Biography
Dr. Gabriel E. Hemery BSc Wales, DPhil Oxf, CEnv, MIEEM, FICFor
Chartered Forester ~ Chartered Environmentalist
career • initiatives • media • specialist publications
Gabriel Hemery is a passionate advocate for trees and forestry, and a prolific forest scientist (see publications). He co-founded and is currently Chief Executive of the Sylva Foundation. During 2011 with other prominent environmentalists he co-founded the ginger group Our Forests, providing a voice for the people of England concerning the future of the country’s forests. Gabriel writes a popular tree and forestry blog (www.GabrielHemery.com) and is working on several book projects, including The New Sylva to be published by Bloomsbury in 2014.
Gabriel has practical hands-on experience in land management, extensive knowledge of the forest sector and is a specialist in hardwood forestry research. He has conducted a wide range of projects with Government bodies, NGOs and the private forestry sector and has worked in collaborative international research programmes. He is the author of more than 60 scientific papers and articles, has acted as editor for an international forestry journal, and is a member of the international editorial board of the CABI Forest Science Database. He is currently external supervisor for two postgraduate research students at the University of Oxford, and a guest lecturer at the University of Reading.
During his career he has held several senior positions in the UK environmental sector including Head of Land Science and Director of Land Operations for the Northmoor Trust (now named Earth Trust) in Oxfordshire, and Director of Development for the Botanical Society of the British Isles.
Gabriel has developed numerous innovative forestry initiatives. He designed and created a new 30 hectare woodland in Oxfordshire, England, where he personally planted many tens of thousands of trees. In the 1990s he organised the establishment of more than 25 field trials across the UK and Ireland, and developed Britain’s first independent research centre dedicated to hardwood trees; Paradise Wood. He co-created the PINE project, introducing broiler chickens into farm woodlands. With the Sylva Foundation he has co-developed the myForest service, created and manages both the OneOak education project and TreeWatch initiative, and manages the Forestry Horizons think-tank.
He is a member of the Forestry Commission’s Regional Advisory Committee for South East England. He served on the Board of the Society for the Environment for a number of years. He has served as a Council board member, is a professional examiner and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters.
He lives in Oxfordshire, England, and is married with three children.
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