Pruning for the future
A crew of students from Otago Polytechnic's Arboriculture programme has spent a few days in Balclutha, pruning and shaping some of the town's distinctive horizontal elm trees.
17 ākonga and 2 kaimahi made the trip south for the work, which our students tackle every 2 years for the Clutha District Council.
The team began working at the popular Balclutha Bridge Playground, with the project to shape and prune out the dead wood being done to prevent the large horizontal elm trees from becoming overgrown and impacting the playground equipment or encroaching into the pathways.
WATCH: Check out our Arboriculture students at work in Balclutha:
(Video footage: Ben Fentiman)
Otago Polytechnic offers Level 3 and Level 4 Certificates in Arboriculture, with the one year fulltime course taking a maximum of 20 students each year.
The Balclutha work is part of a very practical, hands-on programme across the year. Ākonga usually spend three days a week out in the field climbing trees and learning tree management, alongside one day a week on-campus in the Dunedin classroom.
Published on 21 May 2025
Orderdate: 21 May 2025
Expiry: 21 May 2027
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