NZ Logger Magazine | March 2025
March 2025 Iron Test

Shaws Iron Test; Built to last

     Story & photos: Tim Benseman

The sparrows weren’t even thinking about their first fart when Iron Tester, Tony Hill, set off from his Tolaga Bay home base somewhere around 1AM, heading for work in the back of remote Ruatoria on the East Cape.

Around 10am he left his regular job tethered harvesting and set off on a three-and-a-half hour drive to meet us at this Iron Test in the mighty Mangatu Forest.

As for me, after traversing the frost-heaved roads of central Alaska on a recent work trip, I thought I had seen the worst roads in t...

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March 2025 Forest Engineering

Forest Engineering; The case for two-stage trucking

Ten percent of all logging operations in New Zealand now involve some form of two staging. This has prompted Forest Growers Research (FGR) and the University of Canter...

March 2025 Harvesting

Small-scale selective harvesting in action

In 2022, and then again in 2024, the Northland Tōtara Working Group (NTWG) harvested small volumes of tōtara from the same Pāmu (Landcorp Farming) property in Northlan...

Forest Talk

 
  • Built for thinnings

    Built for thinnings

    The first thing we notice about Conan Hemsworth’s Weiler H457 harvester is the staunch, oversized, heavy-duty undercarriage with a discreet zero tail cab and...

  • Connecting with landowners

    Connecting with landowners

    Gisborne District Council was on the ground last month at Porangahau Station in Te Karaka, sharing practical insights and supporting landowners at Beef + Lam...

  • First reading of farm-to-forest ban

    First reading of farm-to-forest ban

    The first reading of the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading Scheme—Forestry Conversions) Amendment Bill received strong support in Parliament late la...

  • Funding for continued NASA water and wildfire research

    Funding for continued NASA water and wildfire research

    Scion programmes aimed at Increasing water flow in New Zealand, as well as wildfire knowledge and preparedness, have received a second round of government fu...

  • Increase in urban tree planting for Selwyn

    Increase in urban tree planting for Selwyn

    Selwyn is considering a policy of “replacing one tree with at least two” after Rolleston was shown to have one of the lowest numbers of trees for a town in t...

  • Kiwis to compete in Technician of the Year awards

    Kiwis to compete in Technician of the Year awards

    The fifth annual John Deere Technician of the Year Awards honour the essential work technicians do every day to support industries critical to New Zealand’s ...

  • NZ taskforce to tackle Canadian wildfires

    NZ taskforce to tackle Canadian wildfires

    A 43-person Fire and Emergency New Zealand taskforce adds to the existing assistance in Canada this week for the Manitoba province’s wildfire response.A seve...

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