It's been 26 years in the making, but on Wednesday the first truckloads of logs were carted out of the Waikare forest in the Waitotara Valley, north of Wanganui.
It's a significant milestone because the logs were the first to be harvested from the 90 forests that have been established by Waverley-based company, Roger Dickie New Zealand.
Mr Dickie planted Waikare in 1989 before he started syndicating new forests and attracting investors. He has amassed a portfolio of 29,000 hectares of forests planted in the Wanganui district but mainly in the Hawke's Bay and East Coast regions.
Richard Bourne, marketing manager for the forestry investment company which is now the largest of the private investor groups in the country, said Waikare would take three to four years to harvest. Next year logging will start in another forest and cutting would grow exponentially from that point.
"In some cases we planted six or eight forests in a year and when we start cutting those trees we'll have a significant number of crews working the forests," he said.
Early investment in Mr Dickie's forest syndicates came from New Zealanders but they now attract money from around the world.
"We've just come back from Europe and we've had good inquiry level there," he said.
"Most of those people are looking to buy into existing forests. They love the country and our economy and we are rated very highly as a place to do business."
Most of the logs from the 425ha Waikare forest will be exported through New Plymouth's port.
At this stage the main market is China but some will be diverted to the domestic market.
Forest manager Steve Bell said the log volumes from the forest, about 10km up the Waitotara Valley from Waitotara village, had been estimated at 640 tonnes per ha, which he said was an "excellent" figure.
"It's a generally sheltered valley getting good rainfall so this is a very good return."
Mr Bourne said the company was using local contractors wherever possible. Cashmore Contracting of Wanganui is creating and metalling the more than 20km network of roads in the forest and R and L Freight of Waverley is carting the logs.
By mid-March harvest at the Waikare will be in full swing. Currently there are six in the logging crew working but foreman Clint Newland said another eight staff were arriving shortly.
One loader was working on Wednesday and only two truckloads left the site. But when a second loader arrives there will be at least 18 truckloads a day leaving the site, carrying out the equivalent of 500 tonne of logs every day.
Mr Bell said as well as spending on forest roads, the company had also made a contribution to the South Taranaki District Council for the upkeep of the Waikare Rd, the main public road access from the forest to State Highway 3 at Waitotara village.