Unique forestry course takes root

17 December 2014

Unique forestry course takes root

A unique new Lincoln University forestry course will be delivering cutting-edge training in a Northland school next year.

Subject to funding, LincolnFirst Telford, a division of Lincoln University, will run the inaugural course at Kaikohe’s Northland College under the auspices of the Northland Educational Hub.

Students will gain hands-on experience by working in a pine forest block the College owns.

The course is a game changer for the region, chairman of the college’s farm committee, and Lincoln University principal farms advisor, Murray Jamieson says.

The students can prepare for a future forestry career without having to leave school, and be trained by industry professionals.

“No other school is offering a course like it in New Zealand,” Mr Jamieson says.

He says the course will foster potential managers and leaders in the field.

Six students had already signed up to fill the course for next year. The small numbers reflect the desire to ensure the course is “done right” in its first year, and that one specialist trainer was needed for every two students because of the working environment, he adds.

It will be an intensive course and on average the students are to be in the forest three days a week, as well as learning in the classroom under a specialist teacher.

Forestry is a major part of the Northland economy and there is a need for a skilled, well trained labour force.

There will be regular industry input into the course to ensure it remains relevant to current requirements.

Mr Jamieson says the same rigorous regulations which apply to the forestry industry will apply to the course, with best practice being carried out. This would go as far as drug testing students to ensure they are safe to work in the forest.

Vice-Chancellor of Lincoln University, Dr Andrew West, applauds the initiative.

“Forestry training builds on the momentum achieved in training young Maori in dairying. Next we will target sheep and beef farming, horticulture, aquaculture and tourism,” he says.

The University and the College formed the Northland Educational Hub to support the teaching of agriculture in the school and the learning pathway from the College into tertiary education through Lincoln.

The school’s roll had fallen in recent years, with high truancy levels and many students facing unemployment when they left. The new leadership of the school is turning this situation around. This year there were 37 students studying agriculture at the College, up from six previously and 12 students from Kaikohe attending LincolnFirst Telford in Balclutha.

Earlier this year the College and University signed a Five Year Strategic Plan regarding the Northland College Farm. The plan aims to lift the farm’s profitability from the bottom 20 percent in the Northland region to the top 10 percent, as well as radically improving the fortunes of Northland College and the community.

Since the University came on board farm output has increased by 70 percent on the previous year.

ENDS

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