Dr Gabriel Hemery | |
|---|---|
 Gabriel Hemery, 2023 | |
| Born | 13 December 1968 |
| Occupation | Author, Photographer, Forest Scientist |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | University of Oxford |
| Genre | Natural History |
| Website | |
| www.gabrielhemery.com | |
Dr Gabriel Hemery (born 13 December 1968) is an English forest scientist (silvologist) and author. He co-founded the Sylva Foundation with Sir Martin Wood, a tree and forestry charity established in 2009.
He began his career at the Northmoor Trust, [1] now named the Earth Trust, in Oxfordshire. He later became Director of Development for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, returning to forestry to establish the Forestry Horizons think-tank in 2006. He is currently Chief Executive of Sylva Foundation, which he co-founded with Sir Martin Wood in 2009. [2]
He has played an active role in the Institute of Chartered Foresters where he is a Fellow. [3]
During 2011, he co-founded the ginger group Our Forests with other prominent environmentalists, including Jonathon Porritt and Tony Juniper, to provide a voice for the people of England in the future of the country's public forests. [4]
In 2022, he was elected Chair of the Forestry and Climate Change Partnership [5] which exists to help Britain's trees, woods, and forests to be resilient and adapt to a changing climate.
With co-author Sarah Simblet he wrote a contemporary version of John Evelyn's Sylva – The New Sylva – published by Bloomsbury in April 2014. [6]
He has written several fiction works including with Unbound Publishing ( "author page". Unbound Publishing. Retrieved 7 January 2019. ) Green Gold: The Epic True Story of Victorian Plant Hunter John Jeffrey; a biographical novel describing the true story of an expedition to North America by Victorian botanist John Jeffrey between 1850 and 1854. He has also written two short story collections and a poetry anthology. [7]
He is currently working on a series of guidebooks to British forests published by Bloomsbury, the first of which was "The Forest Guide: Scotland" published April 2023. [8]
In late 2023, his latest book "The Tree Almanac 2024" will be published by (Robinson Books, part of Little, Brown Book Group, with the Foreword written by Tracy Chevalier. [9]
He designed and established a new woodland and centre for hardwood forestry research; Paradise Wood. [10] He was a founding member of the British and Irish Hardwoods Improvement Programme establishing a number of forestry field trials across the UK and Ireland (e.g. [11] ). He gained a DPhil degree at the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford on the genetic improvement of walnut. [12] His research took him to the walnut fruit forests of Kyrgyzstan where he collected thousands of Juglans regia seeds for field trials back in the UK. [13] He then researched and published numerous articles pertaining to the silviculture (e.g. [14] [15] ) and genetic [16] improvement of walnut. He initiated an agroforestry research project in the mid-1990s, combining free-range broiler chicken with newly established woodland. [17] [18]
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." Using this definition, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 found that forests covered 4.06 billion hectares, or approximately 31 percent of the world's land area in 2020.
Walnut trees are any species of tree in the plant genus Juglans, the type genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are referred to as walnuts. All species are deciduous trees, 10–40 metres (33–131 ft) tall, with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres (7.9–35.4 in), with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts (Pterocarya), but not the hickories (Carya) in the same family.
Elaeagnus umbellata is known as Japanese silverberry, umbellata oleaster, autumn olive, autumn elaeagnus, spreading oleaster, autumnberry, or autumn berry. The species is indigenous to eastern Asia and ranges from the Himalayas eastwards to Japan. It is a hardy, aggressive invasive species able to readily colonize barren land, becoming a troublesome plant in the central and northeastern United States and Europe.
Juglans nigra, the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central Texas. Wild trees in the upper Ottawa Valley may be an isolated native population or may have derived from planted trees.
Juglans cinerea, commonly known as butternut or white walnut, is a species of walnut native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada.
Agroforestry is a land use management system in which combinations of trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland. Agroforestry combines agricultural and forestry technologies to create more diverse, productive, profitable, healthy, and sustainable land-use systems. There are many benefits to agroforestry such as increasing farm profitability. In addition, agroforestry helps to preserve and protect natural resources such as controlling soil erosions, creating habitat for the wildlife, and managing animal waste. Benefits also include increased biodiversity, improved soil structure and health, reduced erosion, and carbon sequestration.
Juglans regia, the Persian walnut, English walnut, Carpathian walnut, Madeira walnut, or, especially in Great Britain, common walnut, is an Old World walnut tree species native to the region stretching from the Balkans eastward to the Himalayas and southwest China. It is widely cultivated across Europe and the Caucasus.
Long Wittenham is a village and small civil parish about 3 miles (5 km) north of Didcot, and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) southeast of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and from the former Wallingford Rural District to the new district of South Oxfordshire.
Juglans californica, the California black walnut, also called the California walnut, or the Southern California black walnut, is a large shrub or small tree of the walnut family, Juglandaceae, endemic to the Central Valley and the Coast Range valleys from Northern to Southern California.
Forest farming is the cultivation of high-value specialty crops under a forest canopy that is intentionally modified or maintained to provide shade levels and habitat that favor growth and enhance production levels. Forest farming encompasses a range of cultivated systems from introducing plants into the understory of a timber stand to modifying forest stands to enhance the marketability and sustainable production of existing plants.
Juglans sigillata, also called iron walnut, is the second most cultivated species of walnut tree after the Persian walnut Juglans regia. Commonly distributed in the eastern Himalayas and western China. The tree has been cultivated for its edible nuts, and there are at least 80 authorised or approved cultivars produced after successful implementation of grafting technology.
Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty's Dominions by the English writer John Evelyn was first presented in 1662 as a paper to the Royal Society. It was published as a book two years later in 1664, and is recognised as one of the most influential texts on forestry ever published.
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 was co-founded by Sir Martin Wood and Dr Gabriel Hemery. Its office is at the Sylva Wood Centre in Long Wittenham in Oxfordshire, England.
Juglans hindsii, commonly called the Northern California black walnut and Hinds's black walnut, is a species of walnut tree native to the western United States. It is commonly called claro walnut by the lumber industry and woodworkers, and is the subject of some confusion over its being the root stock for English walnut orchard stock.
Thousand cankers disease (TCD) is a recently recognized disease of certain walnuts. The disease results from the combined activity of the walnut twig beetle and a canker producing fungus, Geosmithia morbida. Until July 2010 the disease was only known to the western United States where over the past decade it has been involved in several large scale die-offs of walnut, particularly black walnut, Juglans nigra. However, in late July 2010 a well-established outbreak of the disease was found in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area. This new finding is the first locating it within the native range of its susceptible host, black walnut. In 2013, an outbreak was found in the Veneto region of Italy, where the disease has been found on both black walnut and English walnut.
Paradise Wood is a research woodland established by the Earth Trust between the villages of Little Wittenham and Long Wittenham in Oxfordshire England. It has evolved to become the largest collection of hardwood forestry trials in Britain.
Silvology is the biological science of studying forests and woodlands, incorporating the understanding of natural forest ecosystems, and the effects and development of silvicultural practices. The term complements silviculture, which deals with the art and practice of forest management.
Sarah Simblet 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.
Juglans hopeiensis, also known as Ma walnut, is a species of walnut native to northern Hebei Province. Some scholars believe that the species is a hybrid of Juglans regia and Juglans mandshurica. Currently, it is a threatened tree species.