“Another full house for the Gottstein Trust Understanding Forest Science course,” enthused trust convenor Helen Murray today.
“Well, we have room for two more registrants, so good luck to the lucky last who get in quickly to register,” she added.
The 2023 course, from Sunday, July 21, to Friday, July 21, at the Pacific Bay Resort aT Coffs Harbour, NSW, will be addressed by a top-flight panel of industry speakers and include forest and research science field trips over two days.
The Gottstein management team – Helen Murray, principal, Kurrumbene Projects & Advocacy; Judy Pearce, a specialist in not-for-profit secretariat work and event management and Jocelyn Carpenter, B.Sc (honours) in botany – have also been busily focused on the latest grants round and clearing reports for review for release next week.
The Gottstein Trust Fund, formed in 1971, recognises the work of champion CSIRO research scientist the late Joseph William (Bill) Gottstein.
The program and speakers
Day 1 – July 16
- 8 pm: Welcoming address: Helen Murray – fostering opportunity and knowledge followed by a Casual dinner.
Day 2 – July 17
Presentations include:
- 9 am: Forestry 101: Setting the Scene – Dr Graeme Palmer, lecturer, School of Environment Science & Engineering, Southern Cross University.
- 10 am: Managing Softwood Plantations – Justin Crowe, softwood plantations division systems manager, Forestry Corporation of NSW.
- 11:30 am: Forest Soils and Water Supply – Dr Ashley Webb, Gottstein Fellow and general manager, Water Planning & Delivery, WaterNSW.
- 1:30 pm: Biosecurity – Dr Angus Carnegie, senior principal research scientist, NSW Department of Primary Industries-Forestry.
- 2 pm: Forestry on Farms – a snapshot ((hardwood plantations, private native forestry) – Andrew Hurford, executive chair, Hurford Group.
- 3:15 pm: Managing Hardwood Plantations (live stream) – Braden Jenkin, Gottstein fellow, managing director, Sylva Systems Pty Ltd
- 4.15 pm: Towards Net Zero: Carbon Equation of Trees, Forests, Wood Products – Dr Fabiano Ximenes, senior research scientist, NSW Department of Primary Industries-Forestry.
- 8 pm: After dinner discussion group: What’s it all about? Field ecology in the state forest estate – Chris Slade, senior ecologist hardwood F=forests, Forestry Corporation of NSW.
Day 3 – July 18
Tree nursery and softwood plantations field trip. Coordinator Justin Black, strategic projects and program leader, Forestry Corporation of NSW
- 8.30 am: Visit Forestry Corporation of NSW tree nursery. Travel to Grafton to tour softwood and hardwood seedling nurseries.
- Morning tea and lunch, then visit the softwood plantations.
- 5 pm: Dinner at the resort.
- 8:30 pm: After dinner discussion group. Purpose and impact of forestry hubs – a case study NE NSW. Guest – Nick Cameron, manager North East NSW Forestry Hub.
Day 4 – July 19
Presentations include:
- 9 am: Forest Biodiversity – Suzette Weeding, general manager, conservation and land management, Sustainable Timber Tasmania and Gottstein Trust chair.
- 10 am: Technology for forest monitoring, management and harvesting – Dr Christine Stone, visiting research scientist, NSW Department of Primary Industries-Forestry, Adjunct Professor, University of Tasmania.
- 11:20 am: Forest research, development and extension – Dr Chris Lafferty, research and development manager, Forest & Wood Products Australia.
- 12 pm: Management of Natural (native) Forests – Michael Ryan, forest scientist, VicForests
- 1:45 pm Advances in fauna monitoring and habitat protection: a case study on koalas – Dr Brad Law, principal research scientist, NSW Department of Primary Industries-Forestry, Adjunct Fellow, Queensland University of Technology.
- 2:30 pm: Coach to Sealy Lookout, Niigi Niigi, in Orara East state forest.
- 2:45 pm: The Giingan Gumbaynggirr First Nation guides host a two-hour Gumbali Track Interpretive Walk from Sealy Lookout to Korora Lookout.
Day 5 – July 20
- 8:30 am: Natural (native) forestry field trip. Coordinator Justin Black, strategic projects & programs leader, Forestry Corporation of NSW, which includes an all-day tour within the Coffs Harbour hinterland, visiting natural (native) forest sites of interest and hearing from forest management personnel.
Among the many things to be discussed on the day are:
- 7 pm: Celebration dinner, Host Suzette Weeding, chair of the Gottstein Trust. Speakers and guests will join participants to celebrate forestry and the learnings across the week.
Dinner speaker – Jason Ross, Gottstein fellow and publisher Wood Central. Review of his recent fellowship report: Guidelines to communicate about forestry and wood products.
Day 6 – July 21
Presentations include:
- 8:30 am: Certification for verification of sustainable forest management practices. Certified organisation, Suzette Weeding, Sustainable Timber Tasmania certifying body (auditor), Ross Garsden (live stream); BSI Group Australia NZ certification system – Jonathan Tibbits, Responsible Wood.
- 9:15 am: Forest economics and investment: linking forests with the value chain – Rob de Fégely AM, director, Margules Groome Consulting Pty Ltd.
- 10:30 am: Australia’s State of the Forests Report: national and global reporting on forests and forest resources – Dr Steve Read, chief coordinating scientist and principal scientist, Forest & Land Sciences, ABARES.
- 11:30 am: Closing comments – Helen Murray.
The Gottstein Trust collaborates with the Steve Stevenson Memorial Trust, which provides one sponsored place to a university student on each Gottstein course. This rotates to a different university each year, so students from right across Australia have access to this unique opportunity.
Meet the Gottstein donors
Patron Donors:
- • AKD
• Australian Forest Products Assoiciation.
• Bunnings Warehouse.
• Forestry Corporation NSW.
• Forest Products Commission.
• Forest and Wood Products Australia.
• Forico.
• HQ Plantations.
• HVP Plantations.
• Hurford’s.
• Hyne Timber.
• Margules Groome.
• Midway.
• OneFortyOne.
• Pentarch.
• Porta.
• Sustainable Timber Tasmania.
• Timber NSW.
• Timber Link.
• Visy
• Webeam.
• Wespine.
• VicForests.
Sponsor Donors
• NSFP.
• Tree Alliance
