14 June 2023
The first Understanding Forest Science since 2019 will be
held in Coffs Harbour NSW from Sunday 16th to Friday 21st July.
With few places left, interested people are encouraged to
book as soon as possible so as to avoid disappointment.
The Gottstein courses are a great way to learn from leaders
on their fields, in a conveniently compressed one-week format.
COVID prevented the 2021 course going ahead so quite a group of people were waitlisted and are now booked in.
An
outstanding group of experts has agreed to deliver presentations – for which
the Trust thanks them in advance. Course delivery is a collaborative effort
made possible because speakers so generously make their time and expertise
available so that course participants are able to learn from them.
Wherever they work, wherever they come from the course participants
can be assured of gaining a contemporary grasp on key aspects of forest science.
Registration can be done on the website. People just should
note that once the registration form is lodged, registration is not complete (or
a place guaranteed) until an invoice has been sent and the fee fully paid.
Among program highlights will be a presentation by the highly
respected forest science researcher and NM Jolly medal recipient, Dr Christine
Stone, on the rapid development of new technology for forest monitoring and
management. Another will be prominent researcher and ecologist Dr Brad Law presenting
on the ground-breaking acoustic koala population detection work in NSW forests.
Other interesting topics include forest soils and water, biodiversity,
natural forest management, softwood and hardwood plantation management, farm
forestry, indigenous partnerships, biosecurity and the carbon equation of
forests and wood products and certification of sustainably managed forests. Forest
economics and investment will be delivered by Rob de Fegely, a former president
of Forestry Australia and NM Jolly Medallist. Dr Steve Read from ABARES will
speak about Australia’s national and global reporting obligations and the State
of the Forests Report.
For the first time the course will include a two-hour
Aboriginal cultural interpretative walk which will be led by the local Giingan
Gumbaynggirr First Nation guides.
There’s a big emphasis on going out into the field with
forest experts with two days are scheduled to visit softwood plantations and
native forests, including a tour Forestry Corporation of NSW’s seedling nursery
at Grafton, which came into its own for restoration of forest areas after the
mammoth 2019/20 bushfires. The Trust recognises and appreciates the cooperation
of Forestry Corporation of NSW in making these field trips possible in the
region.
A celebration dinner will be hosted by the Gottstein Trust chair
Suzette Weeding at Coffs Harbour on Thursday 20th July. The dinner
speaker, Gottstein Fellow Jason Ross, is coming from Brisbane to talk about his
recently finalised Fellowship Project. It explored the relationship between
forestry science, sustainable forest management principles and the perceptions
of local forestry amongst Australian audiences.