Alumnus lends skills to help students shape the future of forestry

A Harper Adams alumnus has returned to the University – to help share his skills with our current students and inspire the next generation.

Paul Orsi, who studied for a Land Management MSc at Harper Adams between 2006 and 2011,is now Director of Operations at the Sylva Foundation.

The foundation is a charity which works to help people understand and promote the good stewardship of woodlands and ensure they are mindful of their utility, as well as conscious of their fragility.

As part of its outreach work, Sylva have been providing support to undergraduates on the Rural Enterprise and Land Management, Rural Property Management and Environmental Land Management degree courses at Harper Adams.

For their Forestry Module, students have to design a new woodland, making sure they take into account factors such as designations, soil and future climate scenarios. Paul demonstrated how the Sylva Foundation’s myForest platform could help students design their new woodland spatially using the mapping tool, in addition to understanding woodland creation considerations using the woodland creation plan embedded into the platform. 

The Sylva Foundation has provided access to paid account plans for all of the students while they  work on their assignment.

Nick Covarr, Lecturer in Forestry and Woodland at Harper Adams, said: “We really appreciate the contribution which the Sylva Foundation makes to our forestry modules at Harper Adams.

“Not only do they provide face to face tuition and access to myForest, but our students tell us that they feel more confident in expressing their ideas around woodland creation after these sessions. Thanks to the Sylva Foundation for being such an important part of encouraging young people into woodland management at Harper Adams.”

And Paul added: “I love getting out and talking to the next generation of land managers. We hope myForest can help them to design the well-thought-through sustainable woodlands we need for the future - and be able to take those skills into practice when they have graduated.”