Dr Gabriel Hemery (born 13 December 1968) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

( silvologist) and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. He co-founded the

Sylva Foundation The Sylva Foundation is an environmental organisation focusing on trees and forestry established in 2006, and registered as a charity in England and Wales in 2009 and with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator in 2010. The organisation w ...

with Sir Martin Wood, a tree and forestry charity established in 2009.

Career

He began his career at the Northmoor Trust, now named the

Earth Trust Founded in 1967, Earth Trust is an environmental charity (not-for-profit organisation) which was originally known as the Northmoor Trust for Countryside Conservation. Earth Trust was initially established by the British engineer Sir Martin Wood ...

, in Oxfordshire. He later became Director of Development for the

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) is a scientific society for the study of flora, plant distribution and taxonomy relating to Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The society was founded as the Botani ...

, returning to forestry to establish the Forestry Horizons think-tank in 2006. He is currently Chief Executive of

, which he co-founded with Sir Martin Wood in 2009. He has played an active role in the

Institute of Chartered Foresters The Institute of Chartered Foresters (ICF) is the professional body for foresters and arboriculturists in the United Kingdom. Its royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters pat ...

where he is a Fellow. During 2011, he co-founded the

ginger group The Ginger Group was not a formal political party in Canada, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour Members of Parliament who advocated socialism. The term ginger group also refers to a small group with new, radical ideas trying to ...

''Our Forests'' with other prominent environmentalists, including

Jonathon Porritt Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt, 2nd Baronet, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 6 July 1950) is a British environmentalist and writer. He is known for his advocacy of the Green Party of England and Wales. Porritt frequently contributes to ma ...

and

Tony Juniper Anthony Juniper (born 24 September 1960) is a British campaigner, writer, sustainability adviser and environmentalist who served as Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. He was Vice Chair of Friends ...

, to provide a voice for the people of England in the future of the country's public forests. In 2022, he was elected Chair of the Forestry and Climate Change Partnership which exists to help Britain's trees, woods, and forests to be resilient and adapt to a changing climate. With co-author

Sarah Simblet Sarah Simblet (born 1972) is a graphic artist, writer and broadcaster, who teaches anatomical drawing at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art and at the University of Oxford. Early life and education Sarah earned a doctorate in drawing at Br ...

he wrote a contemporary version of

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diary, diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's Diary, ...

's Sylva – ''The New Sylva'' – published by

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

in April 2014. He has written several

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

works including with Unbound Publishing ( ) ''Green Gold: The Epic True Story of Victorian Plant Hunter John Jeffrey''; a

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fictio ...

describing the true story of an expedition to North America by

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

John Jeffrey John Jeffrey (born 25 March 1959) is a Scottish former rugby union player, coach and administrator. He won 40 caps for Scotland, and was part of the team that won the Grand Slam in 1990. After retiring as a player he was a coach and administr ...

between

1850 Events January–March * January 29 – Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the United States Congress. * January 31 – The University of Rochester is founded in Rochester, New York. * January – Sacramento, Ca ...

and

1854 Events January–March * January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''. * January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. * January 9 – The Te ...

. He has also written two

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

collections and a poetry anthology. He is currently working on a series of guidebooks to British forests published by

, the first of which was "The Forest Guide: Scotland" published April 2023. In late 2023, his latest book "The Tree Almanac 2024" will be published by (Robinson Books, part of

Little, Brown Book Group Little, Brown Book Group is a UK publishing company created in 1988, with multiple predecessors. Since 2006 Little, Brown Book Group has been owned by Hachette UK, a subsidiary of Hachette Livre. It was acquired in 2006 from Time Warner of New ...

, with the Foreword written by

Tracy Chevalier Tracy Rose Chevalier (born 19 October 1962) is an American-British novelist. She is best known for her second novel, ''Girl with a Pearl Earring'', which was adapted as a 2003 film starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. Personal backgroun ...

Forestry research

He designed and established a new woodland and centre for hardwood forestry research;

Paradise Wood Paradise Wood is a research woodland established by the Earth Trust (formerly Northmoor Trust) between the villages of Little Wittenham and Long Wittenham in Oxfordshire England. It has evolved to become the largest collection of hardwood forestry ...

. He was a founding member of the

British and Irish Hardwoods Improvement Programme British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

establishing a number of forestry field trials across the UK and Ireland (e.g.). He gained a DPhil degree at the Department of Plant Sciences at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

on the genetic improvement of

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

. His research took him to the walnut fruit forests of

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

where he collected thousands of

Juglans regia ''Juglans regia'', known by various common names including the common walnut, English walnut, or Persian walnut amongst other names, is a species of walnut. It is native to Eurasia in at least southwest and central Asia and southeast Europe, ...

seeds for field trials back in the UK. He then researched and published numerous articles pertaining to the

silviculture Silviculture is the practice of controlling the growth, composition/structure, as well as quality of forests to meet values and needs, specifically timber production. The name comes from the Latin ('forest') and ('growing'). The study of forests ...

(e.g.) and genetic improvement of walnut. He initiated an

agroforestry Agroforestry (also known as agro-sylviculture or forest farming) is a land use management system that integrates trees with crops or pasture. It combines agricultural and forestry technologies. As a polyculture system, an agroforestry system c ...

research project in the mid-1990s, combining free-range broiler chicken with newly established

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

.Yates, C., Dorwood, P., Hemery, G. and Cook, P. (2007) The economic viability and potential of a novel poultry agroforestry system. Agroforestry Systems. 69, 13-28.

Books

* Gabriel Hemery and

– ''The New Sylva: a discourse of forest and orchard trees for the twenty-first century.'' 400pp. (

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

, 2014). . * Gabriel Hemery – ''Don't Look Back.'' in Adrian Cooper (ed) – ''Arboreal: a collection of new woodland writing.'' (Little Toller Books, 2016). . * Gabriel Hemery – ''Green Gold: The Epic True Story of Victorian Plant Hunter John Jeffrey.'' ( Unbound Publishing, 2019). . * Gabriel Hemery – ''Tall Trees Short Stories: Vol.20.'' (Wood Wide Works, 2020). . * Gabriel Hemery – ''The Man Who Harvested Trees (and Gifted Life).'' in

Fiona Stafford Fiona J. Stafford (born July 1960) is Professor of English Language and Literature and a Fellow of Somerville College at the University of Oxford. Early life and education Stafford was born in Lincoln but moved around during her childhood foll ...

(ed) – ''Stories of Trees, Woods and the Forest.'' (

Everyman's Library Everyman's Library is a series of reprints of classic literature, primarily from the Western canon. It began in 1906. It is currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent (itself later a division ...

, 2021). . * Gabriel Hemery – ''Tall Trees Short Stories: Vol.21.'' (Wood Wide Works, 2021). . * Gabriel Hemery – ''The Wolf, The Walnut and the Woodsman.'' (Wood Wide Works, 2022). . * Gabriel Hemery – ''Blough: an Anthology of Tree and Nature Poems.'' (Wood Wide Works, 2022). . * Gabriel Hemery – ''The Forest Guide: Scotland.'' 320pp. (

, 2023). . * Gabriel Hemery – ''The Tree Almanac 2024.'' 336pp. (Robinson Books,

, 2023). . Foreword by

References

External links

Official website of Gabriel Hemery

Gabriel Hemery's profile on GoodReads

Walnut Thesis

Sylva Foundation

myForest Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemery, Gabriel 1968 births English foresters Living people British environmentalists Forestry academics