Chris Rawlinson - Forestry (Distance Learning)
From a childhood in the hills of Shropshire to a career in the forests of mid-Wales
By Chris Rawlinson, current forestry (distance learning) student at Bangor University
After graduating with a BSc in Natural Sciences, I spent several years working in the fieldwork and ecological sectors. This was followed by a period working in practical woodland and forestry management, on chainsaw and mountain bike trail teams throughout Wales. Having grown up in the forested hills of Shropshire, I have always been most at home under the trees and, after keeping one eye on the forestry industry for some time, in 2020 decided it was a good time to combine my scientific and forestry backgrounds. With its mighty reputation, forestry at Bangor University was the obvious choice. Covid and a series of lockdowns meant that my studies were full-time yet via distance learning. The staff went above and beyond to ensure that students didn’t miss out on opportunities, despite the challenging circumstances facing everyone involved. It has been great to be within a department so full of energy and with such a strong sense of community.
Seven intense, but very productive, months later – as I came towards the end of my taught modules – I started to scan the horizon for career opportunities. Thanks to Bangor’s industry links, this task was made significantly easier by the regular job opportunities that were circulated by staff to forestry students. I was lucky enough to quickly receive an interview offer from Pryor & Rickett Silviculture and, after attending a productive interview and doing some further industry research, was delighted to be offered the position of Assistant Ecologist with them.
The role I was offered was to be a combination of ecological assessment and survey work, assisting in the creation of forest management plans and, at times, assisting with other forest management responsibilities. For me it was almost as if someone had created my perfect bespoke job: the perfect combination of science, creativity and forest management! Pryor & Rickett were accommodating in letting me start part-time to allow me to simultaneously undertake my dissertation, and Bangor University was equally accommodating in letting me switch from full to part-time study for my dissertation, affording me to continue my studies on a part-time basis.
By the end of my second day with Pryor & Rickett Silviculture I had already shadowed a contractor meeting and inspection of small clearfell site on a private estate; conducted a boundary inspection of an estate’s woodland fencing and gates; and conducted series of forest stand surveys on the Public Forest Estate.
The main focus of my work with Pryor & Rickett to date has been conducting survey work to collect data on the status of the peat bogs and Sitka spruce plantations of the Cambrian Mountains. It’s involved many a long summer day hiking and driving through the beautiful mountains of Mid Wales: hard work, but somebody has to do it! During the autumn, my task was to analyse this data, using it to make recommendations to inform how best to manage each area of land in the future. This information will feed directly into the next incarnation of Forest Resource Plans for these forests, the creation of which is something I am also assisting with.
It has been very satisfying to see the direct applicability of Bangor’s MSc module content to the work forest professionals conduct in their day-to-day lives: one Sunday evening I was clicking submit on a Land Management Plan assignment on behalf of a fictitious client; the following Tuesday – after a quick Bank Holiday rest – I was sat in Pryor & Rickett’s Marches Office discussing with my new line manager upcoming forest management planning projects that I would be involved with that were being carried out for real clients who owned Welsh forests. Depending on where your career goals lie, the flexibility within Bangor’s MSc modules mean I could equally be telling you about the applicability of content focusing on agroforestry design in Sub-Saharan Africa, or of the use of remote sensing for REDD+ monitoring.
Whether it be encountering an unexpected stand of continuous cover forestry or meeting the crews working the harvesters, forwarders and skylines of a clearfell site, studying at Bangor has given me a firm grounding on things I now encounter in my day-to-day employment. No two days working for Pryor & Rickett are ever the same: be it skylarks, cuckoos, swifts or pine martens; attending one of the numerous staff development training events; or simply getting to experience some of the remotest and most spectacular parts of the UK. In a period of such importance for UK tree planting, all of this is an added personal bonus to what is essentially important work that makes a real-life difference: science-underpinned decision making, making sure the mantra ‘right tree, right place’ is more than just a phrase.
I was very proud to be awarded the Tilhill Phil Johnson Memorial Award for Best Silviculture Student 2020-21 and it was humbling to learn of the achievements of the award’s namesake. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my career to date and have found Pryor & Rickett Silviculture a fantastic company to work for. I’m excited about how much there is still to learn and by the plethora of learning opportunities for everyone working in this profession. I’d highly recommend anyone toying with the idea of entering the forestry profession via a degree from Bangor University to give it some serious consideration.