Forestry School Will Meet Urgent Need

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31984, 10 May 1969, Page 5

Forestry School Will Meet Urgent Need

(Specially written, for "The Press" by

K.D. COATES)

The University of Canterbury’s new School of Forestry being built at Ham, and now half completed, will help meet the urgent need for more trained, professional people brought about by the rapid development in forestry in New Zealand.

“Forestry in New Zealand is exploding and there is a need for people well qualified not only in silviculture, but also in the wider aspects of economics and management,” said 7 the head of the school (Professor P. J. McKelvey) describing the role of the new department which is being established at a total cost of about $500,000.

Twenty - six students had applied to enter the school, which would open next year, and five of the academic staff of six had been appointed, said Professor McKelvey.

“In the next decade, an average annual intake of at least 26 students a year will be required to meet the demand,” Professor Mcßelvey said. In five years, when postgraduate studies would be under way, the roll of the school was expected to reach 70. The professor considers it essential that our foresters of the future possess a basic understanding of wood —its physical, chemical and moisture properties and the ways in which these factors affect processing. New Zealand forests had a fast rate of growth and the introduced exotic species were genetically versatile, he said. The forester, using scientific methods of tree breeding, had a good chance of producing the type of wood which the processor wanted. Forest Technology The concept of modern forestry education embodied in the course which will be offered at Canterbury is referred to in the recent report of the education, training and research working party committee to the Forestry Development Conference. “New Zealand forestry is a technology of wide spectrum,” it says. “It encompasses wood science and technology, timberland management, watershed management, and recreation and amenity.’’ The committee points out that the ability of foresters to cope with technical changes during their working careers depends largely on their understanding of pure science, and their ability to apply principles and concepts. The first two years of the course, therefore, consist of pure science and the Forestry School will not be closely concerned with the students until the third and fourth years, or the final two professional years. The application of business sciences has made forest management an exercise of greater precision and efficiency. The Development Conference committee put the point this way: “The modern New Zealand forester must be a man with a good scientific attitude, who has academic depth in biology and economics, who is socially attuned and motivated, and who is able to achieve his objectives effi-

ciently with the assistance of techniques of business science.” Professor McKelvey says the school will have close links with industry. Specialist lectures will be given regularly by experts from outside —both from the New Zealand Forest Service and industry. Already there has been a good response to requests for these. Broader scope will also be provided by the siting of a Forest Service research unit on the campus. Government approval for this has already been given. Special Equipment AU aspects of forestry will be studied at the new school which will be equipped with a series of specialised laboratories, including a forest products laboratory.

Here students will learn, among other things, timber engineering methods, preservation and processes in the pulp and paper industry. They will learn, for example, why the fibres of softwoods make strong paper, and the short fibres of hardwoods confer quality. Rapid progress has been made on the new buildings for the School of Forestry which has gone ahead under a new cash constraint scheme authorised by the University Grants Committee and the Government and which involves a block grant for the establishment of the school plus equipment. The Christchurch firm of architects which designed the school, Hall and Macßenzie, have used a design which provides for a reinforced concrete shell and a roof support system which features the use of timber.

In keeping with the school’s aim to serve the entire needs of forestry and industry in New Zealand, the entrance , hall will feature a wide variety of timber. A major omission in overseas forestry education for New Zealand conditions has, been in watershed management. To cope with the need; for experts in this field, which I takes in the major problem!

of erosion control in the mountain-lands, the proposed post-graduate diploma at Lincoln College in soil and water resources, together with a bachelor of forestry science degree, will make an ideal combination.

Field Station . Practical courses will also be included for students at the school. A field station at Hari' Hari on the West Coast will provide first-hand experience of large reserves of native softwoods which are being managed in perpetuity. This is being carried out by the Forest Service by means of selective logging and refined harvesting techniques.

The station is also close to a national park which will provide students with an opportunity to observe something of park management. There are also two modern sawmills in the area.

: But the main emphasis at Ithe School of Forestry will ! be on providing a good basic I knowledge so that eventually i students will be able to cope [with a wide variety of subjects covered by modern (forestry.

As Professor McKelvey says: “We will deal with the why, rather than the how to."