West Coast's winning logging crew

• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Publication title: West Coast Farming Times, The

Bundi Road Logging won the outstanding environmental management award at the recent Canterbury West Coast Wood Council awards

Nominated by forestry owners, Ngai Tahu, the logging crew's work in the steep-sided Cockeye Creek, near Marsden, in August 2020, saw them build a bridge of logs over which they moved felled timber without damaging the stream bed.

Foreman Braedyn Smith, said the crew picked times when the creek was low to move the logs across to the other side of the creek where they were extracted by the hauler to the landing.

Former crew member, Scott Price, who was skilled and experienced in the tracked feller-buncher, ensured the trees were felled safely and efficiently when harvesting the block at Cockeye Creek The thoughtful approach "ensured the waterway's" environmental integrity stayed intact, with any disturbance to the river system and surrounding environment was negligible, said the Wood Council's chief executive, Erica Kinder.

Crew owner, Stephen Rothera, said he was shocked when the crew was announced as outstanding environmental winners in last month's award presentation in Wigram's Aircraft Hall.

"There was a bit of stuttering going on." Other West Coast winners included Hahn's Logging, which was nominated for Contactor of the Year, and Owen Fisher, from T Croft Transport Ltd, won the Distribution Excellence Award.

Mr Rothera said the crew was rightly proud of its achievement.

Today the 10-person crew, which includes one woman, are back in the forest doing the hard graft - all safely seated in mechanised gear.

Gone are the forestry days when workers on the ground had to dodge rolling or falling trees, or moving machinery chains.

Now experienced logger Steve Milroy operates a tracked feller-buncher which fells and bunches the trees on steep slopes - aided by independent winch assist and its automatic levelling ability to keep it stable.

In the hauler Barry Lynch pulls the raw logs to the...