YOU ONLY GET ONE SHOT OUT IN the forest I reckon. I see it as the world’s most dangerous job. The number one thing is staying positive and coming to work fresh and clear-minded. You go to work safe; you work safe; you be safe and come home safe. That’s what I tell each and every person on a daily basis,” says James Wilson, better known in his role as logging influencer, JDubb.
With close on 40,000 followers, it’s clear his message of positivity is striking a chord with loggers around the country. And he ought to know. A third generation experienced tree faller, now also training new recruits to the industry, he’s seen it all: “I’ve seen people come in stressed, depressed, bringing with anger from home. There were a couple of times when I was younger, you know, just trying to learn how everything works, I was a part of that. As I grew older I could see the younger generation coming in and I recognised that I was once like that, so I had to change things around and just be that person that could uplift morale. Lead them in the right direction.”
That ethos comes from a solid grounding. Born and bred in Tokoroa “the timber town”, JDubb’s grandfather, Jim Wilson, was an old school logger back in the 1930s “cutting big native trees down with a handsaw”, while his father, David, with 40 years in the industry is currently foreman of Rosewarne Logging, Crew 83, where JDubb works. Then there are his uncles who own mills. JDubb dabbled in chicken farming and welding, before his true passion took root. “So it all started back from my dad’s dad, then my dad. One day my dad just said, ‘You’re gonna come start with me in forestry’. So that’s when I began. I was 19. Now I’m 34. I’ve been a tree faller for seven straight years. I’ve never been in a machine that cuts a tree down in my whole life.”
And that’s the way he likes it, his “number one most favourite job” being tree falling. When the old loggers called him by his initials, JDubb (for W), his first year in forestry, the nickname stuck, as did his calling to the forest: “I’m by myself and I feel like I’m my own boss when I’m underneath all those trees. I’m the single… the only person in amongst thousands and thousands of trees and when I take a whole tree down and leave a nice layout for the boys, I feel proud of myself. I love the sound of the tree when it cracks off the stump and hits the ground.
“If it wasn’t for my Dad I wouldn’t be in this position,” he adds. “He taught me everything to do with the bush. I might not know everything but I can give you something good out of what I’ve learnt. When he took me into the logging industry, my Dad told me that there’s a lot of good...
