There are so many activities to do in the forest recreation area; walking, hiking, running, orienteering, rogaine, mountain biking, dog walking, fishing to name a few!

Take a relaxing walk or ride along the water-race, or push yourself a little harder on the 60km plus of tracks within the forest recreation area. The tracks are well labelled and show the mountain bike grade too, with maps at the Swimming Dam, Hogburn Gully, Sandpit and Wet Gully entrances.

Ernslaw One have produced these maps (Main Recreation Area and Sandpit Recreation Area) or you can purchase mountain bike and orienteering maps from the cafe, pub, store, information centre or holiday park. All tracks are for walking and biking, hiking, riding please show consideration towards other users.

There are two fishing areas with the Forest Recreational Area; Coalpit and Hoffman’s Dams. See the Fishing article for more details.

The forest recreation area is a privately owned working forest. The Owners (Ernslaw One) allow use by the public, subject to their logging operations and fire danger risk during the fire season.

FIRE SEASON

During the fire season it is important to check the daily fire risk status before entering the forest. If the risk is EXTREME the forest is closed. If the fire risk does increase during the day, the forest occasionally gets closed. Please exit immediately if you are asked to do so by Ernslaw One and DO NOT enter any area of the forest that has signs up displaying NO ENTRY.

The Sandpit area, near the Indoor curling rink, remains open, even when the rest of the forest is closed.

Check the fire risk and Recreation Area status by looking at the Ernslaw One Facebook page. Daily posts and updates are made during the Fire Season.

ERNSLAW ONE LTD

Ernslaw One is a New Zealand registered company, with owners based in Malaysia. Committed to sustainable forestry in New Zealand they demonstrate this by reinvesting all company earnings back into the New Zealand operation and they are great supporters of the Naseby community through their continued allowance of the use of over 500 ha for recreational use and the support of the Maniototo Adventure Park through donation of the land for the indoor curling rink and kindly allowing the winter ice luge and Goldrush luge the use of land for operations.

Each year Ernslaw One also supports the use of the recreation area for events held in the forest, these include Mountain bike races, the Great Naseby Water Race and Orienteering events.

The 500 ha recreation area is defined by site maps. Entry to the forest is only permitted during daylight hours. No camping is permitted anywhere in the forest and access is free for private recreational use. Commercial operators need to hold a current concession to operate within the forest. Concession permits can be obtained from the Ernslaw One forest Office in Naseby at 34 Derwent Street, during working hours or phone 03 444 9995

The forest outside of the recreation area is known as the Working Forest and access is by permit only.

Ernslaw One also farms Koura in their fire ponds. These native crayfish are exported and sold to restaurants around New Zealand.

For up to date news and more information about Ernslaw One’s Forest Recreation Area check out their Facebook page: Facebook Page – click here

For more information, contact Paul Hart, Forest manager at the Office on 03 4449 995 or Cellphone 021 991 930.