The Busy and Collaborative Life of a Forestry Student

Seeking a qualification in forestry is no small feat. As Simon Smith told the WIDE Trust, his final year has been both a “busy” and “exciting” period in his university career. Simon has received grants from the WIDE Trust in 2021 and 2022 to support his studies towards a Bachelor of Forestry Engineering.

Simon has found that many of his courses this year involve working with his “peers on a number of tasks.” Fortunately, Simon is a people person and has enjoyed this aspect of study immensely. 

“One of these projects involves assessing the carbon footprint of a harvesting crew in the Central North Island and investigating options for mitigating the impact. Myself and another student are interested in expanding this project in the second half of the year to encompass several crews and give a general overview for the industry as a whole in New Zealand.”

Add various field trips into the mix, such as when Simon headed to Nelson with the other final year students “to visit some operations and present to DC Equipment”, and it becomes clear how relationship-building focussed this degree really is.   

In between each university term, Simon has been up and down the country for work experience, including heading down to “​​Herbert Forest to conduct a time study analysis on their setup involving a live skyline controlled by a separate winched machine.” 

The WIDE Trust strives to help people like Simon achieve things for the betterment of themselves and the forestry and wood industries. They’re always on the lookout for their next deserving applicant. All an applicant needs to do is apply on WIDE’s website (www.widetrust.org.nz) and tell them about the cool things they plan to do in the wood sector!