Forest Talk
Pay-as-you-go perpetuates potholes, says NRC
New Zealand has badly potholed roads because road maintenance is inadequately funded from pay-as-you-go road user charges (RUC) levied on trucks instead of being well-funded and built as core infrastructure from the outset, says National Road Carriers (NRC) COO, James Smith.
“We fund our roads on a consumption model rather than an investment model, so we are constantly falling behind,” he says.
Mr Smith says a recent opinion piece in The Northern Advocat..... more
Pine pollen promises profits
Pine Pollen New Zealand, trading under the name Bio Gold, has received $288,500 in Government funding through the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund (SFF Futures) to lay the foundations for a pine pollen industry in New Zealand.
“Pine pollen has been consumed for health and wellbeing in China, South Korea and Japan for more than 3000 years,” says Bio Gold founder Carl Meyer.
“It’s been found to contain a naturally occurr..... more
Protect your eyes and ears
New research shows that 65% of tradies are putting their hearing at risk and 51% are putting their eyesight at risk by not wearing protective equipment on site.
The research, commissioned by Specsavers, provider of optometry and audiology services, revealed that 71% of trades people who have worked in the industry for more than ten years say they believe that their work has had a negative impact on their hearing while 45% said their eyesight had been negatively af..... more
Right tree right place
The first trees have been planted for an ambitious programme to future-proof farms, support rural communities and improve the environment.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and global environmental non-governmental organisation, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), is leading and funding the programme, currently known as Right Tree Right Place, in partnership with landowners.
The project aims to support farmers’ vision for their land, including planting of trees on marg..... more
Bioenergy: Don’t leave it on the forest floor
The lack of electricity supply security because of thermal generation plant unavailability reinforces the importance of the need for an integrated Energy Strategy, says the Bioenergy Association. Greater use of bioenergy and biofuels which are storable energy forms would ensure that electricity supply can be optimised says the Bioenergy Association.
Brian Cox, Executive officer of the Bioenergy Association says, “The news that Transpower had to declare an electric..... more
Fast forwarding
The “suicide track” on Kent McKerras’ log site on River Ridge, a forest managed by Forest 360 about 25 minutes north of Whanganui, offers a challenging test for a Tatra 8x8 forwarder as the NZ Logger Iron Test soon found out.
Compared to purpose-built forwarders, the Tatra is fast. While a dedicated forestry forwarder will do 7 to 17.5kph, this Czech Republic-made unit will do a bit over 30 kph in this terrain unloaded, with a top speed of 110 kph in better grades..... more
Search Articles
NZ Logger Magazine
Read Now
"if a tree falls in a forest...?"
Forest Talk will hear it!
