Business feature: Jensen Logging
Bay of Plenty-based Jensen Logging is a family-owned and operated business
Owner and founder Russell Jensen and daughter Rachael are in the process of succession planning for her to eventually take over running of the business.
Russell first started forestry contracting in 1976, establishing his company Jensen Logging in 1989.
The company operates seven forestry crews in the Kaingaroa State Forest, the biggest forest plantation in New Zealand covering 2900sqkm in the Bay of Plenty region.
With a total of 55 employees, Jensen Logging works with contractors Timberlands, operating four tree-fell crews, with two carrying out large tree-fells, one road lining, and one salvage and clearing, plus three production thinning crews.
In addition, the company has a ‘special ops’ contract where it helps out in the forest for emergency road clearing or when trees come down.
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From left to right: Russell Brown (operations manager), Rachael Jensen, and Kevin Shepherd (042 Foreman and PC300 operator)
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Rachael works in with her father Russell and operations manager Russell Brown, across all aspects of managing the company.
"I said to Dad a while back, ‘do you want me to start stepping up and giving a hand seeing if it’s something that I like or something you would like me to do?’, and he was happy with that."
Rachael finds the work exciting and variable, which is something she likes about the job.
Although generally, her day would involve getting to the office and going through the stocks and the production, any necessary health and safety matters, getting all the paperwork and things done and set up, of late she’s been working with their thinning crews.
To date, Rachael’s not done that much machine operating, primarily due to time pressures but says she does need to get out there some Saturdays and give it a go.
"Dad’s always promoted and appreciated having woman operators in our crews.
"On our Komatsu PC400, which we sold a while back, we had a female operator; she was great and actually is still in the forestry industry though not with us any more. Plus, we’ve got a female on a Komatsu loader." Jensen Logging operates around 45 forestry-related machines, including 17 Komatsu units, split between Komatsu yellow construction machines and Komatsu red forestry machines, plus a further 45 light vehicles.
Rachael’s dad Russell bought his first Komatsu, a D41, around 35 years ago. The two most recent ones have been an 875 forwarder and a Timberpro forwarder bought in 2019.
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Jensen Logging operates around 45 forestry-related machines, including 17 Komatsu units
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"We’ve found the Komatsu machines are pretty reliable and their operators love them. They like the power and the pump flow and things like that, so the comments you get are very positive," she says.
Also on-site is a Komatsu PC300LC-8 fitted with a QS630 SouthStar harvester head, working with the company’s road lining crew.
"This crew typically spends about a week at a time on a block, cutting five to 10 metres off each side of the road, then cutting the square for the skid site where the operations happen. So, they’re opening up the block, the roads and the skids, so when the harvesting crew gets there, all the infrastructure is ready."
For more details, visit komatsu.co.nz.
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