2019

Students Gain Work Experience in Internships Offered by LVM

JSC "Latvia's State Forests" (LVM) offers internships for students who study or are interested in the forest sector and related fields, allowing them to get to know, understand and gain an insight into the daily work of the company. In 2018, 85 students from Latvian universities, mainly from Latvia University of Agriculture Forest Faculty and Ogre Technical School, took internship at LVM.

Last year, LVM developed a new internship programme that meets the company's manufacturing processes. The internship programme is described in detail with specific work assignments that students have to solve under the guidance of experienced LVM specialists.

"Our trainees have an opportunity to see things described in books in a real environment, and students get to know how work is done in the forest, learn to use the theoretical knowledge for solving specific tasks, and get advice from experienced foresters," says Dainis Rudzītis, JSC "Latvia's State Forests" Head of Forest Management Planning of Ziemeļlatgale Region.

At the end of the year, four students of Latvia University of Agriculture Forest Faculty participated in the internship organised by LVM in North Latgale region. They are happy to share their impressions of the experience gained during the internship.

LLU MF 4. kursa studente Diāna Agafonova:

Diāna Agafonova, 4th year student at Latvia University of Agriculture Forest Faculty:

During the internship, I gained a better understanding of the different directions of the forest industry, supplementing not only theoretical but also, more importantly, my practical knowledge. For example, in the first week of the internship, we surveyed several young forest stands together with a LVM forester. In accordance with the guidelines for young stand tending, we had to make a decision as to whether to plan tending or repeated surveying of young forest stands, or to stop the survey and make an inventory of the forest stand. Foresters are also responsible for inspecting the external boundaries of state forests by assessing the quality of border markings and border fire-breaks. This task was also entrusted to us. Together with a forestry specialist, we checked the quality of the work done by a service provider and drafted a work acceptance document.

In the second week of the internship, together with a LVM planner, we got acquainted with inventory of forest stands, marking of felling area boundaries in nature and other works related to felling area preparation. In the third week, I took part in a forest stand thinning survey together with a logging specialist after felling and forwarding works had been performed, checking the basal area of the developed forest stand and whether the growing trees or soil were not damaged. In the last week of internship, together with LVM infrastructure specialists, we "refreshed" our knowledge of working with a levelling machine, as well as tested the density of a road surface with a special machine.

The internship has given us great satisfaction, new knowledge and an opportunity not only to see, but also to do ourselves. The internship programme was planned very well; forest industry experts gladly shared their experiences and answered the questions we were interested in. After graduating the Forest Faculty, I want my future be connected with the forest industry. If there is such an opportunity, I will definitely try to apply to posts offered by LVM, which I became familiar with during this internship.

Maikls Mūrmanis, 4th year student at Latvia University of Agriculture Forest Faculty:

The internship offered by LVM provided an excellent experience. I gained new knowledge in both theoretical and practical aspects. For me, practical works in the forest, such as felling area surveys, forest border surveys, various forestry, logging, and forest infrastructure works and their inspections were the most exciting part of the internship. I got an insight into the work of the company as a state forest manager. It was so exciting to see how much is thought, planned, analysed and done everyday. This is a continuous process, since it is influenced by human, economic, climatic, environmental and labour factors. Thus, I saw that LVM's activities are aimed at sustainable forest management by performing the highest quality and efficient work in the interests of the public.

Strengthening theoretical knowledge in practice, getting acquainted with LVM GEO geospatial information technologies, experience in planning and working with people, acquiring new acquaintances are the greatest benefits of the internship. During the month of internship, I got to know the whole forest management cycle.

I would definitely like to see more of these internships organised for future students of Latvia University of Agriculture Forest Faculty. My proposal is to organise such internships at least for a month in each season of the year because forest management works are various and varied and their timing is different. Not everything can be done in winter, and everything cannot be done in summer, and it requires completely different knowledge. Only by practice it is possible to strengthen the theory and understand the essence and importance of things as well as face the daily work problems of professionals.

Future is difficult to predict, but I would definitely want to link my work to the forest industry, and perhaps even try to introduce or discover something that matters to the industry.