HQPlantation Ningi
Forest & Wood Products Australia (FWPA), ForestLearning and Responsible Wood took part in a number of trade displays, bus tours and interactive workshops during a recent 5-day Food, Fibre and Agricultural Educators conference. Source: Timberbiz
They took the forestry and wood message off-road, getting educators out of the classroom and into the field. According to Responsible Wood’s Jason Ross, the conference was critical in providing educators with information, ensuring teachers make informed decisions about sustainable forest management in classroom discussions.
“Education is critical, ForestLearning plays an important role in providing educators with resources, allowing teachers to align forest education with the Australian curriculum,” he said.
“Responsible Wood is proud to assist ForestLearning, providing educators with material relating to forest certification.”
The AgForce School to Industry Partnership Program convened more than one hundred school teachers from across Queensland and around the country.
“Amazingly the conference trended nationally on twitter, I understand that it was second only to the Australian Open on social media,” Mr Ross said.
From trade shows and workshops in Brisbane, teachers were deployed throughout South East Queensland journeying to the forests and witnessing the timber supply chain in action.
Highlights included a visit to the DAFQ Wood Science Research Centre in Brisbane, the AKD Softwoods sawmill in Caboolture and the HQPlantations pine plantation in Ningi.
“Witnessing teachers outside their natural habitat was a highlight, the teachers were clearly motivated to absorb information and learn about forestry,” Mr Ross said.
Responsible Wood scheme holders, DAFQ, AKD Softwoods and HQPlantations reaffirmed the importance of forest certification, verifying the social and environmental credentials for the industry.
