Snow Merrett hasn’t been around as long as the plantations in his neck of the woods, but his logging business has grown to be the largest thinning operation in the Green Triangle. An area straddling the border of southeast Australia and southwest Victoria, the Green Triangle contains some of Australia’s most productive radiata pine forests and has been a major softwood plantation region since the early 20th century.

Snow Merrett started work in July 1974 as a chainsaw faller in the old South Australian Woods and Forests Department plantations around Mt. Gambier. In the mid-1980s he moved into post peeling in the SAPFOR plantations before they became part of Auspine Limited, one of Australia’s leading timber producers. His first move into mechanical harvesting came about five years later with Auspine, and he has built up his experience and operation progressively since then.

Today Merrett Logging is a successful and proud second-generation family operation with five members working in the business. Oldest son and 18-year employee Stuart manages training and log extractions. John has 12 years’ experience and focuses on maintenance, optimizing mechanical and electronic aspects of the machines. With four years behind him, Snow’s son Adam is a forwarder driver and backup truck driver. Snow’s wife Pat and John’s wife Nerys are responsible for administration, payroll, and account management.

Based at Penola and operating mainly in Victoria, each year Merrett Logging Pty. Ltd. harvests 90,000 cubic meters of second thinnings and 125,000 cubic meters of third thinnings under contract to Auspine’s company plantations. All product is delivered to Auspine facilities in the area.

To meet an annual production for 215,000 cubic meters of delivered product, Merrett Logging runs a fleet of six harvesters, five forwarders, and six log trucks and employs 20 operators. This allows the oldest of the harvesters to be used for training new operators and as full-time backups to harvester crews that operate on a single shift basis. The entire fleet of harvesters and forwarders is John Deere machines, making Snow Merrett one of the biggest John Deere customers in Australia.

The harvester fleet includes a 608A with 762B Timberjack head, a 608S with Waratah 622B head, a 1270A with 762B Timberjack head, and two 1270Ds with 758 Timberjack heads. The forwarder fleet consists of a 1210, a six-wheel 1410, an eight-wheel 1410, and two 1710Ds. Snow feels that the optimum life of these machines is between 12,000 and 15,000 hours, which is reached after about five years of operation. Currently some of his equipment is at or past this target and is being considered for replacement.

Most of the fleet maintenance is carried out in the company workshop at Penola. A new workshop is due to be completed shortly. Heavy maintenance goes to the South East Forest and Hydraulic Centre in Mt. Gambier, where Craig Medhurst is the appointed agent for John Deere and Hitachi parts and service. Snow is very happy with his John Deere fleet and Craig’s program for after-sales service and backup.

While Snow thinks his business is fairly settled now, he still has one eye on the future. With succession planning under way, he has hopes to continue to expand and grow the business, with an eye on where the industry is heading. He is well aware of the explosion of blue-gum plantings in the region, and he knows that skilled people and machinery will be required to harvest this resource. Through his involvement with the Australian Forest Contractors Association and the local Logging Industry Training Association, Snow is helping the region to prepare for this growth. With almost 300,000 hectares of radiata pine and blue-gum plantings, and proposals for further expansion of processing activity, it is little wonder that the timber industry is one of the mainstays of the regional economy.

Together with Timber Communities Australia, local contractors such as Snow Merrett are also working to get their industry in front of the local community by arranging displays at local shows. By demonstrating job opportunities and economic impact, they hope to be able to interest young people in a future in the local area.

Reprint from The Forestry Review, September 2007

Back to Stories from the Woods