John is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and spent nearly a decade on the management board of Forest Enterprise England. He has spent the last five years as Head of Forestry and Land Management. His varied experience includes lowland broadleaved forest management in the East Midlands and upland conifer management in Northumberland. He has ensured Forest Enterprise have continually retained their FSC and PEFC certification, and promoted the UK Woodland Assurance Standard within the 30 European State Forest Organisations members.
John has had a significant involvement in the reclamation, establishment and long term management of thousands of hectares of new community woodlands in the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North West of England by the Forestry Commission and the Land Trust. More recently he has been a strong advocate of diversifying UK woodlands, and turning 20th Century plantations into robust productive multipurpose forests for the future.
John is a director of the Austin Healey Club and races these classic cars. He is married with three children and enjoys overseas travel, sking, scuba diving, hill walking, and some forestry consultancy work.