It’s 72 years since John Wardle began his career in forestry. And it would be fair to say he’s seen a lot of change over that time.
Brought up in Hāwea Flat, Central Otago as part of an extended family of farmers, it made sense that he would look for an outdoor job. Finishing school at 18, John secured an opportunity as a forest labourer in Southland.
“I was lucky to gain experience in a range of forestry activities including horse extraction of small forest material, pruning with long-handled saws, cable logging and planting,” he says.
At one stage he was put in charge of a planting gang in what was the newly-established Rankleburn Forest. At the time, the operation was overseen by the District Conservator along with head foresters “who knew most of their staff from the latest-employed Red 130 [labourer]” right up to management. John recalls the Conservator he worked under with a smile and says he listened to the opinions of each of the crew “from the bottom up, as well as the top down” when thinking about policy.
When John and his wife Rosalie were married, they were even invited for a celebratory whisky in the Conservator’s office.
“There was a personal touch right through the system. You know, we’ve lost that, I think – to the detriment of forest management in general.”
Reflecting on his stint as a labourer, John credits it as being the time he learned the most about forestry. It created a good foundation for his career, which has taken him through academia, government roles and on to manage his own 120ha block, Woodside, at Mt Oxford in Canterbury.
“I got all that experience right early on, and I think that’s probably why I wanted to stay with forestry.”
Neglected block with potential
John, 90, and Rosalie, 87, bought Woodside for a song in 1973. It was derelict land at that stage. Half was regenerating Black Beech following logging and then fires in the 1890s – the other half was overrun with gorse and scrub, being seasonally grazed by around 50 sheep.
“We had no money,” he says, “but we were lucky, we managed to afford to buy the block. We had no debts except to pay for bringing in the electricity to the site.”
John knew what Woodside could become with a bit of time and effort.
“Because of my forestry background, and my experience with beech forests, I saw some potential, especially as we were able to undertake the work ourselves every holiday, every Christmas, from the ages of 37 and 34 respectively.”
At the time, John was working in research as a Senior Forest Ecologist for the Forest and Range Experiment Station – which would later become the Protection Forestry Branch of the New Zealand Forest Research Institute (NZFRI), now Scion Research, part of the Bioeconomy Science Institute.
He was put in charge of forest ecology and surveying, and worked across nearly all of New Zealand’s high country.
At the start of his time in the role, he says he worked under “a...
