Whakarewarewa Forest operations

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Tawa Road harvest

In addition to the Roadline harvest operation taking place in the Red Tank Road area, we have a contractor establishing early in the New Year to continue the logging at the top of Tawa Road.

The contractor will move into Tawa Road on 5 January 2026. Operational hours for the logging crew will be 5:00am – 4:00pm, Monday – Friday. View the operational area in the map below.

Several mountain bike trails will be impacted by this operation with the following trails being casualties of the logging: 

Upper DH Lines – Te Rua (top) – EvS (top) – Under-Billy – Frontal Lobotomy. 

Access will be limited to other trails while the crew are operating. Due to Tawa Road having restricted access, the trails in the native above Tawa Road will be off limits during operations. Te Putake o Tawa walking trail will also be closed during operations.

We ask forest users to please use caution in the area, obey all signage, instructions, restrictions and respect the traffic controllers – they are there for your safety.

Trucking operations

Loadout of logs from the associated skids is underway. The operational site has a traffic control team, who will adapt with the location of activities.

  • Operational hours: 6:00am – 3:30pm Monday - Friday
  • Route: All logging trucks will use:  8-Mile Gate Road in @ Hill Road - Nice Road – Pipeline Road – Hill Road – Moerangi Road – Tawa Road, as marked on the map below.
  • A one-way loop is still in place for Hill Road - Nice Road – Pipeline Road – Hill Road.

Operational maps