WHO WE ARE

Our Story

Starting in forestry planting trees at the age of 16, Lars Rosewarne developed his trade in the bush on gravity rollers and bulldozers. In 1989 Lars moved his focus from Land Preparation to Harvesting and started his first logging crew. Back then the process was mainly motor manual, with crews of eight people predominantly on the ground and large skids to accommodate haul tracks for skidders and rubber wheels loaders. Even then Lars thought outside the box and instead of a wheel loader was one of the first excavator-based loader crews. This was better suited to Northland clay soils, requiring fewer machine movements.

In 1997, Lars and Fiona Rosewarne secured a Key Supplier Contract with Carter Holt Harvey and Rosewarne Cable Loggers was created. At one stage they managed 13 logging crews, comprising a mix of their own crews and individual sub-contractors. Nine years later, Carter Holt Harvey put their forest up for sale. The bulk of the forest was purchased by Hancocks and Rayonier, and Rosewarne Cable Loggers continued working for both entities.

Rosewarne Cable Loggers is a family business headed by Lars and backed up by his brothers.

Colin started with Lars on land preparation and roading when he was 18 years old. He and his wife Shirley made the move to logging with a Cat TSK D5 ground base crew, before purchasing a TMY 70 hauler. Colin has covered most of the hauler country in the Rodney area and is familiar with working in difficult terrain. His efforts in this area were fundamental to Cable Logger’s beginning.

Brian runs a successful hauler crew with his partner Sonya. They are about to head to the Manawatu Region.

Karl and Tony, along with nephews Guy and Adam make up the family mix.

In 2015 Lars and Fiona’s oldest son Luke returned home to Northland and joined the business, initially as a foreman and running his own swinger crew with his wife Karyn since 2019.

Middle son Shaun is a Heavy Metal Fabricator who supports the business with equipment repairs. His drawbar for steep slope machines has proven very successful. He is also a Tower Certification Inspector.

Youngest son Derek has worked in logging since leaving school. He is a skilled multi-machine operator, working between crews who need support and assisting with training of new operators.

Rosewarne Cable Loggers has mentored and assisted with the transition of employees to becoming contractors and owning their own crews. They see this investment in people as a positive way to ensure the industry is moving forward with another generation of sound, experienced contractors.

It currently comprises 11 harvesting and two engineering crews made up of Rosewarne Contractors, Rosewarne Logging, R&R Logging, Rosewarne Yarding, Paton Logging and Hawkes Logging. Using a variety of harvesting configurations, an average of 750,000 tonnes per annum is currently produced.

Rosewarne Cable Loggers offers strong management and business skills, and the use of modern, leading-edge machinery, resulting in a high level of performance in all aspects of timber harvesting and land clearing operations.

Our Management Team

  • Lars Rosewarne - Managing Director

    Lars has lived and breathed forestry all his life, he has learnt forestry from the ground up. He started with tree planting, moved onto land development and roading, and then onto logging.

    Lars has always been innovative and forward thinking, proof being the growth of the company.

    Lars has extensive knowledge and experience in forestry operations. His opinion is held in high regard, he is often brought in at forest owner level to assist in difficult and challenging situations concerning forest harvesting and engineering planning.

  • Fiona Rosewarne - Administration Manager

    Fiona has spent her working life in administration. From managing their small business office while raising a family to full time running Rosewarne Cable Loggers admin.

    Fiona has a thorough understanding of the total business, and the office is a well organized hub for all communications and information. Her team of 3 office staff also support with background operations day to day.

  • Myles Wackrow - Operations & Engineering Manager

    Myles has an extensive background of health and safety management attained from his role as Operations Manager for the port in Northland.

    In the time Myles has been with the company, he has procured considerable knowledge of forest harvesting and expanded his knowledge of the forestry supply chain.

    Myles has quickly gained the respect of all our harvesting contractors and is instrumental in coordinating with forest owners and crews. His strength is people management and the ability to keep a level head in stressful situations. He is always available to assist in any way.

  • Karl Bowman - Trainer/Assessor & Health and Safety Representative

    Karl has worked in forestry for 30 years. He has experience in all operational aspects the business. Karl started out with Rosewarne as a QC on the landing and worked his way up through the ranks until he was managing crews for cable haulers.

    In 2006 Karl started as an independent trainer assessor. His conscientious nature and meticulous approach to everything he does has seen him excel in this position.

    Karl spent two years from 2009 to 2011 in Malaysia training, assessing and developing health and safety systems for logging crews.

    He returned to New Zealand in 2011 and spent a year as an independent assessor, carrying out behavioral observations and health and safety operational audits for different forest companies and contractors in Northland.

  • Kerry Pellegrom - Health & Safety Manager

    Kerry has been with Rosewarne Cable Loggers since 2012, starting out in an administrative role. Her position grew to include liaising with the crews, field work and onsite audits which lead to the development of her role as Health and Safety Manager, an area in which she excels.

    Kerry and our provider Safe T Works work closely together to ensure our system runs smoothly. We are in our third year of using a electronic system which has proven beneficial in timely and accurate reporting.

WHAT WE DO

HOW WE WORK

Want to know more?

Call us on 09 430 3450 or contact below