Forest Talk

With Lake Taupo Forest closed, New Zealand Forest Managers (NZFM) says in the passing weeks since Cyclone Gabrielle, it is starting to understand the impacts it has had on our forests and lands, and on next steps to take. 

NZFM is prioritising minimising health and safety risks to the general public. It has had all stand adjacent to public roads assessed, and is removing those deemed high risk – which are mainly in the Rangipō area. Priority is ..... more

Grimmer Contracting’s new Komatsu 895.2SS forwarder is the first SpeedShift in New Zealand. In other words, it enables operators to use the machine's full speed range without having to stop to change gear. SpeedShift automatically shifts the machine up a gear as the operator increases speed, which results in both lower fuel consumption and higher average transport speed, says Komatsu. Our Iron Test Team decided to find out for themselves. 

Signi..... more

The winners of the Norwood New Zealand Rural Sports Awards 2023 were recently announced at a gala dinner at Awapuni Racecourse in Palmerston North. The Awards celebrate the remarkable achievements and dedication of rural athletes and supporters who significantly promote and sustain rural sports in New Zealand.

Judging Panel Convenor, Nathan Twaddle, says it was an exciting evening celebrating those who have made a lasting impact on the rural sporting..... more

Following on our report on the impressive achievements of Dad, Jack Kuru (NZ Logger, July 2019), we catch up with Kuru Contracting’s Ricky Kuru, to find he is more than following in his father’s footsteps.

What started as a small business building forestry roads, became a hugely-successful log harvesting and forestry roading operation.

The business was not without its challenges before Jack bought Ricky out, but this East Coast forestry force i..... more

It has been a good while since we Iron Tested a Hyundai machine and it’s quite striking to see the Hyundai HX400 processor at first, says Iron Tester, Tim Benseman. “It makes you want to know what’s going on here with that cool colour scheme and also what the R&D team have been up to at Hyundai.”

He adds: “When running Hyundai 210’s in forestry land prep in recent years I found them noteworthy for their increased control speed and their striking fuel..... more

The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) says that the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry (NES-PF) are failing to protect the coastal marine environment from the significant adverse effects of sedimentation associated with plantation forest harvesting. This has been starkly apparent in Tairāwhiti, but it is a nationwide problem.

“The NES-PF permits harvesting and associated earthworks of plantation forestry on erosion prone land...... more