Trustees
The work of Borders Forest Trust is managed by an elected board of twelve Trustees.
Philip Ashmole
Philip has lived near Peebles for 35 years, in a house now surrounded by woodlands and wetlands established by himself and his wife Myrtle. He has a degree in zoology and a doctorate in seabird ecology, and taught ornithology, ecology and evolution at Yale and Edinburgh universities before retiring (at 58) in 1992. His research has been on seabirds on tropical oceanic islands and insects and spiders of mountains, caves and lava flows. He has been involved in ecological and conservation projects on various Atlantic islands and has published two books on island natural history (jointly with Myrtle). During the last 15 years he has concentrated on native woodland restoration in Scotland, especially as volunteer Co-ordinator of the Carrifran Wildwood project and as a founding Trustee of BFT.
Michael Baker
Mike was brought up on a farm near Stow and spent 20 years working on the farm which was primarily a stock rearing unit. Mike pursued a career change and, after 2 years of training with SWT, NTS and RSPB, was employed as a Countryside Ranger with Scottish Borders Council for nearly 19 years. Prior to becoming a Trustee, Mike worked with BFT in a variety of ways, both professionally and privately. This included helping with fund raising walks, planting at Carrifran and working with schools and mowing paths in several Community Woods as a Ranger. He recently took early retirement from Scottish Borders Council Countryside Service and since becoming a Trustee has been particularly involved with Corehead Farm.
Neil Campbell
Neil qualified as a certified member of the Institute of Wood Science in 1979 and subsequently joined Scottish Woodlands Ltd in 1980 where he later became the Managing Director in 1999. Having gained experience in all aspects of forest management, including establishment, silviculture, timber harvesting and marketing, he left Scottish Woodlands in 2005 to pursue a career as an independent forestry consultant. In 2006 he joined the board of A & J Scott Ltd to assist with wood supply following the construction of a new sawmill and he also serves as a Director of Woodschool.
Rose Clarkson
Rose has worked in the environmental sector for the last twenty years, mainly with rural communities on land management practice and rural enterprise in both Africa and the UK. Her academic background is in resource management, education and art, with a BSc in Biological Sciences (Plymouth), MScs in Resource Management (Edinburgh) and Ecology (Aberdeen) and a teaching qualification. Rose currently works as an independent consultant and is presently carrying out an assessment of opportunities for reviving traditional orchards in South Lanarkshire and is delivering a contract to SNH as Manager of the Clyde Valley Woodlands.
Rosalind Grant-Robertson
Rosalind Grant-Robertson is based in Edinburgh and works mainly in the field of Language Assessment as a consultant to examination boards. She also organises conferences and presentations within her profession. She spends much of her free time on voluntary and charitable committee work. Her family background was in farming and she maintains a keen interest in country affairs, the environment and wildlife, as well as travelling widely. She is a Life Member of BFT, the Soil Association, The Woodland Trust, the National Trust for Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
John Hunt
John has worked in nature conservation in Scotland for over 30 years. From 1974, he was with the RSPB where he became head of their nature reserves in Scotland for an exciting period when there was a lot of land acquisition and pioneering land management at reserves such as Abernethy and Loch Gruinart in Islay. From 1995, he worked for the Millennium Forest for Scotland (MFS) and was involved with many community woodland restoration projects. In particular he had a close association with Borders Forest Trust and its various MFS projects which he had the pleasure of monitoring from their start. Until recently he was a Local Adviser for Scottish Natural Heritage with a special interest in the Borders.
Michael Ireland
Michael was born, brought up and lives in Peebles, having spent several years in Aberdeen completing a degree in Physical Geography and Post Grad Masters in Land Economy. Michael is a Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor with over ten years post qualification experience in the valuation, consultancy and management of a wide range of rural properties. He joined Knight Frank LLP in 2006 and is responsible for the firm’s farm, estate and rural property valuation and consultancy work throughout Scotland. Michael and his family are members of Venlaw Community Woodland in Peebles.
Jim Knight
Jim is a founding trustee and a former chairman of BFT. He is the head of the landscape section at Scottish Borders Council and has 25 years of experience as a chartered landscape architect working both in local government and private practice. Jim studied Ecological Science at Edinburgh University and Landscape Design at Newcastle. After graduation he worked for Gateshead MBC and Newcastle City Council on environmental improvement projects before joining the Edinburgh based Landscape Consultants, W.J. Cairns and Partners in 1986. He moved back into local government in the Borders in 1992. He and his team are responsible for providing landscape advice for the Council’s planning policy and development control functions, including tree advice and managing Tree Preservation Orders, as well as designing and implementing landscape works for a wide range of Council controlled projects, including new road works and town/village improvement schemes.
Donald McPhillimy B Ecol Sci, MICFor
Donald is a chartered forester with a proven track record in all forms of forestry, particularly community woodlands, farm woodlands, amenity woodlands and urban woodlands. He is trained in Participative Appraisal and is skilled in community and stakeholder consultation. He is a good communicator, is skilled in Interpretation and regularly runs woodland based training courses. Donald is very experienced in woodland (UKWAS) auditing and is currently very interested in wood fuel development. He is one of the founders of Wooplaw Community Woodland and of Reforesting Scotland (of which he is currently a Director) and helped to set up the Community Woodland Association. Donald has worked on a private estate, for the New Zealand Forest Service and for a forest management company as well as having run his own woodland management business for more than 20 years. He has worked for Friends of the Earth Scotland and has surveyed thousands of woods; written hundreds of management plans and his company has planted more than 1.5 million trees, mainly native broadleaves. He sits on the South of Scotland Regional Forum and the National Forest Land Scheme Panel and works part-time for New Caledonian Woodlands, raising its profile in the Borders with tasks at Wooplaw & Gordon CWs. Donald has been a member & supporter of Borders Forest Trust since its inception. He shares BFT’s vision of a productive rural economy with a greater emphasis on wood at the same time as raising many people’s quality of life through interaction with woodlands.
Reuben Singleton
On completion of an Environmental Science degree in Wales, Reuben moved to Scotland to pursue a career in the environmental sector. He came to Scotland in 1991 and worked in a variety of positions with Scottish Natural Heritage until 2005 when he moved into ecological consultancy. He current works for Jacobs in Edinburgh as their Principal Ecologist. Reuben is a “self-taught” naturalist with a good all-round knowledge of British natural history. He is a founder member of the Carrifran Wildwood, Treasurer of Jubilee Wood Community Woodland in Peebles and is the County Moth Recorder for Peeblesshire.
Alex Smith
Alex was involved in the process that led to the founding of Borders Forest Trust in 1996 and was its first finance manager from 1996 – 2001. He graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in Ecological Science with Honours in Forestry and has worked in the forestry and broader environment sectors for more than 25 years. Alex was a co-founder of The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM) in 1994, one of the UK’s first climate change consultancies and remained a director of ECCM and Energy for Sustainable Development, following the merger of the companies, until 2006. He was the Sustainability and Human Resources Director of Greenergy International from 1999 – 2009. Greenergy is currently the UK’s largest independent oil company and one of its top three fuel suppliers with over 15% share of the UK road fuel market. As a Trustee of Borders Forest Trust, Alex will bring the financial and management experience gained in the commercial sector to the role, along with an enduring interest in large scale and long-term ecological restoration. Having been involved in the early years of the Trust he is committed to helping it, and the restoration work it undertakes, become a permanent fixture in the Borders landscape.
Stephanie Young
Brought up in the Borders, Stephanie has been Director with Skills Development Scotland since November 2008, with responsibility for strategy, policy, research and strategic relationships. Previously she was a Director at Scottish Enterprise Glasgow where she led on a diverse range of creative skills and learning projects. These include the internationally award winning physical and virtual learning environment, The Real Network. She is an Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow and a Fellow of the RSA and her achievements have also led to recognition in the press as a public sector hero. “Over the years I have contributed financially to a number of projects at home and overseas to support the environment and the planting of trees. Most recently in writing my book (“What skills will matter for the 21st century”) I have come to understand more about the effects of modern life on our natural habitat and how little direct experience the majority of people have of it. Rather than simply donate a few pounds now and then I’d like to make a greater contribution by offering my skills and getting involved in the great work that BFT has done to create natural habitats, bring back our native woodlands and educate people.”
