Waiariki students honoured at forestry conference

Three Waiariki representatives were honoured at an Australasia/Pacific forestry conference.
Waiariki Institute of Technology students Susana Gonzalez Aracil and Alvaro Ramirez received cash prizes at the Australia and New Zealand Institute of Foresters Conference in Auckland for their forestry industry research.
Mr Ramirez, of Chile, is one of four students to receive New Zealand Institute of Forestry Student Awards of $1000 each. The final year Diploma of Forest Management student also received the Mary Sutherland Award for a polytech student.
He came to New Zealand on a working holiday, fell in love with the nature of this country and decided to study forestry.
"Forests are such an important research [area] in this country. The industry is huge."
Mr Ramirez said he worked from the outset and has built his confidence up during the Waiariki course.
"[It's a] good course, with great resources and we prepare for a wide range of forestry areas. The staff have great knowledge, which pushes us to do the same."
Ms Gonzalez  Aracil, of Spain, was presented with $500 for her conference poster The impact of plot size on LiDAR volume relationships in forest inventories, which is part of her masters thesis.
The aim of the study was to investigate the effect the of changing plot size had on the results of field measurements of forest inventory using aerial scanning using LiDAR.
LiDAR is an active remote sensing system that collects information and provides 3D mapping of the height and volume of the forest. It was originally developed for terrain mapping.
"It has been hard work, but I know I will be rewarded in the future," she said.
Her winning poster was voted as the best of three by conference delegates.
Meanwhile, Ms Gonzalez Aracil intends to return to Spain next month and said the conference, attended by representatives of 20 countries, was a good opportunity to make industry contacts.
A third Waiariki delegate was honoured at the conference, with the forestry school director Jeremy Christmas elected a fellow of the institute, along with United Nations James Carle and Christchurch's Dennys Guild.
NZIF president Andrew McEwen said this was the highest honour available to an instutite member, with only 44 fellows throughout the country.
Christmas has worked in the forestry and wood processing sector for 37 years and was described by McEwen as "one of New Zealand's eminent and recognised experts" in advanced timber preservation, wood modification and vocational training/education.
"Jeremy's election as an NZIF fellow recognises the excellent work he has undertaken over the last five years to reposition the forestry and wood processing-related training and education at Waiariki, particularly that involving both the National Centre of Excellence for the Forest and Wood Industry at the Mokoia Campus and the Timber Industry Training facilities at the institute's Waipa Campus."
- Additional reporting Julie Taylor