Michael Gane

I feel very lucky to have worked as tree and woodland officer at Craven District Council for the last five years in this lush and beautiful part of the world. Born and raised in Skipton, I know the Dales very well through my love of hiking, mountain biking and general exploring. I graduated Leeds Metropolitan University with a degree in Landscape Architecture which has helped me to understand natural processes, apply design principles and generally ‘read the landscape.’

Craven District Council is the local authority covering the area from Skipton up to Ingleton in the north and Kildwick to the south, bordering and overlapping the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The Council chose to partner the White Rose Forest to help increase the tree and woodland cover and use our knowledge and expertise to ensure trees are planted in places where they provide the biggest benefit to people, wildlife and the landscape. Craven has amongst the lowest percentage of tree cover in the country and we look forward to working with the White Rose Forest to improve this strategically.

In 2020 the Council began planting 10,000 trees on various pieces of land in Skipton as part of its ambition to become carbon neutral by 2030. Working with volunteers and contractors I led the project from design to completion. The project has been a huge success so far as we continue to manage the trees throughout their early establishment years. The project also involved planting some semi-mature ‘standards’ in Aireville Park which have given an instant impact and transformed the space.

My specialism lies in design and I am passionate about NFM and increasing the tree cover in and amongst my home county. My local knowledge provides a great platform to plan and find solutions to any issues a landowner may have. I look forward to working with landowners to create outcomes that benefit everybody involved whilst leaving a legacy to help people and nature to thrive.