Working in the snow-damaged trees of Wenita's 13,141 hectare Berwick Forest has been a real safety challenge for Milton (Otago) based contractor Pete Roxburgh and his crew of seven. But investing in a heap of new gear - felling, processing and forwarding - has taken away a lot of the risk - and boosted production and value recovery as well. "That snow-damaged stuff was dangerous for ground-based fellers because a lot of sailers were left after big snow falls. The weight builds up and breaks off somepretty big branches which get wedged between trees or other branches... anybody cruising around underneath has to really watch it," says Roxburgh.
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