Forestry innovators recognised

Innovative staff of the Forestry Commission have been honoured for their roles in research and development that has led to successful products and services being introduced to markets.

Among the successful projects were an iPhone app that helps people to identify trees or plan a woodland visit; a tool that “sees inside trees” to assess the timber quality as it’s being harvested; and specialised charcoals for treating contaminated land.

The developments were supported by funds from the Forestry Commission’s Innovation and New Markets Project, which has also helped to start companies to market two of the developments.

Recognising the achievements, Forestry Commission chair Pam Warhurst said the new ideas promoted forests and forestry to a wider audience, helped to reduce some serious problems around pests and costs, and “they use our knowledge and skills to get win-win solutions for land managers and developers”.

Those receiving particular acclaim were:

• Tony Hutchings of Forest Research, for his work to set up C-Cure Solutions Ltd, which will sell specially developed charcoals for cleaning up soil, air or water contamination, significantly cutting the costs of traditional methods;
• Shaun Mochan of Forest Research in Scotland, for developing Timber Sonics Ltd, which will sell an acoustic tool that can be fitted to the heads of harvesting machines to assess timber quality as trees are being harvested. This can enable end uses to be identified more accurately;
• Josephine Melville-Smith of Forestry Commission England, for pioneering Forest Xplorer, an iPhone app that enables people to identify tree species and find out about the woodlands. The app currently provides access to details about 36 public forests in England;
• Dr Shelagh McCartan of Forest Research, for artistic images generated from X-ray images of tree and plant seeds, which will be available as framed prints and other products;
• Iain Skinner of Forestry Commission England, for proposing an environmental service to land developers required to undertake mandatory environmental mitigation measures, such as relocating protected species to suitable locations on Forestry Commission land; and
• Dr Hugh Evans, head of Forest Research in Wales, for his role in developing a computerised decision support system that helps forest managers to cost-effectively tackle a pine weevil that can damage newly planted pine and spruce trees.