APF Reflections
Missed APF this year? Read about how our team got on at the show, including mental health, careers and education.
On September 24-26, our team attended the annual APF show, held at Ragley Estate, Worcestershire. Joined on the stand by Action Oak, the RFS team spoke with visitors about careers, grants for resilience, education and training.
Our new president, James Hamilton Stubber, attended the “Is Forestry a National Security Issued”, chaired by Baroness Young and Richard Standford, Chair and CEO of the Forestry Commission, respectively. Commenting on the seminar, James said “It was good to see the level of commitment to promote the growth and management of woodlands in England. There is no doubt we need to increase our efforts to collaborate with other organisations in the industry to educate people on the importance of woodlands.”
Director of Action Oak, Annabel Narayanan, also shared her thoughts from participating in a panel discussion. “Oaks are a natural part of our landscape and it’s easy to believe they will be around forever. However, if we take them for granted, we are doomed to lose them. Once we know a threat exists, we need to research, gather data, and actively manage trees that are at risk”.
Our team also spoke about mental health in forestry, following our Breaking Points survey last year highlighting 35% of the workforce experiencing chronic burnout. We launched our mini-survey at APF which encourages forestry professionals on their views on tools aimed at addressing communication challenges between forestry and the public. The findings from the survey will form the Toolkit for Change, turning experiences from foresters into actionable change.
RFS CEO Christopher Williams furthered the mental health conversations as he chaired the ‘Branching out from the blame’ panel discussion. Reflecting on the panel, Christopher Willams said: “Our debates shone more light on the extent of the challenges facing many working in our sector. I am encouraged that more people are becoming aware of the work of the Well being in forestry group and are keen to work with us to improve conditions for all working in forestry.”
Our work at APF also included a large focus on careers. Jemma Cuthbert, School and Community Outreach Officer organised school tours for over 600 children who were joined by 23 volunteer guides who are a part of the forestry and arboriculture industry. The guides helped the children to understand what different trades they were seeing, educating them on the range of careers available in the sector.
Jemma said: “Our volunteers dedicated time to lead groups of children around the show, they put in huge amount of effort to ensure they all had a fantastic day. The volunteers encouraged the children to ask questions to exhibitors about their career path and training they had completed. We hope some of the children will join the forestry community in the future!”.
