The Tree Officer Forum was launched in February 2017. It was created following the highly successful National Tree Officers Conference (NTOC) in November 2016, which highlighted the need to have a national platform to enable regular communication between tree officers.
The first on-line meeting brought together the London Tree Officers Association, Wessex Tree Officers Group and tree officers from Kent. The participants elected a Forum Chair, and a standing agenda was established.
Since 2017 the size of the Forum has grown significantly, (see list below), with a representative of each National or Regional Tree Officer Group (RTOG) joining the meetings. It is the responsibility of each representative to ensure the meeting minutes are sent to their groups, which now number some 900 individual members. Where no RTOGs exist, for example in Jersey, Guernsey, Eire, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Gothenburg and Stockholm, individual tree officers can access the forum meetings, as their circumstances are unique.15 to 20 tree officers usually attend of the four meetings annually.
Guest speakers are invited to present at the meetings, providing up to date information, and include tree officer presentations on best practice. There are also regular presentations by the Observatree project (observatree.co.uk) discussing biosecurity threats and issues.
The Forum, hosted by the Association of Tree Officers (ATO), is an integral part of the NTOC, and the conference steering group includes members of the Forum who help with selecting conference speakers and support the organisation of the conference.
The ATO would encourage any local authority officers who have responsibilities relating to trees and are not in contact with their RTOG to do so and take advantage of local group membership and the benefits of being part of a national Forum.
If no Regional Tree Officer Group exists in your area, why not establish a new group? For more information on starting a RTOG, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Tree Officer Forum members:
Association of Tree Officers
London Tree Officers Association
Municipal Tree Officer Association
Wessex Tree Officer Group
Devon & Cornwall Tree Officer Group
West Sussex Tree Officer Group
Kent Tree Officer Group
Norfolk Tree Officer & Landscape Group
Scottish Tree Officer Group
Essex Tree Officer Group
Oxfordshire Tree Officer Group
Thames Valley Tree Officer Forum
Hampshire Tree Officer Forum
Surrey Tree Officer Forum
Mid/South Wales Tree Officer group
North Wales Tree & Landscape Officer Group
Isle of Man
Northern Ireland
Eire
States of Guernsey
States of Jersey
Gothenburg, Sweden
Stockholm, Sweden
