A possum trapper was lost in the remote, heavily forested Waima Ranges for 22 hours before being found by a rescue party.
He was found safe and well at about 2.50pm yesterday and walked out of the ranges with a police and civilian search and rescue (SAR) team who had entered the challenging search zone at about 9am.
The man was able to phone police on Wednesday evening after he and another Department of Conservation (DoC) contractor became separated in the steep, rugged ranges in the south Hokianga.
The area is in the district overseen by DoC's Kauri Coast office.
''It's good news, he's safe, they're on their way out,'' operations manager Stephen Soole said yesterday afternoon.