Forest Talk

After an immense amount of work by contractors, the last closed section of State Highway 6 between Blenheim and Nelson reopened to traffic last month.

The section over the Whangamoa Hill between Hira and Rai township was the worst damaged section of the highway.

Andrew James, System Manager Top of the South, says getting it open for road users required a massive effort: “Over the last five days, we’ve had over 70 people working in the section each day. The c..... more

The mountain men of logging is what first crossed Iron Test writer, Tim Benseman’s mind when the team arrived at NAB Contracting’s steep and "bluff riddled" Manawatu block, needing a four-wheel drive just to get to their container. Then he saw that the gun loader operator was a woman named Caitlyn Thomsen. Perhaps Mountain Wo/Men of logging?

“Best loader op I have ever had actually,” says NAB owner, Nick Bunn. “She doesn’t seem to crack under pressure like some of..... more

A new report titled Adapting and mitigating wildfire risk due to climate change: extending knowledge and best practice, predicts climate change will significantly increase wildfire risk in New Zealand. It has been released by Scion’s Rural Fire Research Team and Dr Nathanael Melia, Victoria University of Wellington’s adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the National Climate Change Research Institute and director of Climate Prescience.

Highly detailed climate model si..... more

The New Zealand forestry industry has seen a huge shift from manual to mechanised harvesting in the past few years, greatly reducing risks to manual fallers and breakers-out. However, mechanised harvesting creates its own critical risks, particularly if machines and the people who operate them are working on steep and more difficult terrain.

With winch-assisted technology now widely used around New Zealand, the forestry industry identified the need for a NZ Winch-..... more

After years of development, the new range of medium excavators from Hitachi is officially available in New Zealand.

The next generation of Zaxis-7 medium excavators, including the ZX130-7, ZX135US-7, ZX160LC-7, ZX210LC-7, ZX225USLC-7, ZX260LC-7 and ZX360LC-7 Stage-V compliant models, prioritise comfort, safety, reliability, efficiency and productivity – all providing owners with opportunities to increase profits and reduce costs.

Hitachi’s TRIAS III and HIOS..... more

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