Left: There are no bunchers or skidders in the Freya Logging fleet, only harvesters and forwarders, including two Ponsse harvesters.

October 2023 | NZ LOGGER 35

Breaking Out Looking Back

units. They also own six forwarders, three log loaders and support equipment for road building. Their wheeled harvesters consist of a new Ponsse Bear harvester, a Ponsse Scorpion harvester, two John Deere 1270G harvesters, and a Komatsu 931 harvester. Their two Eltec 277 tracked harvesters are equipped with Ponsse H8 harvesting heads. Their Hitachi 210 tracked harvester is equipped with a Waratah 622 harvesting head. They own four Ponsse Elephant King forwarders, as well as a John Deere 1910 forwarder and a Ponsse Buffalo King forwarder. Their log loaders consist of a John Deere 2656 loader, a Hitachi 210 loader and a Hitachi 240 loader.

Recently, Freya Logging was selected

by UNBC researchers to implement four harvesting prescriptions as part of the university’s participation in a collaborative research project across a network of different forest ecosystems throughout North America. The research project took place 36 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

near Fort St. James, within a 160-hectare area of the John Prince Research Forest (JPRF). Tl’az’ten First Nation, owner of a forest tenure management company called, Tanizul Timber, co-manages the research forest with UNBC. The goal of this Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change study is to demonstrate examples of how to integrate climate change adaptation into silvicultural planning and on-the-ground actions because of the challenges to future fibre supply that climate change represents.

Freya Logging recovered approximately 38,000 cubic metres of merchantable timber over six weeks, which JPRF sold under contract to Carrier Lumber.

The research site consisted of hybrid spruce, lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, trembling aspen, paper birch and cottonwood. The study required four different harvesting prescriptions with different levels of retention under the

Above: A John Deere 2656 loader complements two Hitachi log loaders, a model 210 and a model 240, in the Freya Logging fleet. headings of a standard clearcut with retention, to cuts with the objective of resistance, resilience and transition. Each cutblock consisted of 10-hectare parcels.

Susan Grainger, forester and forest manager at JPRF, says that forests in that area can likely expect to endure warmer, wetter climate conditions.

“The concern is that despite a wetter climate, the increased precipitation will probably not make up for the increase in temperature. So, meteorologists are anticipating drought, which is a limiting factor to some of the species that can grow here in the future,” she says.

She adds that this prediction of a wetter, warmer climate drove the harvesting

Theory in action AFTER WITNESSING THE LOGGING METHOD DEMONSTRATED

by Freya Logging as part of its participation in a research study aimed at creating forests that are more resilient to climate change within the John Prince Research Forest (JPRF), representatives of Tanizul Timber saw the potential to apply the same logging technique on specific sites within their own timber management holdings.

They contracted Freya Logging to apply the harvesting prescription they wanted which, according to Alex Pierre, forest planner at Tanizul Timber, was clearcut logging with non-merchantable timber and Douglas fir retention on a sitespecific basis.

Tanizul Timber manages the area-based tenures held by the Tl’az’ten First Nation.

“What we liked about the Freya Logging method was that it was a new approach and a different way to manage certain stands. It was eye opening,” he says. “We thought that we could adopt their logging method – we want to be on the leading edge of good forest management.”

What they specifically liked about Freya Logging’s approach on the JPRF study was the amount of understorey and non-merchantable timber left intact using harvesters and forwarders. Typically, when using conventional logging

techniques involving feller bunchers and skidders, a high percentage of the understorey and non-merchantable timber is destroyed.

The logging system deployed by Freya Logging was able to achieve those outcomes “amazingly well”, according to Mr Pierre.

They also appreciated the attractive-looking final outcome.

However, he adds that because Freya Logging’s approach is more costly, Tanizul Timber is very careful on its site selection to ensure that it is spending the extra money on sites that are capable of producing the desired outcomes, recognising that conventional clearcut logging is still an appropriate prescription on some sites. “It has been a learning experience.”

They intend to take follow-up LIDAR images of the sites logged by Freya Logging to be able to compare before and after imaging, to determine exactly what retention level was achieved.

Tanizul Timber is also harvesting stands heavily impacted by mountain pine beetle. So, this more careful logging style has the potential to achieve higher recovery rates in stands with a high percentage of merchantable beetle blowdown.

They have hired Freya Logging to continue to harvest several of their timber management sites where they feel that Freya’s logging system is a better fit.

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DIAGNOSE • DESIGN • DELIVER

Breaking Out

prescription designs developed for this research study. What will follow is scientifically evaluating a myriad of responses including growth and yield, and potentially providing forest managers with operationally achievable options for developing forests more resilient to climate change as a desired future condition of the forest.

Ms Grainger notes that Freya Logging was able to retain more understorey vegetation with their equipment selection compared to a conventional logging contractor not part of the study but working close by, primarily because of their forwarding approach versus grapple skidding to transport logs to roadside. She was also pleased that the merchantable fibre volume recovered by Freya Logging, despite the requirement for various retention levels, showed that the logging economics can be positive and operationally viable using their style of logging.

“This is what really excites me – using technology to improve the forest to prepare it for climate change and/or using it to improve biodiversity,” says Mr Parfitt. “We were motivated to show the value of our system beyond cubic metres per hectare, and that our system actually leaves an intact or better forest behind.” * First published in Logging & Sawmilling Journal March/April 2023 edition. NZL 38 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

Above: There is a bear, scorpion, elephant and buffalo in Freya Logging’s cutblocks.

These are actually the model names of specific Ponsse equipment in Freya Logging’s extensive harvester and forwarder fleet. Using this equipment, and other pieces of iron, the company harvests about 350,000 cubic metres annually.

Below: Liam Parfitt, forester and part-owner of Prince George-based Freya Logging.

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Health and Safety

Road access innovation Story: Richard Stringfellow, Safetree Toroawhi

A

DESIRE TO FIND A MORE EFFICIENT, safer and reliable way to control road access to forestry sites prompted contractor, Vincent Yeoman, to create an automatic barrier arm that can be controlled by machine operators sitting in their cabs via a phone app.

Mr Yeoman, owner of Volcanic Plateau Harvesting, is now testing prototypes of the automatic barriers on his own site near Taupo and at another contractor’s site.

So far, the barriers have received a big thumbs up from those most affected by them – truck drivers and machine operators.

Currently, most forestry sites use 40 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

banners to restrict vehicle access when hazardous work like harvesting is taking place on or near the road. Trucks or other vehicles pull up to the banner and radio the hazard controller for permission to come through. The driver then has to get out of their truck and unhook the banner, drive through, stop, walk back to the banner and re-attach it, then walk back to their truck and drive on.

“We’ve timed how long that process takes and sometimes it can take up to 10 minutes per banner,” Mr Yeoman says.

“Sometimes trucks have to go through a couple of banners to get to the loading site, then back through those same banners on the way out, which can add

up to 40 minutes of downtime for drivers.

“It’s also inefficient for the machine operators who have to stop work while the driver walks to and from the banner to open and close it.”

That inefficiency, along with incidents where banners have been blown down or left open by mistake, spurred him to look for a better, safer way to control access to hazardous areas.

Safer and smoother The automatic barrier arms he came up with are controlled by a radio that connects via Bluetooth to an app on the machine operator’s phone. When a truck arrives, the driver calls up on the radio

SA O IN

© Li

Above left: The automatic barrier arms in closed position.

Above right: The automatic barrier arms in open position.

Right: A phone app shows the status of the barriers.

and once it’s safe to do so, the machine operator will use their phone app to open the barrier and let the truck through, then close the barrier again.

“Truck drivers love it because they’re trying to do as many loads a day as they can. They don’t want to be spending their

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Health and Safety

time taking banners up and down,” Mr Yeoman says.

Dan Coughey, a truck driver with Northern Linehaul, says the automatic barriers save him a lot of time, particularly when he’s visiting crews three or four times a day.

“You just call up the crew and when it’s safe they flick the switch and let you in,” he says.

“You don’t feel like you’re holding up the felling machines so much because they’re not waiting around wondering when you’re coming through. So, it makes the whole operation run a lot smoother.

“And of course, I especially appreciate not having to get out of the cab to open and close the banners when it’s hammering down with rain!”

A Safetree certified contractor, Mr Yeoman says as well as saving time, the system is safer because it monitors the barrier arms to confirm they are working properly, and provides status messages about what they are doing.

“It’s best practice to monitor all the signage being used to keep your site safe.

Top: Vincent Yeoman, owner of Volcanic Plateau Harvesting.

Left: Laz Beetsma, harvester operator at Volcanic Plateau Harvesting.

42 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

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There have been incidents where banners have fallen down in the wind or have been left down. So being able to monitor them via the app gives peace of mind for me as the contractor, as well as for the operator.”

Laz Beetsma, harvester operator at Volcanic Plateau Harvesting, says he really appreciates being able to monitor the barrier from his cab.

“A big drawback of the banner system we used previously was that the wind could blow them over or someone could forget to reattach them, and you wouldn’t know unless you went down and did a visual check,” he says.

“Now I can just glance over my shoulder at the phone in its cradle and check from there. It’s much safer and more reliable.”

Above: The automatic barriers make it easier for trucks to access the site.

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Health and Safety

Volcanic Plateau Harvesting crew.

The app is easy to use and definitely saves a lot of time, he adds: “Previously truck drivers had to get in and out of their vehicles to open and close the banners.

“Sometimes they’d have to go through multiple banners. So that ended up taking quite a lot of time, particularly in this forest where we have off-highway units that are longer than regular trucks, so drivers had to walk even further.

“Now when drivers approach the barrier arms, often they don’t even need to stop.

They just call up, and if our work situation allows it, we can open the barrier before they even get there.

Sometimes when the truck drivers first see the automatic barriers, they’re a bit stumped about what they are and how to open them, Mr Beetsma says.

“But by the time they leave, they love them. They think we should have them in all the forests.”

Benefits all round Mr Yeoman says he started developing the app about three years ago.

“Not long after that, COVID came along and that gave me three weeks to bury myself in the project and break the back of it.”

The barrier arms themselves are made from common materials and are 44 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

designed to be light, compact and easily transportable between locations.

Common components used are: • 6mm pins found at tractor parts stores, • 25mm mild steel square tube and 32mm aluminium square tube commonly in stock at local suppliers, • folded profiles made from stainless or mild steel that local service providers can manufacture given the design files, • waratahs found at the local ag store – the actuators are common and can be sourced in New Zealand.

“So, the barriers themselves can be designed by anyone inclined to do so catering to their own specific needs and our controllers could provide the remote control aspect,” explains Mr Yeoman. “We are seriously considering making our barrier arm design files public so that people can get them made themselves by their local suppliers.

We currently use our controllers with a single arm barrier designed by MacFarlane Contracting. We are working with specialists to get our controllers ready for regulatory testing so that we can become radio suppliers.”

The barriers are operated by a controller that is connected by a radio link to a monitor, then the monitor is connected to the app on the phone via a Bluetooth link.

To extend the range and avoid signal dead-spots, the system can be set up using a repeater device at a vantage point, or another machine operator can control the barriers from a different location.

Currently, the barrier arms are at the prototype stage and are being tested on site.

“At the moment we have three sets on our site that we are testing, plus several other sets being tested by another contractor,” says Mr Yeoman He expects to soon have a product that can be sold commercially.

He says he’s had support to develop the software and electrical side of the barrier arms from a couple of old university friends. His forest manager, Timberlands, has also been supportive.

The barrier arms offer benefits to contractors like him including improved efficiency and better safety, he says, but they also offer benefits to forest owners and managers.

“There’s a real productivity gain. We’re getting more work done for the same money.

“Eventually the tree owner will see the benefit from that in terms of lower log costs and lower cartage costs.”

See a video of the barrier arm in use at: https://fb.watch/n9Gj8ijdyH/ NZL

NZ Timber

Totara: Embracing native timber Totara: Embracing Embracing Sustainably harvested creations native timber S native timber Story: Paul Quinlan

We last caught up with the Northland Tōtara Working Group (NTWG) in the May 2020 edition of NZ Logger. Read on to see some of the fruits of the project’s labour.

TUDENTS AT THE CARVING SCHOOL Te Pou o Manako, in Kerikeri (a partnership between Ngāti Rehia and Northtec), have enjoyed practicing their art on tōtara timber from their local area. The timber came from a log donated

by Pāmu (Landcorp Farming). It was the biggest log from a sustainable harvest undertaken last year.

Gordon Williams, Pāmu Environment Manager – Forestry, donated the tōtara log to the school and has since seen what excellent use has been made of it. Under the tutelage of tohunga whakairo Renata Tane (of Ngāti Rahiri and Ngāti Kawa), a Te Puia trained master carver, the students produced impressive works from large slabs of the tōtara. And, to complete the circle, Kaumatua Kipa Munro, Renata and son, Cavan Muunu Te Tane, presented Gordon with a Koruru, as a sign of appreciation for the timber.

The timber came from a ‘second-growth’ tree, typical of the naturally regenerated tōtara found on many farms in Northland. It had a 71cm diameter at breast height and a 6m long knotty bole with large branches. It was the dominant tree of a group and was thinned to give space to the better-formed trees around it. The log was milled into thick slabs which were halved in length, providing plenty of timber for use.

Mr Tane says, “Tōtara always carves pretty well – even the sapwood. And knowing that it comes from our area, te riu o Ngāti Rehia, is a special connection. We always get asked where the wood is from.”

46 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

Having large slabs for the students to work on was also really appreciated. Bigger pieces mean more wood to come off, which slows things down, and enables him to get around to all the students in time to help avert difficulties.

Mr Tane also thinks having a supply of sustainably managed, regenerating tōtara is great for the future of carving, as an important source of timber to practice on and keep the skills alive.

“The opportunity to utilise our own native timber is preferable to anything else,” he says.

Top: Pāmu Environment Manager, Gordon Williams, was given this koruru from Ngāti Rehia to acknowledge the donated timber.

Above: The freshly harvested log was debarked and delivered to Northtec’s Kerikeri campus. It was slabbed and used green by the students of Te Pou o Manako.

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NZ Timber

Herenga Waka, by Lyonel Grant, commissioned for the new Hyatt Hotel in the Wynyard Quarter, Auckland. (Photo: Lyonel Grant.)

Laminated totara for carving

S

OURCING READY-TO-USE TŌTARA timber in large dimensions for carving projects can be difficult. Lyonel Grant, renowned tohunga whakairo, artist, sculptor, and designer (of Ngati Pikiao and Te Arawa Whanui), has trialled carving laminated timber from the Tōtara Industry Pilot (TIP) project.

“The regen totara was totally adequate for this application. The method of construction was aided by having the material in uniform sizes which made sorting, machining, and assembly easier. I found also that it was a very frugal way to achieve form. There was the inevitable issue of opposing

and overlaying grain variances. However, nothing insurmountable”.

The timber from the TIP project, was sustainably harvested from regenerated tōtara trees off three different farms in Northland. It was a mix of grades – mostly coloured boards that included some young heartwood and sapwood, all 50mm thick, kiln-dried, before being laminated together.

Mr Grant adds: “While I found the product to be totally ‘carveable’, it would probably be comparable in texture and colour to firm sap wood of ‘old-growth’ material. I found the regen material an ideal substitute for

old-growth timber, especially if the resulting work was destined for a commercial client, thus preserving current stocks of old-growth for more traditional or customary applications.

“I would add that, on another project, I did get the material pressure-treated prior to assembling the form. Because that particular finished carving was going to be outside, I thought it wise to have it treated”.

When asked if he would use it again, he replied: “If a future project required a substantial amount of timber to realise, I would certainly look to the regen product as an option”.

Fashioning furniture I

The NTWG offers free membership to anyone interested in managing native forests and using native timber. To join, visit: https:// www.tanestrees.org.nz/

NNATE FURNITURE IS A NEW ZEALAND company taking a stand on environmental principles. The company manufactures in Christchurch, using sustainable local materials and New Zealand timbers.

Founders, Guido Loeffler and Nick Lee, were keen to trial timber from the Tōtara Industry Pilot (TIP) project as a possible fit with the company’s ethos and product range. They used kiln-dried, mixed-grade, tōtara timber from the TIP project’s harvests.

Mr Loeffler says, “We have started incorporating more tōtara over the past couple of years as it ticks every box of what we strive for when choosing a timber species for making furniture.

“We love the fact it is a native species that grows in abundance in Aotearoa, and has a rich history, but also that it is a paler wood compared to the rimu and beeches we commonly use. This allows us

Totara timber features in a new product line. (Photo: Innate Furniture.)

48 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

to use a wider range of stain colours. Our experience has proven there is no issue with the ‘oiliness’ of the timber as some claim, perhaps because it is new-growth tōtara. In any case, our natural tung oil stains and finishes adhere and dry very well. It is stable, beautiful, and a resource

available in sufficient volumes for the future.”

He is enthusiastic about the future of tōtara: “We are backing tōtara to become a pillar of our business in the future and look forward to incorporating it into our larger contracts.” NZL

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your voice The voice of forestry contractors since 2002

Forestry alliance launches in Te Tairāwhiti A MESSAGE FROM PRUE YOUNGER, CEO, FICA

Iwi have joined with the forestry industry (including FISC and FICA) and government agencies to launch a new collective to improve forestry culture, hauora, health and safety for kaimahi in Te Tairāwhiti.

The Forestry Community Health and Safety Alliance, known as Te Kawa a Tāne, was launched on August 30th at Te Poho o Rawiri marae.

The alliance is underpinned by te ao Māori principles and values and was created following five regional leadership wānanga. These huis involved Te Rūnanga o Tūranganui-akiwa and Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Porou.

“We know that Māori forestry workers in Te Tairāwhiti are seriously injured and killed at work at a disproportionate rate. This alliance presents a real opportunity for the community to work together to improve health and safety outcomes. We all have a lot of work to do in Aotearoa to better protect our forestry kaimahi from harm,” says WorkSafe’s Chief Executive, Phil Parkes.

The kawa (vision) of the alliance is that all people in the forestry industry are kept safe and live longer, whānau prosper, natural environment thrives, and the economy is stable.

“After being part of the Te Kawa a Tāne rōpū for the past six months and seeing first-hand the sincerity and commitment shown by all involved, I have no doubt that we are on the verge of something big,” says Tene Hicks, one of the forestry kaimahi leaders involved.

The alliance is co-chaired by Ronald Nepe of Te Rūnanga o Tūranganui- a-Kiwa, and Philip Hope of the Eastland Wood Council.

“The most important asset in forestry is our kaimahi.

Improving the safety culture for this high-risk industry requires leadership with a regional collective approach.

Eastland Wood Council, in conjunction with its members and stakeholders, is totally committed to supporting Te Kawa a Tāne, which employs an evidence-based approach that uplifts the mana of our kaimahi,” says Mr Hope.

An accord has been created by the alliance which sets out commitments for those who sign it, to give effect to making a measurable difference in forestry to improve the culture and wellbeing within the forestry industry.

Te Wānanga Rangatira Te Kawa a Tāne signals WorkSafe’s collective programme response to addressing the equity gap between Māori and non-Māori forestry workers in Te Tairāwhiti.

Background - Engagement plan Forest Harvesting in Te Tairāwhiti remains one of the most hazardous workplaces in Aotearoa. Kaimahi Māori are the most at-risk from serious injuries and fatalities on the forestry site. Environmental conditions, such as working in remote, isolated locations, and on steep terrain compound a variety of underlying root causes, collectively creating a high risk workplace for all Kaimahi. This engagement plan is WorkSafe’s approach to building and shaping relationships with Iwi-Māori communities and stakeholders to a point where regional collaboration can occur. It does not focus on regional health and safety system changes or improvements, simply because that is the enduring kaupapa of the community themselves, and one that can only be improved and sustained by them. This plan addresses a significant gap in the overall Health and Safety programming for Kaimahi M`aori, wh`anau and community in Te Tair`awhiti.

What was the problem that needed to be solved?

Nationwide, Māori workers experience a rate of serious injury that is on average higher than non-Māori across all industries and sectors nationally. In the forestry sector, Māori workers make up a significant part of the injury (34% of the workforce). This proportion is likely higher when examined on a regional basis. Data for Te Tairāwhiti records 147 serious injuries and 4 fatalities between 2012 and 2020.

This includes logging and support services (pruning) but excludes transportation (road accidents involving trucks do not include details of which industry the truck is associated with, but it is likely that logging truck accidents increase both the number of serious injuries and fatalities associated with the forestry industry). The Hauora Health and Safety equity gap that exists in the region must change.

Prue Younger CEO, FOREST INDUSTRY CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION

50 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

What makes a good safety meeting?

The topic of safety meetings has come up a few times recently with different contractors. In particular, the question of how many we need to actually do per year.

Many forest management companies are wanting their contractors to undertake safety meetings every month.

My viewpoint on this is that it is a box-ticking exercise from their side and having a safety meeting every month doesn’t add any value to the logging contactor’s business. You don’t need to have a safety meeting every month - I find with the crews I work with having a good safety meeting every two months is best. Depending on the time frame you set for safety meetings you need to ensure that it lines up with what you have stated in your Health and Safety policies.

The reason why I think a safety meeting every month is unnecessary and doesn’t add value to a business is, we undertake a detailed tailgate meeting every morning - these are mini safety meetings. We discuss incidents or near hits that may have occurred on the previous day and hazard alerts that have been issued to industry. I think we need to take a step back and take a practical approach sometimes.

So, what makes a good safety meeting? it all starts with the preparation. Ensure you plan what you’re going to talk about; don’t just pull a sheet out and say, “Let’s have a safety meeting, who has got anything to say?”.

Put together an agenda, find some relevant information to discuss with the crew, print out some hazard alerts to go over etc. Use the meeting to go over a policy or procedures, or a few identified hazards in the risk register as a refresher for the crew. Turn it into a bit of an event, have a barbeque for lunch then have the meeting.

Choose an emergency procedure to discuss and have a mock emergency around this. Recently we have been going over our emergency procedure for a vehicle accident and have been undertaking a mock emergency around this.

It all comes down to the preparation and keeping things relevant and fun. Have a lot of laughs, take the piss out of each other etc. It all helps to get your guys engaged in the meeting.

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October 2023 | NZ LOGGER 51

YOUR VOICE. WHAT DOES FICA DO? As the voice of contractors, FICA aims to partner with other forestry entities and work in collaboration to support the growth, capability and promotion of the forestry industry throughout New Zealand. Here are some of the latest programmes and initiatives FICA is delivering and/or contributing to.

GOVERNMENT ADVOCACY FOR CONTRACTORS AND WIDER INDUSTRY ISSUES

MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING INITIATIVES INCLUDING BE A MATE IN FORESTRY NATIONAL PROGRAMME

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join today The voice of forestry contractors in New Zealand since 2002.

52 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

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Safety/performance/quality

The highest of s THIS ISSUE IS PRETTY SIMPLE – WE FEATURE photographs of some of our top Period 2 achievers from the East Coast and Bay of Plenty and crews they work in.

These guys are out there representing our industry, doing their work professionally and to the highest of standards.

Ka mau te wehi! Awesome individuals, awesome teams and awesome people behind the scenes supporting them in what they do!!

Sponsors – they don’t have to do this but they choose to!

is to get out and support those businesses that support New Zealand.

Participating companies

Awesome companies, awesome people and awesome support!

They back you and your workmates to succeed as professionals, so why wouldn’t you support them?

They believe in what we do and what you do.

So, a big ongoing thank you to our Strategic Partners – STIHL and NZ Logger and sponsor SWAZI. The best way to keep our industry working

This competition wouldn’t be what it is without our participating companies who have all participated in or continue to influence the way in which we operate.

We understand the commitment it takes from them to be part of Top Spot and value their ongoing support and feedback.

Our ongoing thanks to: Rayonier/Matariki Forests, Wenita Forest Products, Ernslaw One, OneFortyOne New Zealand, Crown Forestry, Forest View Contracting, Makerikeri Silviculture (2020), Mitchell Silviculture, Puklowski

Daniel Keefe, CMH Contracting 59.

Grant Talbot, CMH Contracting 60.

54 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

Silviculture, Gutsell Forestry Services, Johnson Forestry Services, McHoull Contracting, Wayne Cumming Contracting, Howard Forestry Services, Inta-Wood Forestry, Heslip Forest Contracting, Otautau Contractors, X Men Forestry, Proforest Services, FM Silviculture, Tane Mahuta, Waikato Forestry Services, Rai Valley Silviculture, Thomassen Logging, Forest View Logging, Griffin Logging, Penetito Forestry, Pride Forestry, Mangoihe Logging, CMH Contracting, Kaha Logging, Roxburgh Contracting, Te Waa Logging, Mike Hurring Logging, Bluewood Logging, Storm Logging, Onward Logging, Down and Out Logging, Forest Pro Logging, Eastside Logging, Lahar Logging, Moutere Logging, JD Harvesting, Whisker Logging, Kimberly Logging, Dewes Contractors, Dempsey Logging.

Into safety?

Into performance?

Into quality?

Contact Shane Perrett on 0274 781 908, 07 3483037 or at primefm@xtra.co.nz. NZL

Chris Barnes, CMH Contracting 61.

f standards

Safety/performance/quality

The Dewes Contractors crew, Gisborne, from left: Daniel Cobden, Nelson Moran, Quinnton Collins, Scott Torrie, Terry Robin, Tahi Hiroki, Willy Saddlier and Ebony Tuari (crouching).

Daniel Cobden.

Ebony Tuari.

Tahi Hiroki.

Quinnton Collins.

Nelson Moran.

October 2023 | NZ LOGGER 55

Safety/performance/quality

The Raywood Contracting crew, from left: Corey Malcolm, Reece Tamanui, Nukumai Jansen, Anthony Stanley, Errol Maaka and Mike Podjursky.

Nukumai Jansen.

Reece Tamanui.

Corey Malcolm.

Anthony Stanley.

Mike Podjursky.

Errol Maaka.

56 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

Safety/performance/quality

Aaron and Dion, Inta-Wood Forestry.

Richard Mason, Forest Pro Log 1.

Rob Hawker, Forest Pro Log 1.

Elroy Marsh, Eastside Logging 16.

Marty Strybosch, Eastside Logging 16.

Morehu Tangaere, Eastside Logging 16.

October 2023 | NZ LOGGER 57

NEW CAT FOR NS LOGGING NS Logging ’s Luke Morris has taken delivery of a new Cat 330GC which has been put to work in the Omataroa Forest, performing shovel logging and loading. It is guarded by PFS and runs an Ensign 1730 grapple. Sold

by Mark Costello, Terra Cat Territory Account Manager Forestry, Rotorua.

SANY FOR DOUGLAS LOGGING It’s a pumper! Douglas Logging Dargaville has taken delivery of a Sany SY415H Harvestline package running a Hawkeye Grapple carriage. Machine delivered and serviced by Shaw’s and EMS.

JOHN DEERE/SATCO COMBO FOR ELLIOT LOGGING Elliot Logging, based in Hawke’s Bay, has taken delivery of a new John Deere 959MH and Satco processor. Working in Gwavas Forest, this machine will fell and process. The 959MH was set up with the new Satco cut-to-length software. Machine sold and serviced

by Brandt Equipment.

KOMATSU FOR ROXBURGH CONTRACTING

JOHN DEERE/SOUTHSTAR COMBO FOR PATON LOGGING

Roxburgh Contracting has taken delivery of a new Komatsu PC400 Harvestline. Operator, Blair, who has run Havestlines for many years, impressed with his control and cycle speed. Owner, Lawson says he has definitely worked her hard and felt the results.

Machine sold by Komatsu Forest and EMS.

Paton Logging has taken delivery of a new FD750 Southstar on a John Deere 959 which is operating in the Dargaville region. Sold

by Southstar New Zealand.

58 NZ LOGGER | October 2023

NEW CAT FOR RIBBONWOOD LOG EXTRACTION Ribbonwood Log Extraction has taken delivery of a new Cat 538LL forest machine which replaces an older model Cat 538. Featuring the updated rear-entry operation station and a Duxson grapple, the 538 has operator Jamie enjoying the extra room in the cab as well as the increased visibility and Next Gen technology. Unit sold by Mark Costello, Terra Cat Territory Account Manager Forestry.

WEILER B758 FOR MOIR LOGGING This Weiler B758 felling machine, recently delivered to Moir Logging, is pictured out in the logging operation near Murchison.

Cat-powered Weiler track feller bunchers provide strong lift and full reach, a key benefit in big wood. Nelson-based Jayden Peek, Territory Account Manager Forestry for Terra Cat, took the photo.

ANOTHER SANY FOR LOGGABULL Brian and Dale at Loggabull have taken delivery of another Sany SY330H. Joining Crew 43 in Tokoroa, this machine will be taking care of all fleeting and shovelling duties. Sold and serviced by Shaw’s.

NEW MACHINERY FOR LEALAND LOGGING

JOHN DEERE FOR BURGESS CONTRACTING

Lealand Logging’s Crew 046, working in the Kaingaroa Forest, has taken delivery of a second new John Deere 624P loader. Fitted with Ensign log forks, the 624P is the latest ‘Premium Spec’ loader offered by John Deere.

Brandt Feilding recently delivered a new John Deere 959MH tracked harvester, coupled with a Woodsman Pro DFH1350 felling head, to Burgess Contracting.

October 2023 | NZ LOGGER 59

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