Registrations have opened for the Gottstein Trust’s 2026 Understanding Forest Science Course, with the biennial program crossing to Launceston from Sunday 8 to Friday 13 November and its 35 places priced at $4,100 each after the first fee rise in several years. That is according to course convenor Helen Murray, who confirmed that the program is refreshed for every edition and taught by invited presenters, from academics to industry practitioners, all donating their time.
“It’s a genuine collaborative effort to deliver these courses,” Murray said of presenters she credits with passing knowledge on to others. Sessions open at a Sunday-evening welcome dinner and briefing, before classroom days and site visits carry the week to a lunchtime close on Friday.
Topics for 2026 range from the role forests play in hydrology to biodiversity and protection, biosecurity, third-party certification, and the latest carbon research on Australian forests and timber products. EPBC Act reforms and the Timber Fibre Strategy join the agenda this year, alongside the technology now tracking native and endangered species, with not a single exam across the five days.
It comes as the Trust closed its 55th year in December, appealing for new donors, with 175 people having taken its courses in six years alongside fellowships, scholarships, and skills grants. Understanding Wood Science, the alternating program, ran through Wangaratta, Albury, and Canberra last September, keeping each course on a two-year cycle.
Behind the syllabus sits a tightening market, with less of the timber Australians use now grown at home and every importing country bidding for extra supply. The FAO’s 2022 Global Forest Sector Outlook puts world timber demand in 2050 at 37 per cent above 2020 levels, and the Trust caps the debate at 35 seats.
