Winner: D&T Silviculture Ltd

DAMIAN and Tracey Kamo were nominated three times by different parties in this category, showing how valued they are in the sector. Sponsors for this popular category were Steve Couper and forestry company Ernslaw One.

Nominations included a range of endorsements for this hard-working crew employing 21 staff, but many mention the manner in which D&T Silviculture completes its operations. Quality of work is outstanding with operations in the forest completed to schedule or early.

Regular staff get-togethers take place that create a tight-knit culture, similar to a rugby team; a sport Damian and a lot of the crew play. Some play in the Wairarapa representative team where they live.

Silviculture is the craft of tending trees and staff spend much of their time unseen out in the forest completing pruning, thinning or land-based operations.

This can be in extreme weather and is hard manual work; we congratulate all these workers out there in the bush making sure our trees are ready for market.