New Zealand School of Forestry

The second week of exams is drawing to a close and we have our second year Geospatial course study notes on the whiteboard this week. Diagrams and charts helping this time around. With our 4th Year Advanced Geospatial course running in 2nd Semester, it will be interesting to see the whiteboard in late October - if they can get into the meeting room!

Second exam of Week 1 for our 2nd Year cohort of students is today. Looks like they've been working hard in the meeting room on the Soils exam which is on right now. That whiteboard gets plenty of use and we'll look for notes (and maybe diagrams) on the Forest Biology and Geospatial Science courses for next weeks exams. Go well everyone.

As the semester draws to a close it is time to reflect on an awesome revamp of FORE218 - Forest Biology that is now taught as FORE225 and FORE325 (from 2027). Students have had the opportunity to participate in 3 new fungal labs (post coming soon) and in conjunction with Aperahama Kipa (Kahukura Rongoā Māori Trust) have been learning about medicinal uses of forest plants. Following tikanga and a powerful karakia experience students collected kawakawa from the ngahere behind the school. This was then made into a skin balm and a tonic/tea to share. Students were challenged to consider how as foresters they could incorporate opportunities for rongoā gardens in plantation forests given that native plants thrive in the understory.

Students at the School of Forestry are fortunate to have strong support from the forest industry. Collectively there are more than $300,000 of scholarships supporting our undergraduate students here at the school. Jamie Sim 2nd year BForSc. is the latest recipient picking up the Southern Wood Council scholarship to support his continuing studies at UC.

4th year For. Eng spent three days in Marlborough and Tasman gaining valuable insight into a range of forestry operations. Pinoli Pine Nuts Ltd’s shared key technical challenges associated with harvesting pinecones on steep terrain. Students wrapped up the first day with pockets full of pine nuts to take home. The group then visited C3 at Port Marlborough observing log scaling, debarking, and loading of a log ship, students experienced the full log yard process—an undisputed highlight for many.
OneFortyOne’s Kaituna sawmill then hosted the group highlighting saw doctors, quality controllers, and boiler operators. Finally students visited OneFortyOne’s Golden Downs forest to look at harvesting solutions particularly in areas affected by significant windthrow, where students explored the ongoing operational challenges faced by harvest planners.
A big thank you to Pinoli, C3, and OneFortyOne for sharing their expertise and providing valuable insights into daily operations, complex engineering challenges, and the rewards of working in New Zealand’s forestry industry.

CAAAAKKKKKEEEE! And so goes the annual tradition. A close run battle again with many elaborate pink creations filling the common room. Clemens and Bruce draw the short straw and most difficult task of judging for the year. What better way to maintain connections amongst staff and students if not over a slice of cake, or a few slices 😀

Yadi Wu is another of our new PhD students. From China, Yadu completed her B.Sc. degree in forestry at Huazhong Agriculture University and a M.Sc. degree in forest genetics and breeding at the Chinese Academy of Forestry. She has joined the Forest Observation with Remote Sensing Technologies (FOReST) research group where she is attempting to improve genetic gain and breeding value prediction by integrating LiDAR-derived information into tree breeding analyses. Funded by the Radiata Pine Breeding Company Yadi is supervised by Dr. Vega Xu, Professor Luis Apiolaza, Dr. Sai Arojju, and Dr. Mark Paget

This year we welcomed some new PhD students. Firstly, introducing Tim Kurzinger from Munich, yes think Oktoberfest and lederhosen. Tim loves wood, particularly engineered wood products. He examined fully biodegradable particle boards for his bachelor thesis and then worked on innovative polymer embeds for timber connections at University of British Columbia for his Masters. In between his interests in hiking, mountaineering, hunting and biking and the gym, Tim is researching how radiata pine slash and small-diameter logs can be used for engineered wood products. This work is funded by the WIDE Trust and the School of Forestry where he supervised by Dr. Hyunksuk Thomas Lim and Prof. Rien Visser.

The Easter holidays at UC are three weeks long for a reason. That's when many courses have multi-day field trips. Our year cohorts go somewhere each year and for the 3rd years it was an opportunity to visit the upper South Island. We love the support we get from the broader industry who host our students. Photos show students in the NN100 Doug fir trial in Golden Downs presented by One Forty One and students at the Nelson Pine LVL and fibreboard lines. A great opportunity for students to see how the industry operates across the whole supply chain from growing to processing.