| 47 JDS Logging FORESTRY Dan and his team became increasingly involved in manual logging operations and in 2021 the call was made to rebrand as JDS Logging. first rotation, so that the roading crew can come in behind us and build the roads that provide access for the logging crews and log transporters. “Clear falling is where we harvest the trees from one side of a block to the other. A lot of the time we are operating in steep ground, requiring manual falling, but we also have multiple grapple excavators, skidders, a harvest processor, and a static delimber.” Post Cyclone Gabrielle, JDS Logging was engaged by Downer Group to help with the major clean-up operations throughout Napier and nearby areas. “Our primary role was either cleaning up the larger trees that had come down in the cyclone or removing trees that had been left in a dangerous state throughout Napier. Currently, we are working for the larger logging companies in forests around the region, but we are becoming increasingly involved in working for private woodlot owners, including farmers and investors. The woodlot side of our business is something that I will be focusing on more, because I feel the more diverse you can be the better.” The diversity that Dan refers to has also led him back to his roots, with the establishment of a complementary sister company called JDS Firewood Ltd which has the added bonus of providing a valuable outlet to process slash from skid sites. “By this time next year the firewood business will probably supersede the revenue of the logging business. We have more machinery coming in and have access to pretty much every main species of wood including pine, gum, macrocarpa, wattle, old man pine, and predominantly selling direct to customers throughout Hawke’s Bay. There continues to be an extremely high demand for firewood, and with the slash, along with trees in the woodlots that are no good for lumber, we have a really great supply.” Including Dan, JDS Logging operates a team of six, often running as two crews, with one person also operating JDS Firewood. “There continues to be an extremely high demand for firewood, and with the slash, along with trees in the woodlots that are no good for lumber, we have a really great supply.”
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