Preparations for the launch of our new initiative, TreeWatch, are progressing well. We will be working with a number of organisations over the summer months to test a pilot of TreeWatch. One of these is Earthwatch, who are generously supporting the pilot by offering their intern Nick Kirkby.
Nick will be working with us during July and August and will be helping with the completion of the website, and then busy roadtesting the technology and handling the data as it comes in. Welcome Nick, and thank you Earthwatch!
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We took the OneOak project to the general public during the three day Art, Design and a Taste of Summer craft fair at Blenheim Palace over the three day May Bank Holiday weekend.
Hundreds of people came to the stand to watch our film of the OneOak felling, to watch carvers from the Oxon & Bucks Branch of the British Woodcarving Association (Brian, Jeff and Liz), and to see original watercolours (Rebecca Hind), botanical drawings (Sarah Simblet) and photographs of the OneOak tree (Sam Scott-Hunter). Philip Koomen’s iconic Pondlife Bench attracted plenty of attention.
We really enjoyed talking to all who came to see us, especially the many discussions we had around the subject of sustainable woodland management. For some people found the idea of felling a 160 year old tree was challenging but when we discussed the ideas behind the project and the notion of bringing Britain’s woodlands into management, often opinions changed. Clearly the idea of using more locally-produced wood receives plenty of support but forestry, and foresters, need to work more on public communication.
We are extremely grateful to all the people who came to see us and joined with us in so many interesting discussions. It was great to see some of the children from our partner schools coming along with their families. We are especially grateful to those who supported use at the exhibition:
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Proceedings of the Institute of Chartered Foresters’ National Conference, sponsored by the Sylva Foundation, have been published online today. The conference was on the subject of Forests and Energy.
The proceedings are available on our Forestry Horizons website.
Hemery, G. E. (2010). Forests and energy: maximising their potential. Institute of Chartered Foresters, National Conference 28
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We have been working for some on a major new initiative to help monitor the health of Britain’s trees using a ‘citizen science’ approach. We are pleased to announce that the initiative, to be known as TreeWatch, will be launched as a pilot in 2010.
Several major partners have been working with us in developing the concept and will help us road test the technology, scientific methods and user interface throughout the 2010 pilot.
A new website is currently in development and will be launched by July, in time to support the first survey work by volunteers across Great Britain.
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