Memories of the early days in New Zealand’s logging of exotic plantations came easily to Jim Spiers when he was interviewed by Alison Brown back in 2012. 

In 1941 Jim took up one of the first technical trainee positions with the NZ Forest Service and at the onset of his training was sent to Conical Hill Forest, nine miles east of Tapanui in West Otago. The Tapanui area had five distinct plantations, known as the Pomahaka District.

“By the late 1800s,” he noted, “Government had recognised the limited potential of our native forests, which were being overcut throughout the country. To compensate for potential timber shortages and depletion of native forests, tree nurseries were set up to grow a wide variety of exotic seedlings, and plantations of these introduced species were started.”

The Pomahaka district was one of the first in the South to benefit from the new afforestation programme. Production from these newly planted forests started in the 1930s and by the mid-1950s had surpassed that of the indigenous industry.

One of the earliest of these exotic plantations in the South, Conical Hill Forest was planned and planted in the late 19th Century by British-trained foresters whose mission was to trial a range of species in likely new environments. As a result, Conical Hills Forest had possibly one of the widest range of exotics planted in New Zealand, he said. 

The species, both hardwoods and softwoods, were selected for planting according to the microclimate, aspect and soil type of each location. North American species, principally radiata pine, proved most adaptable and eventually became the basis of New Zealand’s timber industry.

At first Conical Hills forest seemed massive, Jim recalled: “Perhaps because my boss was conducting an inventory and my first job involved walking to, and within, every compartment of trees in the forest to assess tree volume for the forest’s first management plan.

 “There was no transport to the job. In those days you walked every mile!”

Jim’s next assignment was working with the horse logging gang in the stands of Conical’s European larch that were being thinned to provide posts and telegraph poles to be treated at the Conical Hills creosote plant. Research on treatment methods here would later be extended to other parts of New Zealand.

“I was the junior, the trainee, with no experience, but I did enjoy being part of the horse logging gang. It was action-packed and much more exciting than planting trees or collecting cones in the freezing South Island winter.”

Jim knew about horses. Then in his late teens, he’d been riding his uncle’s draft horse for years. But these horses were different… 

To read more, get your copy of the February 2026 edition of NZ Logger magazine, on sale from 2 February. Check the link on this page to subscribe to either a printed or digital copy (or both).