Pan Pac Forest Products

28/04/2026

Electric fishing! We teamed up with our contractor M.W Lissette to do a spot of electric fishing to safely relocate hundreds of fish before reinstating a section of stream that had changed course during Cyclone Gabrielle.

28/04/2026

🎣⚡ A spot of fishing – but not as you know it!
Last week, we teamed up with our contractor M.W. Lissette to relocate fish from a 400m section of stream in Tangoio Forest near the mill. Using a technique called electric fishing, which briefly and safely stuns the fish, the team was able to catch and release over 300 fish as part of work to reinstate a section of forestry road. During Cyclone Gabrielle, the stream changed course and started flowing down the road – not ideal with harvesting coming up. Before diverting the stream back to its pre-cyclone course, electric fishing was used to collect fish, including long and shortfin eel, redfin bullies, torrentfish and adult whitebait kōaro and release them to the original section of the stream.

This activity is a great way to show our contractors and staff the abundance of aquatic life in the streams running through our forests, and why we do our best to protect streams during harvesting and roading activities. Before carrying out the stream diversion, Pan Pac gained consent from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council and engaged with local iwi, who were happy with our approach to this environmentally sensitive work.

17/04/2026

Great to welcome the National Association of Women in Construction (NZ) to our Whirinaki site this week! We're looking forward to moving into our new Central Support Hub later this year

07/04/2026

Congratulations Humphries Family, deserved winners of the Pan Pac Farm Forester of the Year award at the 2026 Napier Port Hawke's Bay Primary Sector Awards. 👏🏆

🏆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 | Pan Pac Forest Products Farm Forester of the Year

The Humphries Family have built a truly integrated “forest to furniture” model – capturing value across the full forestry cycle through an on-farm sawmill and diversified income streams.

Their approach combines environmental stewardship with practical farming outcomes, including native bush protection, biodiversity enhancement, and wetland development.

A standout example of forestry working alongside farming to strengthen long-term resilience.

22/03/2026

This month, we welcomed a marketing and film team from Springer Maschinenfabrik to our Whirinaki mill. Springer, a global leader in innovative wood processing solutions based in Austria, are in Australia and New Zealand filming and speaking to customers for a series of social media videos. Springer recently supplied and installed our new log infeed system, so we were happy to help. Four Pan Pac staff were interviewed for the video, sharing their experience with the Springer log infeed and how it has helped improve efficiency and productivity in our sawmill.

17/03/2026

17/03/2026

The bugs (or macroinvertebrates) living in our streams and waterways tell us lots about the health of an ecosystem. Broadly speaking the more sensitive bugs present, the healthier the stream. Last year, we started an annual programme of macroinvertebrate monitoring across our forest estate, and we found that our 5 sites scored in the top 10 when compared to data from the Regional Council’s 90 monitoring sites.

Dan, our Environmental Advisor, shows us how it’s done in the video below 👇

09/03/2026

It’s not every day you get to name a kiwi 🥝

On Sunday, a group of Pan Pac staff and their families gathered at ECOED’s kiwi creche at Lake Opouahi Scenic Reserve for a truly special experience – a meet and greet with a wild kiwi.

It was a big day at the creche, with two kiwi also getting ready to be released back into the Kaweka Forest Park. Before they headed off, the group got the honour of choosing a name for one of the kiwi. In keeping with the ‘Batman villains’ theme of the bloodline (dad’s name is Riddler), three options were given – Quinn, Penguin and Echo. It was a close vote, but Echo was the winner!
After the kiwi naming, a tracking activity gave the group first-hand experience in using an aerial and receiver to track a transmitter, which was attached to a toy kiwi hiding in the bush.

Ngā mihi, thank you to the team at ECOED (Save Our Kaweka Kiwi) for sharing your knowledge and experience with us – Pan Pac is proud to sponsor the work that you do.

27/02/2026

Come on down to Hawke's Bay Rescue Helicopter Trust Open Day! Lots of family fun. Visit Pan Pac's stand and be in to win prizes from the Urban Kakabeak Project

10/02/2026

Kia ora! We are now taking applications for the 2026 funding round. Head to our website https://ppet.org.nz/ to find out more and to apply.

08/01/2026

Please note: Pan Pac Forest Products Ltd will suspend all forestry operations this weekend in response to the extreme fire danger forecasted, driven by high temperatures and strong winds. This precautionary measure includes:
• Closure of Pan Pac Eskdale Mountain Bike Park
• Suspension of all recreational activities and events within Pan Pac’s Mohaka, Esk, Kaweka, and Gwavas forests.

Public easement routes through these forests to Department of Conservation (DOC) land will remain open. However, all visitors are urged to exercise extreme caution.
Safety is our top priority. We appreciate the public’s understanding and cooperation during these high-risk conditions and expect to back in full operation on Monday.