NZ based 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 in August.

“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. “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.

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.

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.