Chris Nelson wanted to be a farmer, but in the 1960s, farming opportunities were scant. His love of the outdoors led him to forestry and a fulfilling, exciting, lifelong career in the North Island forests.
He began his training in Gwavas Forest in Hawke’s Bay then, with a mate Dave, travelled to the UK, Europe and the USA. His forestry career spanned 50 years and ended in the East Coast’s wild woodlands.Now his story has been published in Once a Forest Ranger, a book that offers a fascinating insight into decades of sweeping changes in New Zealand forestry management, driven by political ideology and changing attitudes to the natural landscape.
It brims with anecdotes of hunting, bush mishaps, quirky characters, hilarious reflections and quiet feats of strength and courage, with Chris’s personal story woven throughout.
This month we sample his story, with an extract from the book:
My work at Whangapoua Forest was both stimulating and challenging. A good proportion of the forest was mature and ready for harvesting. In this part of the Coromandel, there was no previous history or experience of exotic forest harvesting, and the locals were concerned about how these operations might affect them and the environment. There was a perception that a foreign Asian company was about to ‘rape and pillage’ the forest resource and, once all timber value had been removed, would move out and leave the mess. Nothing could have been more inaccurate than that idea. The region was well-known for the number of greenies and hippies who lived on the peninsula and were opposed to any development, activity or endeavour that might affect their lives or communities. Protest groups that in recent years had opposed gold prospecting and mining were primed for the next adversary. Once I realised the depth of hostility within the community directed towards our company, I wondered if we would get to fell one tree, let alone establish a full-scale harvesting operation.
The company was astute enough to know what was required before any operations commenced on the forest. Thomas Song, our managing director, and Bill Johnston, our North Island Manager, were both experienced and wise businessmen, foresters and managers.
My role was to provide harvesting and road engineering knowledge to set up the forest resource with the most up-to-date and appropriate harvesting and roading systems. The underlying objective was for environmentally sound, sustainable harvesting. This was a challenging proposition for several reasons:
• The initial objection from a few locals to any harvesting activity in the area.
• Much of the forest was on difficult, steep and broken terrain.
• The soil type was susceptible to erosion.
• The climate in the region was characterised by subtropical storms, often resulting in heavy, concentrated rainfall events.
• Numerous streams and rivers exit the forest directly into two main harbour systems on the east and west coasts.
• Marine farming and recreational fishing were permanent activities in these harbours.
• Forest boundaries were shared with many farm properties.
• Parts of the forest were directly visible from the state highway and other...
