Forestry Roots: “What I love about my current work is every day is different”
Harriet Jenkins, 2024 Forestry Roots trainee, speaks about how the programme gave her the skills and experience she needed to start building a successful career in forestry.
Tell us about your career since completing your Forestry Roots Traineeship.
I completed my Forestry Roots position with Broadleaf Wales in September 2024. I’ve since continued working closely with the land owners who I trained with, in a self-employed capacity.
In one compartment, named The New Plantation (planted in 2014), I’ve been entrusted with its management by the land owner Ruth Pybus. Having this responsibility for decision making, along with training up another young person to work alongside me within this role, has helped massively with developing my self-confidence: reinforcing what I’ve learned so far.
Throughout the rest of the woodland at Broadleaf Wales I support the other landowner, David Brown, with operations including thinning, high pruning, timber extraction, squirrel management, hedge laying and making products to order, including sweet chestnut posts and gates.
What did you gain during your traineeship?
Although the majority of my training during my Forestry Roots placement was grounded in the management of broadleaves for timber at Broadleaf Wales, my employers thought it important that I also periodically worked off-site in order to gain a more rounded and broader experience of what forestry can be, and is. This gave me the opportunity to experience working in different types of woodland with varying species, restrictions, objectives and thus management methods.
One site was a PAWS managed for conservation and another, a ‘productive’ conifer woodland supporting an on-site business and in the transition to CCF management.
The added bonus of this experience was that I built up a good working relationship with other local landowners. Consequently, since completing my Forestry Roots placement and becoming self employed, many of them have continued to employ me to support in the management of their woodlands. This means helping with various operations including clearing windblown trees, tree planting, weed control, thinning and re-spacing, extraction, ride and path maintenance as well upkeep and repair of fencing and gates.
During my Forestry Roots placement I also received training in the use of QGIS software for mapping and planning out woodland creation designs. This also incorporated learning how to do appropriate desk checks and site visits to asses whether an area of land is appropriate for planting trees and if so, what species and where/how they should be planted.
Having gained this skill, I’ve been able to work alongside The Woodland Trust as a self-employed tender, delivering some of their woodland creations plans through their MOREwoods scheme.
What do you love about your career in forestry?
What I love about my current role/work is that every day is different. My work is very much determined by the seasons, and so I feel grounded in nature, something which drew me to pursue forestry in the first place. As I work at various sites with different people throughout the week, I get to use and practice many skills. As I’m still very new in my career as a forester, I think this is really valuable for my continued learning and development. Furthermore, having a combination of outdoor, practical work combined with desk-based woodland creation work makes for a symbiotic balance between body and mind.
What are your ambitions for the future?
The Forestry Roots placement marked a career change for me so I don’t currently hold any accredited qualification in Forestry. As a result, in the future I may choose to do a master’s degree, which would allow me a more academic grounding in the subject. However, for now, I very much wish to continue working dynamically, gaining practical experience. I like the scope that having a degree in forestry might offer me, in order to undertake in-depth research projects or be qualified for job roles which may have a key impact or influence on the industry.
For now, though, I feel that working on the ground is giving me the base which will support me and act as the springboard for my future career in forestry.
The final three opportunities for for Forestry Roots 2025/26 are open for applications until 16th June.
Apply now.
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