Forestry: Englefield Estate adds graduates to woodland team

Charlotte Moss was helped to make the switch to a hands-on role in woodland management thanks to the Royal Forestry Society’s (RFS) Forestry Roots scheme.

The 24-year-old admits her path into the woods is unusual, but she is extremely pleased to have joined the West Berkshire estate and to be learning the skills she will need to make forestry her career.

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She said: “It was a bit of an unusual route into forestry for me. After my degree I went off travelling with a friend. I got a summer job in a campsite and met an arborist who told me all about jobs in forestry. I had always been interested, but didn’t know how to find a way into the industry.”

Charlotte discovered the Forestry Roots scheme, which is specially designed to help young people overcome barriers to a forestry role. “Having done a degree already I wasn’t able to get funding for another degree,” she said. “That was why I was finding it difficult to get a job in the sector. The Royal Forestry Society traineeship bridges the gap, getting me experience in a forestry team.”

She hopes the experience that comes with the traineeship will stand her in good stead and earn her respect with others in the industry, so that when the year-long traineeship comes to an end, she’s able to find a full-time job in the forestry sector.

Charlotte joins another young forester on the team at the Englefield Estate. Fin Lace, 19, completed an in-house forestry traineeship in the summer of 2024 and is now a full-time forester.

Fin first came on a work experience placement when he was 16 years old and worked with the squad for two summers. He officially started work at 17 and, now 19, he has undertaken various practical and theory courses and gained on-the-job experience, which has led to him becoming an integral part of the Estate’s forestry team.

Charlotte Moss is loving life on the estate (Image: Guy Newman)

Fin particularly enjoys working with the modern machinery necessary for forestry work – and takes pride in looking after young woodland, especially the thinning and formative pruning, necessary to give young trees the potential to become good-quality timber in the future.

“I also really enjoy thinning,” he added. “In forestry management, you need to make sure that the trees have the best chance at getting sunlight, so essentially, we remove some to give others more space to grow.”