This March, expand your knowledge of soil at a one-day workshop run jointly between the Institute of Chartered Foresters and Focus on Forestry First.

This one-day event will explore:

• the importance of soil recognition in forest management

• how to use published geological, and soil information to help in soil type identification

• use of vegetation indicators

• how to approach soil investigation in the forest or field, and gain some practical experience in doing so

• the principles behind the Forestry Commission Ecological Site Classification (ESC) System, the soil inputs required and how to predict tree species suitability, taking climate change into account

You will receive further authoritative information on forests and soil management during this one-day workshop.

Who should attend?

If you are a forester whose decisions depend on knowledge of soil then this course is ideal for you. In the afternoon you will have the opportunity to put what you have learned into practice by examining and identifying soils in the forest. The aim of this workshop is to demystify the management of forest soils for practitioners.

*Please note that this course has been specially designed for foresters and not arboriculturists.

You will receive copies of the Forestry Commission Fieldbook ‘The Identification of Soils for Forest Management’, together with handouts of presentations, further information and reading, UK Forestry Standard soil requirements and a list of Forest Research publications on soil management.

Programme

09:15 Arrival and coffee
10:10 Morning session
13:00 Lunch
13:30 Field visit
16:00 Wrap up

Speaker

Andy Moffat MICfor - Andy has a degree in geography and soil science and a Ph.D. in geographical research.  He started his career as a Soil Surveyor with the Soil Survey of England and Wales before taking up a position as forest soil scientist with the Forestry Commission Research Division (now Forest Research).  He has conducted considerable research on forest soils and published many papers and FC guidelines on forest soil management, including the first Forest and Soil Guidelines.  He was successively Head of Environmental Research Branch, Environmental and Human Sciences Division and the Centre for Forestry and Climate Change.  He is now Director of his own environmental consultancy company, an honorary Research Fellow at Forest Research and a Visiting Professor at the University of Reading.  He gives workshops on a variety of subjects including soils and climate change for the Arboricultural Association, the Royal Forestry Society and now the Institute of Chartered Forests, of which he is a Member and Chartered Consultant