Gisborne District Council - PF Olsen's thorough ap
Not only where there environmental issues related to the sensitive soils and steep slopes, there was also waahi tapu/sacred sites, close proximity to an urban area, utilities and heavy public use to deal with.
PF Olsen's thorough approach to planning, attention to detail and responsiveness to client and other stakeholder needs were key attributes to the success of the project.
Before harvesting commenced, an archaeological survey was completed and overlaid with the operational harvest plan. This ensured that the earthworks and tree felling operations planned would avoid damaging these sites.
While the planned roading and harvesting infrastructure was being constructed, local Iwi were on site to manage a response should an unknown archaeological site be uncovered.
Kaiti Hill is well utilised by the public for sight-seeing, walking, biking, fitness programmes and so forth. To ensure the public did not enter into the harvesting area, extensive advertising was undertaken informing them that parts of the hill would be closed for harvesting.
Additionally, two metre security fences were established along boundaries that were able to be accessed by foot. Power lines were present within the woodlot and a fibre optic cable within the operational area required specialist tree felling.
The main city communications tower is also located on the harvesting boundary. The major difference to most commercial harvesting operations was the requirement to remove logging slash and debris from the site.
The harvesting yielded approximately 3,800 tonnes of merchantable logs. Firewood, debris and slash removed from the harvesting site created a significant volume exceeding 2,400 tonnes.
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