Once a Forest Ranger by Chris Nelson

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Leigh is our deputy editor. She spends weekends in the hills and weekdays as a journalist and editor.

Once a Forest Ranger by Chris Nelson, published by Lonesome Pine Publishing (2025).

Chris Nelson’s career in forestry spanned 47 years. It was a way of life rather than a job, and Nelson considers himself lucky that rarely a day passed when he wasn’t keen to go to work.

Once a Forest Ranger is a memoir of Nelson’s life, from a rural childhood marked by hardship and transience to his travels abroad, a fulfilling career, and family and health struggles. Throughout, he maintains a quiet determination to make the best of himself in the face of unexpected challenges.

The New Zealand bush is a continual backdrop, and forestry the lynch pin. Nelson chronicles his start as a trainee ranger in single men’s camps in Gwavas Forest and Esk Forest (Hawke’s Bay) to his role as a logging superintendent and contractor post-privatisation.

He has a keen eye for detail, and the book is peppered with colourful characters, escapades and photos from a bygone era. It will appeal to readers who enjoy forestry and family history.

About the author

Leigh Hopkinson

Wilderness deputy editor Leigh Hopkinson spends the weekends in the hills with her whānau and weekdays as a journalist and editor. She has a Graduate Diploma of Journalism from the University of Canterbury. A keen tramper, rock climber and newbie mountaineer, she has written for magazines and newspapers on both sides of the Tasman. She’s originally from the West Coast and now lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch.