10th August 2020 Newsletter
PRESIDENTS COLUMN
You will notice some changes in the newsletter this week. We are working towards making the newsletter a safe area for you to exchange ideas. It is important to remember this is your newsletter and while some members may forward it, the newsletter only goes to members, hence it should be a safe place for debate.
You will notice we have reintroduced the section “members voice”. This section was one of the main purposes of setting up the newsletter 10 odd years ago. We want, in fact need, to hear from you. Tell us what you are thinking, what is annoying you, what we the council could do better for you, your views on items and actions relevant to the sector, questions you are pondering, etc etc.
To be candid, the council hear very little from you the members. Believe it or not we are unable to read minds so we do the best we can on the knowledge and experience we have in council. But we may not always get it right or indeed have correctly guessed how you the members wish for us to react. So to make our lives easier, please start communicating, if you wish directly to my (or your nearest councillors) email, but preferably to the newsletter (send your thoughts to admin@nizf.org.nz and head it ‘for newsletter’) so we can start debate.
Some topics I would love to hear back from members on (and not a complete list) are your views on:
- Forests (Regulation of Log Traders and Forestry Advisers) Amendment Act 2020,
- NZIF’s role within the sector,
- Should NZIF be more vocal in the media,
- What else should we be providing members,
- Views on statements made by 50 shades of green,
- Land use in New Zealand,
- Views on the Tolaga Bay ‘issue’,
- How will / can the industry come through the upcoming world recession,
- Leadership within the sector,
- Domestic processing,
- Future products.
We have agreed to some other changes at council with the goal of ensuring transparency and members are fully aware what the council is doing on your behalf. These changes include:
- Publishing the approved council minutes on the website (the first meeting minutes should now be published).
- Ensuring all potential conflicts of councillors are published in minutes.
- A clear calendar of events so members know when meetings are held and can submit thoughts for the meeting to consider.
- Publishing the budget (which is being adjusted to cover the effect of no conference) and progress against the budget on the website. This should be up this month.
- Regular updates on membership numbers by class.
If there are other items you want to be able to access and see please let me know.
Finally I have three items I need to bring to members attention.
- The AGM. This is being held in Wellington at the Miramar Links golf course next to the airport, the weekend after the election (ie September 26th). We will be holding CPD sessions covering 3-4 topics in the morning and early afternoon with the AGM starting at mid afternoon (around 3). I encourage as many of you as possible to attend the AGM. The AGM is your time to ask questions and propose direction to the council. We will all be there to listen to you so please make the effort to attend this event to guide your Institute where you want it to go.
- The CPD prior to the AGM is being set up for you. CPD is an important part of being a member and not only helps you keep up to speed on the proposed changes which may effect you, but is also a requirement of Registration. As I would like to see all members aspire for Registration (and indeed we may have to under the new amendment) I encourage you to attend all CPD we provide for you.
- Election of Fellows. To be nominated a Fellow is one of the highest achievements a member can reach in our Institute. It is very important all members have their say on the election of someone to Fellow and I encourage all of you to vote. We currently have only 17% of members who have voted, which frankly is disrespectful to the people being nominated. Voting takes less than 10 mins so please stop reading and go and vote right now.
I look forward to hearing from you in future newsletters or directly. Remember the Institute is yours, it is up to you to guide it.
Have a positive week.
Thanks
James
INSTITUTE UPDATES
Tony (A.E.) Beveridge MSc (NZ) BA (Oxon) BA (Auck) HonMNZIF HonMCFA
Anthony Erskine (Tony) Beveridge was born in 1925 in Hamilton. At the age of 14, Tony was sent to board at Rutherford House, Nelson College. The beech forest of nearby Maitai Valley provided stimulus for his developing interest in natural history. Five years at Auckland University College followed, culminating in a Master of Science with Honours in Botany. A Colonial Service Scholarship enabled Tony to spend two years studying forestry at the University of Oxford. The seven years that followed in the Malayan Forest Service, mostly as a District Forest Officer and later at the Malayan Forest Research Institute in Kepong, led to a lifelong interest in tropical forests and forestry. In 1955 he married Mary and they spent their first year in Kepong where Tony was an instructor at the Malayan Forest School of Silviculture.
Returning to New Zealand in 1957, Tony joined the Forest Research Institute, then only a decade old and expanding steadily. He was posted initially to Pureora Forest, a remote sawmilling village in the northern King Country, where he spent two and a half years as a research forester. Logging was in its heyday, and here began the first of what was to become a ground-breaking series of management trials in selective harvesting, an alternative to the logging practices of an era when most cutover forest was destined for clearance for agriculture.
In 1960, the Beveridge’s shifted to Rotorua and Tony began work at the Forest Research Institute in the first of several offices he occupied in Silviculture House. Mamaku, Rotoehu, Pureora and to a lesser extent, Whirinaki, were the main forests of focus. In 1962 the Indigenous Silviculture group was dismembered with only Tony and John Nicholls surviving as a mere token investment in indigenous forest research in the North Island. Another blow fell in the late 1960s when the first Forestry Development Conference recommended conversion of large areas of cutover native forest to exotic plantation and this became government policy. Already with years of research on rehabilitating logged forest behind him, Tony was given, for him, the odious task of finding the best way of replacing diverse tall native forest with radiata pine.
As a Research Field Leader from 1968, Tony’s purview included oversight of research work in native forest throughout the country, including Northland kauri forests and South Island beech and rimu forests. Visits to other parts of the country and a series of silvicultural and botanical visits to tropical forests in Australia, southeast Asia and the Pacific from 1964 provided some relief from the rather depressing domestic outlook for indigenous forestry at the time. By the late 1970s, Tony found himself embroiled in bitter national controversies over the future of iconic forests such as Pureora and Whirinaki. With his love of native forest and his personal and professional integrity, Tony found them particularly traumatic. Relief came with government decisions to end logging at Pureora in 1978 and Whirinaki in 1984, and the renewal of his research field, now renamed Indigenous Forest Management, from 1980.
After retirement in 1985, Tony worked part-time for some years with disadvantaged youth at a charitable trust at Te Amorangi while still enjoying forays into his favourite haunts. Relocation to Auckland in 1994 enabled him to spend more time with family and also to pursue his long-standing interest in southeast Asian languages, culminating in a BA degree in Indonesian. Recognition of his professional achievements came with honorary membership of the Commonwealth Forestry Association and of the New Zealand Institute of Forestry.
With his extraordinarily observant eye for, and interest in the natural world, Tony was very much in the mould of the natural historian. His leadership was marked by unconditional support and endless encouragement for younger scientists. His concern for the personal and professional welfare of his staff never wavered. Neither did his passion for native forest, particularly his beloved tall podocarps: rimu, miro, matai, kahikatea and totara.
Tony died on 27th July aged 95, just a few short weeks after Mary. He was described as a person to whom the term a “gentleman” was aptly applied, in all senses of the word. Tony will be greatly missed by those who knew and worked with him.
Mark Smale & Greg Steward
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NZIF Council member
This is Russell’s first term on the Council. He is a Fellow, a member of the Fellows Committee and a recipient of the Forester of the Year and Kirk Horn awards. Russell has a BForSc (Hons) from the University of Canterbury and has had a long career in the forest industry working in the King Country, Auckland and the Central North Island in a wide variety of technical, operational and senior executive roles.
He has experience in NZ all aspects of environmental and commercial forest management and research management. He has worked for the Forest Service, NZ Timberlands, Forestry Corporation, Fletcher Challenge Forests, Carter Holt Harvey Forests and as CEO, established the Timberland’s Management Company to assume responsibility for the Central North Island partnership when it was in receivership. He has also undertaken contract work in Australia.
Russell established Future Forests Research Ltd (now Forest Growers Research Ltd) for the industry in 2008 and has been CEO since as well as National Research and Development Manager for the Forest Owners Association since 2013.
He is a STIMBR board member, a member of SOFAC and represents the industry on many research steering groups and boards. He is also very familiar with the issues faced by small forest growers through his own personal forest investment and sales experience.
Council responsibilities are: Fellows
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NZIF Fellows Election
Don’t forget to Cast your Vote.
Only 18% of eligible members have voted to date.
To Cast your Vote; go to your membership profile, click the Election tab, Current Elections and cast your vote for Dennis Neilson and Bill Liley.
Voting closes on 19th August 2020
Announcement of the Fellows' will be at the AGM on the 26th September 2020.
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Future Foresters
Environmental sustainability is in our roots. See how this farm is incorporating environmentally sustainable practices into their landscape.
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Latest NZ Journal of Forestry is On-line
Find latest journal here
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Changed Address?
It is important NZIF has up-to-date contact details for members so we can stay in touch and keep you informed of news, events and our journal. If you have changed your residential and/or postal address, or any other contact details, please let the office know. You can email us at admin@nzif.org.nz
FORESTRY EVENTS
NZIF Annual CPD workshops in conjunction with AGM
We will be running 2 x CPD workshops on Saturday 26th September along with our AGM at the Miramar Golf Links conference rooms. Starting at 10am. Further details around the CPD, costs etc to be announced asap. Numbers will be limited.
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Pre-election political forum
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) and the Association for Resource. Management Professionals (RMLA) have arranged a political forum to explore the environment, conservation and climate change policies of the main political parties.
Leading into the election, this event will enable invited party representatives to participate in a moderated panel discussion focused on the issues that matter.
Expect a deep dive into land, freshwater, oceans and climate change policy. Moderated by EDS CEO Gary Taylor, confirmed panel participants include Hon David Parker (Labour), Hon Scott Simpson (National), Hon James Shaw
(Greens), with invitees from NZ First, Act and the Māori Party to be confirmed.
When: Monday 17 August, 5:00pm – 7:30pm
Where: Simpson Grierson, Level 27, Lumley Tower, Shortland Street, Auckland
and available nationally via a livestream.
Registration for both in-person and livestreaming access will be available shortly
through the RMLA website and a link on the EDS one. Registrants will be invited
to submit questions online that will be reviewed for relevance as the discussion
develops.
Please note the event in your diary meantime!
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Call for abstracts and side events proposals for the XV World Forestry Congress
As you may be aware, the XV World Forestry Congress (WFC) will be held from 24 to 28 May 2021 in Seoul, South Korea. Read more
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Institute of Chartered Foresters: Introducing CPD September
We are excited to bring you #CPDSeptember, giving you the opportunity to access a wide-range of free, daily, online content for the entire month of September.
You can enjoy a number of live online events, or you can watch them back on the Members' Area at your leisure. We'll also be signposting relevant articles and papers to enhance your knowledge.
Bookings will open on Monday 10 August and we we hope that you can take advantage of what #CPDSeptember has to offer. Read more
