Forest Talk

The Aratu Forests thinning crew was established as a trial in November 2021 from staff within one of Aratu’s existing contract crews when the Principal decided to hang his saw up. After a six-month trial the crew had surpassed all expectations, allayed senior management and the Board’s concerns, and was made permanent with approval to increase it from four to eight people.

When William Grogan, Aratu Forests’ Manager - Tree Crop, first pitched the ide..... more

Penske Australia & New Zealand has presented Shannon Dickson and Bryce Bell with the 2022 Penske Guild Master Technician awards for off-highway and on-highway, respectively.

A leading hand from Kings Park, NSW, Shannon competed with five other off-highway finalists prior to being crowned the off-highway Master Technician. 

Securing his second on-highway Master Technician award, Bryce, a diesel technician from Perth, also vied against five ..... more

With Mental Health Awareness Week running from 26 September to 2 October, Safetree says it’s a good time to think about how forestry can better look after the mental wellbeing of workers. In particular, the impact business decisions and working arrangements can have on workers’ wellbeing.

“For example, we've had feedback about the pressure  contractors and workers in Tairāwhiti are under due to low log prices”, says Acting Natio..... more

Economic growth in Marlborough for the year to June 2022 outpaced the national average according to the latest quarterly economic data released by Infometrics.

Marlborough’s GDP (gross domestic product) was up 1.4%, more than the 0.9% average for the country. However, compared to the same quarter in 2021, Marlborough was the second hardest hit region in the country with economic activity down 5.3%.

Significant constraints placed a squeeze on gr..... more

In its first year, iwi-led environmental charity, Te Tapu o Tāne owned by Ki Papatipu Rūnanga o Murihiku, has grown, sold and planted more than 150,000 plants and is moving on to some of the biggest restoration projects in the region. Its mahi involves regenerating and reinstating wetlands, riparian margins, and bringing back native forestry cover. Its area of interest is throughout the Murihiku takiwā which stretches ki uta ki tai (from the mount..... more

Some 16 million new trees, mainly pine, will be planted in Gippsland in eastern Victoria as Australia’s Victorian government invests $120 million in a soft timber plantation in the state's southeast.

Hancock Victorian Plantations will match the spend to buy, lease and manage more than 14,000 hectares of softwood plantations, an area equivalent to 7000 Melbourne Cricket Grounds.

The state government claims the new plantation will underpin 2000 n..... more