Alexandra Bosbeer
Dr Alexandra ('Sasha') Bosbeer is both an ecologist and a forester. Her PhD examined the social attitudes towards and recreational use of forests around Galway city. Since 1998, she has taught modules such as forest ecology and soils, landscape, water quality, and recreation in the degree programme in Forest Management and Environment at GMIT. She has practical experience with the public's interest in forests, biodiversity, and management of urban forests through work on the Terryland Forest Park committee and the Go Wild in Galway initiative, as well as in facilitating a local branch of Crann for two years. In 2004, she trained with SmartWood to become a certification auditor using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) principles. Alexandra was team leader for the pilot native woodland survey for NPWS in Offaly in 2001, and she has also surveyed sites for the Native Woodland Scheme since its inception. She recently facilitated the collaborative management plan for Ballyannan Wood in Cork, pulling together input from commercial, recreational, and conservation interests.  Alexandra has served on the Woodlands of Ireland (WoI) Steering and Technical committees since 2001, and she currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM) Irish Section.

Huw Denman
Huw Denman is an independent forest manager and forestry consultant based in Wales, specialising in integrated management of private land (integrating the economic, environmental and social functions of forestry). His background is in forest management and in harvesting and marketing. He manages over 1,800 hectares of forest land in Wales, Ireland and England. He is director of SelectFor Ltd, a company which provides forest management, advice, consultancy and training in continuous cover forestry and irregular silviculture. Huw has wide experience and knowledge of FSC certification and third party auditing, having audited many state and private forestry organisations in Ireland, United Kingdom and on the continent since 1995. He has also studied the application of FSC certification and CCF principles in Europe and North America. In addition, Huw is experienced in the use of Participatory Rural Appraisal as a means of consultation in forest-based communities and has been a member of the National Assembly of Wales Forestry Advisory Panel since 2002.

Jerry Hawe
Jerry Hawe is a consulting forester and a technical member of the Society of Ireland Foresters. He has been involved with woodland restoration and environmental forestry since 1987 and was one of the co-winners of the Royal Dublin Society Forestry Award in the category Bio-diverse Woodlands for work in Brackloon. Jerry is currently managing some of the foremost native woodlands in Ireland, as well as woodlands under the NeighbourWood, Woodland Improvement, and Forestry Environment Protection Schemes. He is very involved in European forestry development research and has experience in countries as diverse as Britain, Finland, and Slovakia. He has cooperated on international projects on timber use, small roundwood, and wood energy. Jerry also is experienced as a Woodmark auditor, using FSC principles, and he has served on the Woodlands of Ireland Technical Committee since 1998 as well as the Steering Group since 2005.

David Hickie
David Hickie is an environmental scientist who has worked on a number of projects on forestry and environment, including a review of Heritage Council forestry policy in 2002, preparation of a methodology for the assessment of indicative forestry strategies, for the Heritage Council, in 2003, and the preparation of a national research programme on forestry and the environment, for the EPA, in 2000. He has many years experience in working with the State and private forestry sectors, was a past member of Coford, and has worked abroad on forestry and environmental projects and policy issues.
David has also written a number of publications on forestry and the environment, including:

• Native Trees and Forests of Ireland. Gill and MacMillan (2002)

• Irish Hedgerows: Networks for Nature. Networks for Nature (2004).

• Co-author of Impacts of current forestry policy on aspects of Ireland’s heritage. Heritage Council (1999).

• Co-author of manual Trees, Hedges and Water. Solagro, Toulouse (2000). 

Paddy Purser
Paddy Purser is a forester trained at UCD and International Centre for Research in Agroforestry. In 1995, he co-founded Purser Tarleton Russell Ltd., a firm of consultant, management and research foresters providing services throughout the Irish forest industry.  Paddy is currently managing over 2000 ha of commercial forest, much of which is being converted from clearfell to close-to-nature systems. He has worked on numerous research teams funded by COFORD and other agencies, researching topics such as tree yield, inventory, markets, and practical implementation of sustainable forest management (SFM). Paddy has experience with forest certification, peer review of certification audits, and reforestation in various parts of the world. He is a founding member and committee member of Pro Silva Ireland, as well as being a founding member of the Society of Irish Foresters (SIF) consultant foresters group and serving on the SIF Council.

Patrick Walsh
Dr Paddy Walsh is a forest ecologist with 20 years' experience in forest assessment and forest health and protection all over the temperate zone. He has worked in countries as diverse as New Zealand, the United States, Britain, and Slovakia, as well as Ireland. Paddy has been teaching forest management, including sustainable forest management, timber utilisation, and carbon sequestration and forestry, at GMIT since 2000. He has also been a senior researcher on a number of projects in forest management, including biological control of the pine weevil, remote sensing of archaeological sites in forestry, Phytophthora ramorum, foliage production, and use of woody biomass for fuel. He has published over 100 refereed scientific and reports as well as co-authoring a book on Indicator species for the New Zealand Department of Conservation Science Series.