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News Release from: Forestry Commission
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 19 June 2007
Queens Birthday Honours for five
forestry people
Five people from the forestry community have received awards in the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Craig Heaney, who recently retired as Head of the Forestry Commission's Forestry Business Units, has been appointed OBE for services to forestry engineering Mr Heaney was a mechanical engineer with the Army for 19 years before joining the Commission in 1984
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 23 Jun 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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He was closely involved in developing the business units culture within the Commission, with the ability to react quickly and adjust resources in response to changes in the Commission's objectives.
He is also credited with leading the successful introduction of sophisticated new forestry harvesting machines from Scandinavia to British forestry, including their adaptation to British conditions and the training of mechanics to support their use, not only by the Commission, but also by the wider British forestry industry.
An enthusiastic proponent of high-quality training, Mr Heaney is also credited with introducing a successful apprentice mechanic scheme to the Commission, including an Apprentice of the Year award to encourage and reward exceptional achievement.
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Woodland owners and managers have a new source of advice to help them combat the threat to trees posed by growing numbers of grey squirrels in Britain.
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The Scottish Executive wants more joined-up woodlands in Scotland.
Britain's Forest Area Grows
Over twelve thousand hectares (30,000 acres) of new woodlands were planted in Britain last year, helping to bring our forest cover to the highest level it has been in over 300 years.
He became head of the Commission's Mechanical Engineering Services (MES) in 1994, and was appointed Director of the Forestry Business Units in 2000, when MES and Forestry Civil Engineering were brought together (later to be joined by Plant and Seed Supply), as Forestry Business Units.
Professor Jim Lynch, chief executive officer of Forest Research, the Forestry Commission's scientific research agency, has been appointed OBE for 17 years' service as programme co-ordinator of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s Programme on Biological Resource Management.
He is also Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Life Sciences at the University of Surrey, where he was Head of the School of Biomedical and Life Sciences for 10 years before joining Forest Research four years ago.
Among his other roles, he chairs the Steering Group for the International Clean-up conferences and exhibitions, has been Visiting Professor at several UK and US universities, and is on the board of the European Forest Institute.
He joined the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council in 1971, and became Head of the Microbiology and Crop Protection Department at Horticulture Research International.
In 1993 he became Professor of Biotechnology and Head of the Biomedical and Life Sciences at the University of Surrey, where he established biological and medical science, achieving major increases in student numbers and an impressive improvement in Research Assessment Exercise rating.
He also shared the Carlos J Finlay Prize in Microbiology awarded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for work on the modification of soil population balances for human benefit.
Ronald Murdoch Campbell has been appointed MBE for services to the community of Bunessan, Isle of Mull.
Mr Campbell worked for the Forestry Commission for 44 years, initially as a hill squad member, becoming foreman, before pursuing his interest in wildlife as a wildlife ranger.
He helped introduce or conserve species such as owls, bats, redstarts and sea eagles on Mull, and to secure conservation agreements between farmers, crofters and Scottish Natural Heritage for a number of species.
He was president of the Bunessan Agricultural Show for 20 years, and announcer at the Oban and Inverary Highland Games.
He encouraged rural development, promoting native woodland restoration projects, and played key roles in marine affairs, benefiting timber traffic from the island as well as local people.
He is a member of the community council and the Crofting Committee, and was a special constable for many years.
He has been instrumental in creating campaigns such as Keep Mull Moving, reviving the fortunes of the annual village show, acting as a catalyst for replacing the ancient rusting village hall, and serving as a founding member of the local branch of the RNLI.
He contributes his auctioneering skills to fund-raising efforts by Mull charities, and the citation noted that Mr Campbell "continues to campaign and work tirelessly, not for himself, but for the local community and visitors alike".
John Gulliver, the Forestry Commission's head keeper in the New Forest, has been appointed MBE for services to wildlife conservation in the New Forest.
He has championed wildlife conservation there through practical action and energetic involvement in local planning and decision making.
His contribution to the Forest is nationally recognised in print, through British Wildlife Magazine and in partnership work with The Natural History Museum, and he has received a Radio 4/Times National Conservation award.
Mr Gulliver is self taught and widely read, and his specialist interest in entomology and associated works are well known.
He has led efforts to protect rare butterflies, and he shares his knowledge freely, ensuring a better understanding of wildlife conservation, he has helped to guide others through changes in land management practice in the New Forest.
The citation said, "As Head Keeper today, he is an outstanding ambassador for the forest and the Forestry Commission." Mark Andrew Johnston has been appointed MBE for services to the urban environment, and services to the urban environment in Belfast.
Mr Johnston is a Research Fellow in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry at Myerscough College in Preston, Lancashire, and has played a fundamental part in developing urban forestry as a major theme in UK forestry policy.
As an independent arboriculturalist from the 1970s, he dedicated his career to improving the human environment in towns, promoting green urban landscapes and the use of trees to restore damaged and derelict urban landscapes.
His international reputation and connections in the USA led to new ideas on urban forestry being imported to Britain.
These were adopted by the Countryside Commission, the Department of the Environment and the Forestry Commission, and the Community Forests, the National Forest and the Urban Forestry Unit were built on this foundation.
He established and edited Urban Forestry, the UK's first journal on the subject, which played an important part in disseminating technical information.
For more than 20 years he has voluntarily supported urban forestry projects.
In particular he used the outdoor environment in Belfast as a shared interest on which people from different communities can work together and increase mutual understanding.
His doctoral thesis in 1999 set out the post-war history of urban forestry in Britain, and he has published prolifically on urban forestry, establishing a worldwide reputation.
Today he teaches arboriculture and urban forestry.
The citation noted that it is almost certain that few of his main beneficiaries, the people in the poorest parts of the UK's cities, will ever know of the concern that Dr Johnston showed for their welfare.
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