Our landholdings UK-wide aremanaged by a team of about 40 woodland officers.
Our woodland officers are all highly trained professionals but come to us with a wide variety of academic qualifications and practical experience. Some are chartered foresters, others excellent botanists, arboriculturalists, ecologists or simply great at working with people and communities. In addition, most have a specialist interest relevant to their work such as bats or archaeology. All this knowledge is shared amongst the team.
What do woodland officers actually do?
A typical woodland officer manages a portfolio of 30 to 50 woodlands and is expected to live (and therefore work from a home office) near their sites.
They are responsible for the safety of the woodlands in their care and regularly inspect structures such as bridges, car parks or boardwalks as well as carry out periodic tree safety inspections along paths, roadsides and our boundaries. They plan, budget, organise and supervise all the operations in our woods and ensure that these are carried out to FSC certified standards, driven by our woodland management approach.
Very often they rely on volunteers to help them keep an eye on things as clearly they can‘t be everywhere eat once. Woodland officers also act as the first point of contact for our members and visitors who may be interested in what is happening in their local woods.
In short, they are our local ambassadors in the regions and are supported in their work by their colleagues in our country offices in Grantham, Perth and Cardiff.