Canterbury forestry school holds industry success key

Press, 22 October 1980, Page 17

Canterbury forestry school holds industry success key

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

Even in the 1920 s it was.apparant that forestry was going to. be important to New Zealand in the future. ' Two : short-lived schools of forestry were established to service- the industry — one' at Auckland University College and the other at Canterbury University College. Both were casualties of the Great' Depression in the 1930 s and were closed, Auckland first, and then Canterbury in 1934. Then followed a long hiatus in professional forestry training in New Zealand, extended by the faltering economy and the Second World War. After 1945 the pressing need for professional foresters led to scores of New Zealand science graduates travelling overseas to complete their forestry educations at foreign universities.

As forestry continued to expand in the 1950 s it became more amd more obvious that a school was needed here again. With a national school the educa-

tion of foresters could be undertaken with . more relevance to the New Zealand situation.

Also, forestry needed a place on a university campus to attract academ : ic interest and to take advantage of the expertise of other disciplines. If forestry were to remain

apart from the academic community, it risked becoming too narrowly technical.

Money played a part in this decision; it was becoming too much of a financial drain to kc_p sending New Zealand science graduates to overseas schools of forestry at the expense of the taxpayer. . Years of lobbying final-, ly bore fruit in 1970 when the new national Canterbury School of Forestry received its first intake of 20 students. Most of these had begun their university studies in 1968 and a mi-

nority was admitted which already had a tertiary degree. Post-graduate studies began in 1972. Up until the end of 1929, "the school had produced 21T graduates with’ a Bachelor of Forestry' Science. The post-graduate group had been built up and the school now has

enrolled five students for doctorates and eight for masterates. The Dean of Forestry

(Professor P. J. McKelvey) says that the school tries to produce at the bachelor level people with a grounding in both commercial and non-commer-cial forestry, and with- a good understanding of both exotic and native forests. AH' bachelor students .must have worked for 60 days in a forest or'a mill before they graduate. During the course they are taken to a range of

places for practical experience — Harihari in south' Westland to study softwoods. Reef ton in north .Westland to study beech, . Cragiehum in inland Canterbury 'to study mountain lands, and to Rotorua-Taupo to study large-scale exotic forests and forest industry’. Professor McKelvey says that students are not just destined for the public service. They work for the - Forest Service, other government departments, private wood-pro-ducing and wood-process-ing firms, catchment boards and consultants.

The aim is to produce bachelor graduates who will be able to face up to a wide range of forestry problems. It is inappropriate to specialise at this level in a small country where most foresters have a blend of mangement and technical responsibili ties, which can range from watershed management, to wood management, to aspects of wood technology.