TREE improvement charity Future Trees Trust, with funding from the Patsy Wood Trust and in collaboration with the Royal Forestry Society, is delivering the Patsy Wood Scholarship to provide a key career stepping stone for new entrants into the forestry sector.

Its new Patsy Wood Scholar is Peter Borrowman, who will be working with independent forestry consultant William Hamer, mainly in Hampshire and Berkshire. Peter will be undertaking a range of forestry activities to provide him with a broad experience on which to build his forestry career.

The post also comes with specialist CPD training with the RFS and through Future Trees Trust, particularly looking at the critical role of forest genetic resources in tree improvement, sound seed sourcing and planning future plant selections to deliver resilient plantations.

Peter said: “This post provides a unique opportunity to start a career in the forestry sector and I am fortunate to be working under an experienced professional in William.

"My first few weeks have been a whirlwind, learning about all aspects of life as a modern forest manager including timber marking, management plans, mapping and the woodfuel business to name a few.

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“Additionally, I am looking forward to learning from Dr Jo Clark at Future Trees Trust, acquiring knowledge of forest genetic resources – an application of forestry that I feel will become increasingly important as foresters are presented with novel management challenges that require productive and resilient planting stock.”