Native Timber Forestry

Ross and Heather Vivian own a 1500 acre property inland from Stratford; half of which is still in original native bush. There they mill native timber for the local market.

Ross has a background in dairy farming. He told me he was also involved in deer shooting and live capture in earlier years. He and Heather are in their late 60s but in no way ready to retire.

Fourteen years ago they bought a 1500 acre block. After they bought the property they worked with the Ministry of Forestry to establish a sustainable forest harvest plan. They now supply timber such as Rimu, Miro, Tawa, Rewarewa, Rata and White Pine to all parts of New Zealand.

Under the stringent terms of the sustainable forest harvest plan the volume of native timber they can harvest each year is limited. For example Ross says they are limited to 10 cube per year of Rimu.

An Annual Logging Plan is required for any year in which harvesting is proposed. The Annual Logging Plan must be approved by MAF before the forestry owner begins any work or harvesting in the forest.

The Annual Logging Plan must:

describe your proposed methods of harvesting, including the machinery you will use;

specify all special logging requirements, such as directional felling;

include maps showing:

• the proposed harvest locations or areas from which individual trees or small groups will be harvested during the term of the Annual Logging Plan,

• the locations of roads, tracks and landings present or to be established for extracting timber during the term of the Annual Logging Plan,

• all waterways and topography, supplemented by written description.

MAF sometimes asks the owners to measure and record the location (using GPS) of all kauri and podocarp trees that are to be harvested, and to include this information in the Annual Logging Plan.

For every tree they cut down they plant another four. The plan is reviewed every 10 years. Theres a ready market for their timber (for example, much of their Rimu is made into furniture). Theres a business in Wanganui that takes their timber run by Karl Sorensen.

Their business takes them all over New Zealand which has allowed them to meet and become friends with a large number of people at a time when many of their peers would be looking to retire.

They work together in the bush; felling, milling and recovering the timber. It is dangerous work - from the bulldozing of tracks in the bush, milling the 800+ year old trees on site through to the loading and unloading of the helicopter during recovery operations.

Ross has developed and modified a lot of his equipment to suit the local bush conditions and the challenges that the milling and recovery of the timber present. Hes keen on old diggers and earth moving gear.

After a hard days work in the bush, Ross and Heather relax in their bush-bach on the property where they can hand feed some of local wild deer and pigs who have become quite tame.