A milestone was reached in the development of the Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands Initiative this week with the arrival of Phil Dowling as the new Woodland ACTION Officer.
Phil will be leading on a whole range of tree related work, including the upcoming launch of the new Dumfries & Galloway Tree Planting Grant Scheme (grants of up to £1,000 for native tree planting projects across the region – watch this space for more info) and wider topics such as woodland advice and landscape scale ecological restoration projects under development.
A Kirkcudbright resident, Phil joins Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands with experience from partners including National Trust for Scotland (on the Threave Landscape Restoration Project) and Galloway Fisheries Trust.
Phil said:
“I’m passionate about landscape restoration in Dumfries and Galloway, in particular how woodland creation and management of existing woodlands can benefit biodiversity and communities, therefore I’m delighted to join the D&G Woodlands team this week. I’ve been busy working on our GIS mapping systems and visiting potential woodland creation sites which has been great, and I can’t wait to do more!“
Phil can be contacted on phil.dowling@dgwoodlands.org and 07301 052793.
Phil’s role is made possible thanks to the support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, with assistance from partners including Woodland Trust Scotland, Borders Forest Trust and Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Environment team.