48 | FORESTRY Rayonier Matariki Forests T T Kelly Deeks Better workplaces from better training Growing and managing 120,000ha of forest from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South, Rayonier Matariki Forests’ business is all about its people. Rayonier Matariki Forests (RMF) has been in the Hawke’s Bay for 25 years and in the region, has about 130 people working on its land and in its forests every day, year-round. “We put a lot of time and effort into training both our staff and our contractors, so they can run better workplaces,” says RMF Hawke’s Bay regional manager Matthew Croft. “Safer, more sustainable, more productive workplaces are very important for us.” RMF operates like a local business, with operational staff running five regional offices and managing the crews on the forest floor. The company prides itself on a strong culture and a loyal, committed team, which encourages creativity and innovation, and celebrates success. Like every industry in New Zealand right now, forestry and RMF want more dedicated, experienced, and quality staff. RMF is well known in the forestry industry for supporting industry education and career pathways with scholarships and work experience programmes. RMF employs graduates with a range of tertiary qualifications, from forestry and commerce to marketing and geography, then provides ongoing training, mentoring, and personal development programmes. “We’ve got some pretty good perks to offer too,” Matthew says. “A ute with all operational roles, a wellness allowance, flexible working conditions, and the view from the ‘office’ some days can be really amazing!” RMF is committed to New Zealand, supporting domestic manufacturing by selling as much timber as possible to domestic sawmills. Any timber that can’t be sold in New Zealand is exported, making RMF one of the biggest exporters out of Napier Port. Your Local Insurance Brokers Come to us for personal service and quality advice: Business Domestic Rural Level 1, PwC Centre, 6 Albion St, Napier 4110 Level 2, River Oaks Mews, 74 Grey St, Gisborne 4010 0800 683 557 DG Glenn Logging RMF also has a commitment to the land it works, with environmental protection and sustainability embedded in its operation and extending to every facet of its business. RMF subscribes to two independent forest certification schemes, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Standards (PEFC). The principles of these schemes provide the foundation of Rayonier’s efforts to protect and grow well-managed forests, and its customers can be confident they are buying from responsibly harvested and verified sources. “For us, sustainable forest management leads to a sustainable business that looks after the people and the land,” Matthew says. “Sustainability has to be environmental, it has to be economic, and it also has to be social. For us, that’s pretty easy to do because of what we do. Our core business is growing trees.” RMF Forests contribute to a number of important environmental and climate outcomes by absorbing carbon dioxide, increasing biodiversity, and reducing erosion. Planted forests help to conserve natural forests by providing an altruantice renewable source of wood fibre and products. Matthew says RMF is producing a low-carbon product and is pushing for a low-carbon economy. “Timber can be used for a huge range of products, from the basic fibre for energy or paper production, timber for construction, panels for furniture and cabinetry, and exciting new products where wood fibre is being used to replace petroleum based products. These all lead to a low-carbon, sustainable economy. That’s what we do.” While Cyclone Gabrielle landed RMF with a $13 million loss as well as a $3 million cleanup bill, and the company will be dealing with some of the damage for the next 25 years, Matthew says ‘we’ll be alright’. “Some people don’t like foreign ownership and big corporates but in a crisis, it provides stability and constant work. Forestry is worth about $150 million to the Hawke’s Bay economy. We’ll take the loss and carry on.” In-house programme “In total we employ 140 plus staff, ranging from very inexperienced staff right through to higher management, trainers, workshop and transport manager, to the logging crews. It’s definitely a team effort.” Rob says that DG Glenn Logging has operated its own in-house training programme for a number of years now and having that recognised by the industry is a positive affirmation, within an industry where adverse stories are not uncommon. “We’ve been operating at a high level for a long time and we have a lot of employees. As the workforce has grown the training capacity has grown as well. We consistently churn out a lot of qualifications, and we don’t have spikes when the Government has some incentive or funding. We just work away, ensuring everyone is qualified for their task. If people show interest in specific areas or choose a certain career in forestry we tailor the training towards that pathway. Training starts on the very first day with induction of our internal systems, and the systems of the companies we contract to. You can’t absorb all that information at once, so the trainee is supervised out in the field until we consider them competent enough to work unsupervised.” Rob says some people may need more encouragement than others, or some people may not be so good at reading and writing and need a little more effort put into them to get them qualified. “Quite often they’re skilled at doing the physical work, but the paperwork side needs more effort to get them through. And when they achieve certificates and national certificates they are wrapped.” Describing Torben as a humble achiever, T T from page 46 Rob says it was wonderful for him and his skill sets to be recognised by the industry. “Torben was very pleased to get the award, but shy of the recognition that he deserves. He is a true professional. He sets a very high standard for himself, and his normal day is getting it right all the time, not just because someone is watching him. While the award recognised manual tree falling, Torben is very capable in just about every aspect of forestry, whether its machine operating or manual work. He’s an excellent role model and if someone wants to learn he’s definitely the right person to pass the skills on. He’s someone who can cut a tree down and make it look natural and smooth, and he’s very efficient. A lot of it is working smarter, not harder. There are a lot of tasks in the bush where working smarter makes a difference.” DG Glenn Logging’s harvesting operations commenced about 45 years ago, and was founded by Dennis Glenn. When Rob joined the business 31 years ago, it was in the process of becoming a two-crew business. Now it operates 17 crews, primarily working throughout Hawke’s Bay, along with a processing yard at Pan Pac’s mill in Napier. “We do cable logging using log-haulers, swing-yarders and a harvest-line, and we can do steep slope felling. We do ground-based logging with everything from bulldozers, to grapple skidders to log forwarders. We have our own heavy haulage vehicles and transport our own machinery. “There’s obviously the training side of the business and we have a fully set up workshop and engineering shop. For people who are team players, motivated and interested in the industry there are very good career opportunities and they can move ahead quite fast. You have to be able to walk the talk and look after the people around you.”
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