Mrs. Pajkert-Lipska will provide a short history of Polish forestry and the discuss the political structures of forest management in her home country. She will take us through the silvicultural and harvest cycle of a stand, as well as the management techniques and equipment that is deployed. The summary of her talk will highlight the current challenges faced by her forest district and Poland’s forests. Mr. Kashyna will be present to answer questions with the assistance of a translator. 

Dr. Zajdel will discuss beekeeping in Polish forests.  She will provide an overview of bee biology and beekeeping in Poland with a connection to forestry.  Dr. Zajdel will overview her research on the impact of honeybees on other pollinators, and the connection between tree beekeeping and biodiversity in general.

Dr. Barbara Zajdel, 

Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Environment Biology

Institute of Animal Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland

Biography: I conduct research on wild pollinators, focusing on mason bees as bioindicators to assess heavy metal pollution in agricultural and urban environments. I also study the abundance and diversity of bumblebees in parks and wastelands across Warsaw. Since 2018, I have been investigating the fauna associated with Apis mellifera living in log hives in Polish forests, exploring their diversity and richness.

Joanna Pajkert-Lipska

Biography:  A 4th generation forester, raised in the middle of the forest. A graduate of the University of Life Sciences in Poznań, department in forestry, faculty: forest management. Participant of a one-year scholarship at the Agricultural University in Sweden (SLU). Currently employed in the State Forests in Toruń as a Senior Specialist for forest management and protection. She started her professional career by organizing hunting and hunting management at the Game Breeding Center, and after 7 years she started to work with harvesting wood system and selling wood, and then supervising a forest nursery, seed collecting, forest silviculture, forest protection and private forests. In the forest, she is interested in managing game animal populations and the adaptation of tree and shrub species to habitats as well as changes occurring in the forest over the years.

Boguslaw Jacek Kashyna - head of the forest district of Torun.

Biography: With 37 years of experience, he began his career in 1988 as a trainee and later as an assistant professor in the Gniewkowo Forest District. He worked in the Dobrzejewice Forest District from 1991, holding various positions, including deputy forester, before becoming forest supervisor in the Torun Forest District in 2017. Throughout his career, he has contributed significantly to the improvement of Polish forests through afforestation, stand reconstruction, fire protection, and suburban forest management.  He has implemented key projects such as road infrastructure development, fire protection modernization, and the construction of the Bielawy container nursery. 

The Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC hosts a weekly lecture series at the Prince George campus. Anyone from the university or wider community with interest in the topic area is welcome to attend. Presentations are also made available to remote participants through Zoom Webinar. Go to http://www.unbc.ca/nres-institute/colloquium-webcasts to view the presentation remotely.

Past NRESi colloquium presentations and special lectures can be viewed on our video archive, available here.