Environmental SIG: Professional Development Day

Join us in June for our Environmental Special Interest Group’s (SIG) first in-person event that will involve two site visits hosted by Network Rail and the City of London Corporation.

This Professional Development Day will begin at Network Rail’s new planting site in Hadley Wood where members will hear about a project that has been designed to incorporate high levels of intimate and complexity to enable maximum opportunities for nature.

In the afternoon, members will visit the City of London Corporation’s site in Epping Forest to look at the challenges of managing a National Nature Reserve on the edge of the UK’s largest city. Epping Forest is home to 55,000 ancient pollards. On a walking tour, members will explore how the forest manages the famous collection of old hornbeam pollards, representing one of the most important populations of old trees anywhere in Europe. Most of this site is within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), offering a chance to discuss ecological and cultural management constraints and opportunities.

Please note that transport (sponsored by Network Rail) has been arranged to take delegates from Hadley Wood to Epping Forest.

Please stay tuned for more details.

Speakers – more to be announced

John Deakin MICFor – Head of Trees and Woodlands, National Trust

Dr Neil Strong MICFor – Biodiversity Strategy Manager, Network Rail

Jon Stokes – Director of Trees & Research, The Tree Council

John Keeley – Vegetation Site Manager, Network Rail

Jackie Shallcross – Shared Outcomes Fund – Trees Outside Woodland: Project Lead, The Tree Council