Rob De Fegely
Forestry representatives say Australia risks not having enough well-trained foresters to take over the burgeoning industry, which is suffering from a bad public image. Source: ABC News
Canberra’s Institute of Foresters of Australia said the sector had been grappling with the problem for the past five years and could face a looming skills shortage if more students did not study forestry at a post-graduate and masters level.
“We haven’t explained the industry and what the exciting opportunities are for the young people to work in forest management,” the Institute’s Rob De Fegely said.
He said that during the 1990s, many specialist forestry and agriculture courses were integrated into general science undergraduate degrees, leading to a decline of adequately trained foresters.
“I think industry, for a while, thought they could possibly train them in-house as they took them on from a generalist degree,” he said.
“Personally I don’t think that is working. I see too many mistakes being made.
“I see basic learning that we learnt as young foresters back in the 1980s and 1990s being lost.
“Young people working in forestry companies just haven’t had the skills or the research or the study to explain why they’re making mistakes.”
Mr De Fegely said the industry needed to work harder to attract students into further study after their undergraduate degrees.
“The universities are aware of this and we’ve had a number of meetings with the Australian National University, the Melbourne University and Lismore’s Southern Cross University,” he said. “All are keen to play a role.”
The University of Melbourne’s Dr Antanas Spokevicius said tertiary education could only sustain courses, which attracted students, but forestry has suffered from a bad public image.
“They don’t automatically see that forestry is about sustainability,” Dr Spokevicius said.
“Forests aren’t cleared, forests are harvested and regrown, whether that’s a native or a plantation.
“It’s a renewable resource. These sorts of messages aren’t coming across to the students. They are drawn by images of moonscapes.”
The University of Melbourne’s Dr Chris Weston said international students were seeing the value of applied forestry subjects, while local students were not.
He said this meant Australians were not coming out with the right mix of skills required by the forestry sector.
“Australians are taking up positions in forestry masters courses, but up to 30 per cent are international students,” Dr Weston said.
“The Australian students tend to be more interested in the environmental applications.”
Dr Weston said he hoped prospective students would see career potential off the back of the China Free Trade deal, which was likely to lead to a growth in the forestry industry.
Mr De Fegely said many foresters from South Africa and New Zealand were working in Australia, but they did not satisfy the skills shortage and did not always have a good understanding of Australian conditions.
“I think we’re lacking in good natural forest foresters — those who specifically understand our eucalyptus forest, which are unique to Australia obviously,” Mr De Fegely said.
“Also understanding how plantations are managed in the dry Australian environment, which means you really need to understand fires and fire management, and I think we’re potentially slipping in some of those areas.”
