Forest Enterprises expands with Gisborne-based appointment

Forest Enterprises expands with Gisborne-based appointment

Forest Enterprises, the Masterton-based forest investment and management company, has appointed a Gisborne-based regional manager to boost the management of its 10,000-plus hectare forest estate in the Gisborne region. Dan Fraser of Gisborne took up the new role this month.

“Dan’s professional forestry expertise supports our focus on harvesting in Gisborne,” says the company’s Managing Director, Steve Wilton. “He will complement the strategic alliance we have with Logic Forest Solutions Limited, our Gisborne forest supervisor. Dan and Logic work from the same office which is efficient for both companies and effective for our whole Gisborne operation.

“Our forests in the Gisborne region make up half of the total forest estate we manage, so the increased and ongoing harvest up there will be significant for us,” says Wilton. “We’re experiencing this growth in the Wairarapa too, and we know from experience that having a senior manager on-site provides all-important continuous local expertise as well as relationship management. Until now, this has been provided in Gisborne by our Masterton-based senior executives travelling regularly.

“This is our first appointment outside of Masterton since the business started in 1972,” adds Wilton. “Dan’s appointment also brings our team up to 17 staff members for the first time, and we’re still growing.”

Forest Enterprises this year expects to double its 2016 harvest volume from its forests in Gisborne, says Wilton. The company began the major programme of harvesting its Gisborne forests in February 2016 with one logging crew, and has a third crew about to start. Volume from Forest Enterprises’ Wairarapa harvest operations continues to increase year on year since it started logging in earnest in 2010. It reached 330,000 tonnes in 2016.

“We replanted more than 490 hectares of harvested area in the Wairarapa this winter,” says Wilton. “That’s about half a million radiata seedlings. It’s one of the biggest replant programmes in the Wairarapa this season.”

Fraser’s experience includes extensive green fields harvest planning, road construction projects, strategic planning and contract management, which Wilton says adds value to the whole Forest Enterprises operation.

“My priority is to ensure that we achieve maximum profitability for our investors from the harvest of their Gisborne forests,” says Fraser. “I will be particularly focussed on attracting and retaining top performing contractors, ensuring they have a robust, sustainable support network around them so they can consistently meet our high environmental and safety goals.

“I’m looking forward to working with our contractors. I’m passionate about building highly successful teams and one of the most rewarding things for me over the years has been helping young keen operators grow into highly successful companies,” says Fraser.

Forest Enterprises manages 59 forests on behalf of its investors and nine for private forest owners. Forest Enterprises’ Wairarapa forests make up 45% of the company’s total estate under management, with 5% in Hawkes Bay.

ENDS

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