New Zealand School of Forestry

06/08/2026

Practical learning experiences are a strong feature of our programmes at the School of Forestry. This week FORE323 (Wood Processing) had the opportunity to visit SRS Sawmill in Rolleston. It was an opportunity to see logs sawn, dried, sorted and processed into a wide variety of end uses. Huge thanks to Paul Vane and the team at SRS who are big supporters of the school's educational and research programmes.

04/08/2026

Last night a keen group of future graduates heard about career options from an equally keen group of potential future employers. Big shout out to the NZIF for co-hosting and providing the food. It was awesome for our students to hear from past graduates who are now out there living the dream. Big thank you to all of the industry partners who came along to share, network, and engage with our students. Cheers to Tasman Pine Forests, Port Blakely, Trimble Forestry, Matariki Forests, Margules Groome, Rata Forest Management, M&R Forestland, Kaingaroa Tipu, Zolve Environmental, Stand Forestry, MPI | TUR, and Ernslaw One.

27/07/2026

Forests are important for many reasons and our urban forests tend to include those trees that many people interact with the most. Listen to one of our most recent doctoral graduates, Dave Pedley, talking with Katherine Ryan on nine to noon about how we can maintain canopy cover in our urban areas.

Between 2016 and 2021, Christchurch lost 14.5 per cent of its urban tree canopy and most of the lost trees were on residential land.

16/06/2026

The second week of exams is drawing to a close and we have our second year Geospatial course study notes on the whiteboard this week. Diagrams and charts helping this time around. With our 4th Year Advanced Geospatial course running in 2nd Semester, it will be interesting to see the whiteboard in late October - if they can get into the meeting room!

11/06/2026

Second exam of Week 1 for our 2nd Year cohort of students is today. Looks like they've been working hard in the meeting room on the Soils exam which is on right now. That whiteboard gets plenty of use and we'll look for notes (and maybe diagrams) on the Forest Biology and Geospatial Science courses for next weeks exams. Go well everyone.

28/05/2026

As the semester draws to a close it is time to reflect on an awesome revamp of FORE218 - Forest Biology that is now taught as FORE225 and FORE325 (from 2027). Students have had the opportunity to participate in 3 new fungal labs (post coming soon) and in conjunction with Aperahama Kipa (Kahukura Rongoā Māori Trust) have been learning about medicinal uses of forest plants. Following tikanga and a powerful karakia experience students collected kawakawa from the ngahere behind the school. This was then made into a skin balm and a tonic/tea to share. Students were challenged to consider how as foresters they could incorporate opportunities for rongoā gardens in plantation forests given that native plants thrive in the understory.

26/05/2026

Students at the School of Forestry are fortunate to have strong support from the forest industry. Collectively there are more than $300,000 of scholarships supporting our undergraduate students here at the school. Jamie Sim 2nd year BForSc. is the latest recipient picking up the Southern Wood Council scholarship to support his continuing studies at UC.

23/05/2026

4th year For. Eng spent three days in Marlborough and Tasman gaining valuable insight into a range of forestry operations. Pinoli Pine Nuts Ltd’s shared key technical challenges associated with harvesting pinecones on steep terrain. Students wrapped up the first day with pockets full of pine nuts to take home. The group then visited C3 at Port Marlborough observing log scaling, debarking, and loading of a log ship, students experienced the full log yard process—an undisputed highlight for many.
OneFortyOne’s Kaituna sawmill then hosted the group highlighting saw doctors, quality controllers, and boiler operators. Finally students visited OneFortyOne’s Golden Downs forest to look at harvesting solutions particularly in areas affected by significant windthrow, where students explored the ongoing operational challenges faced by harvest planners.
A big thank you to Pinoli, C3, and OneFortyOne for sharing their expertise and providing valuable insights into daily operations, complex engineering challenges, and the rewards of working in New Zealand’s forestry industry.

21/05/2026

CAAAAKKKKKEEEE! And so goes the annual tradition. A close run battle again with many elaborate pink creations filling the common room. Clemens and Bruce draw the short straw and most difficult task of judging for the year. What better way to maintain connections amongst staff and students if not over a slice of cake, or a few slices 😀

13/05/2026

Yadi Wu is another of our new PhD students. From China, Yadu completed her B.Sc. degree in forestry at Huazhong Agriculture University and a M.Sc. degree in forest genetics and breeding at the Chinese Academy of Forestry. She has joined the Forest Observation with Remote Sensing Technologies (FOReST) research group where she is attempting to improve genetic gain and breeding value prediction by integrating LiDAR-derived information into tree breeding analyses. Funded by the Radiata Pine Breeding Company Yadi is supervised by Dr. Vega Xu, Professor Luis Apiolaza, Dr. Sai Arojju, and Dr. Mark Paget