Where Work Meets Play: Communications in Whakarewarewa Forest
Spring is here, and with longer days and warmer weather, more of us are heading back into Whakarewarewa Forest to bike, walk, run and enjoy one of Rotorua’s greatest outdoor assets.
But while we may think of the forest primarily as a place for recreation, it is also very much a working forest.
Every day, forestry crews, contractors, logging trucks and service vehicles are working alongside a growing number of recreational users. Add major mountain biking and running events into the mix, and it becomes a busy and complex environment.
A Kaingaroa Tipu article, Where Timber Meets Trail, highlighted just how carefully commercial forestry and recreation are managed alongside each other in Whakarewarewa Forest.
It’s a balance that requires planning, coordination – and good communication.
Communications behind the scenes
Alcom is proud to play a small but important part in keeping people connected across this environment.
We provide radio communication solutions to many of the people who work in and around our forests, where mobile coverage can be unreliable and instant communication between vehicles, crews and other workers is important.
The same applies when the forest becomes an event venue.
Events including the Whaka 100, Volcanic Epic, Giant 2W Gravity Enduro, Legends of the Peaks and Mountain Bike National Championships 2026 bring competitors, volunteers, officials and support crews onto trails spread across a large area.
All of these events use the Alcom Connect digital radio network to help their teams communicate across the forest.
With push-to-talk radio, event teams can communicate instantly with an individual or a group without having to make a phone call, particularly valuable when coordinating people spread across kilometres of forest trails.
One forest. Many users.
What makes Whakarewarewa Forest so special is the diversity of people who use it.
On any given day there may be forestry crews at work, trucks moving timber, mountain bike shuttles carrying riders, contractors servicing equipment, recreational riders and walkers enjoying the trails – or hundreds of competitors taking part in an event.
Their reasons for being there may be very different, but they share something in common: the need to communicate effectively in an environment where mobile phones alone are not the answer.
That’s exactly the sort of environment Alcom Connect was designed for.
So, as we head into another busy spring and summer in the forest, we’ll continue doing what we do behind the scenes, helping the people who work, organise events and operate across our forests stay connected
