Simon Bell PhD,F.I.C.For, M.L.I. Forester, Landscape Architect and Author
Curriculum Vitae Publications Research Services	Main Expertise and Examples of Work Simon Bell has expertise and experience in several main areas: Forest landscape design. This is a process for planning the patterns across forest landscapes that can be applied to the layout of new plantation forests and to the felling and silvicultural operations in managed forests of natural or plantation origin. The process was developed in the UK by the Forestry Commission, primarily in order to enhance the visual qualities of new plantation forests. Over the years it has evolved into an integrated approach for combining functional, economic, social and ecological aspects of sustainable forest management. It is applied widely in a number of different countries. Simon Bell remains at the forefront of these developments in a number of different countries, including manual preparation, training and project work. Forest landscape ecology. This is an analytical process for understanding the ecological functioning of forest landscapes over space and time. It involves examining the spatial distribution of different vegetation structures and how such patterns affect the use of the forest by, for example, different wildlife species. The analysis also examines the processes for change over long periods of time. Such an understanding is used to prepare scenarios of how the forest landscape should be composed over time to ensure that ecological functioning is maintained, and to develop silvicultural models for managing it. The results of such analyses can be directly imported into the forest landscape design process and used as a basis for ecosystem management. Simon is directly involved in the development and application of applied forest landscape ecology in both research and project work. Outdoor recreation design. A major use of many forests and other outdoor landscapes is recreation. It is important to achieve a balance between the quality of the recreational experience gained by visitors and the safeguarding the qualities of the setting within which recreation takes place. Good planning of activities and the design and construction of facilities are both necessary for this to be successful. Simon has extensive experience in recreation site planning and design and remains involved in training and project work. Participatory forest planning. Involving people in forest planning is becoming more important. Local people may be stakeholders of the forest and may also have valuable knowledge about the area of use to planners, designers and managers. Different techniques of participatory planning have been used in different places and under different circumstances. Simon is involved in research, development and application of participatory forest planning. Landscape planning and other aspects. As well as this specialist expertise Simon has a wide experience of landscape planning at a broad scale, for example in the strategic siting of wind turbine developments, and of critical assessment of development applications in the countryside, such as wind turbines or housing. Many of these and other subjects are connected to his work in research, making a strong link between research, development of decision support tools and applied design.
	Forest Landscape Design Outdoor recreation design Participatory Forest Planning Landscape planning and other aspects