Agrisciences Dean Prof. Danie Brink
participated in a meeting with key industry players as well as staff from Dept.
of Forestry and Wood Sciences earlier this month. The purpose of the meeting, which was hosted
by York Timbers at Jessievale in Mpumalanga, was to discuss education needs as
well as avenues for continued cooperation between some of the leading forestry
companies (Mondi, Sappi, and York) and the department of forest and wood
science. In this case, the focus was
mainly in the area of forest operations, where the company representations were
headed up by Dr. Dirk Laengin (Head of Forest Technical, Mondi), Mr. Giovanni
Sale (General manager Research, Planning and Nurseries, Sappi) and Mr. Piet van
Zyl (CEO, York Timbers). As part of the
experience, an excursion was arranged where vegetation management, site
preparation, planting, thinning and final cutting was demonstrated and
discussed at length amongst participants. The ‘indaba’ ended on a positive and
enthusiastic note, with general agreement on future areas of opportunity and
continued cooperation.