Rooted: A conversation with Pippa Paterson, Forestry Consultant at TreeStory
Pippa is based in our Inverness office and works as a forestry consultant across a range of projects in the Highlands. Before joining the team, she completed a graduate forestry scheme, building her experience in both practical forestry and project work.
Her first encounter with TreeStory was very early on. Back then, we were still known as SylvaCulture. Pippa joined an ICF lunchtime training session on stakeholder consultation, keen to develop her skills early in her career. During the session, one particular approach stood out to her.
“What struck me was how consultation was talked about,” she says. “It wasn’t treated as a tick box exercise. There was a real sense of connection with the ground, the project and the people.”
What stayed with her was the intention behind that approach. Rather than listening simply to say consultation had happened, the focus was on genuinely hearing people and being open to adapting where possible. “It felt like people really mattered,” Pippa reflects. “Not just the client or the land, but everyone connected to it.”
Now part of the team herself, she sees that same approach reflected in day-to-day work. “Consultation across forestry has moved on a lot,” she says. “But TreeStory was doing this before it became expected.” Even now, she notices how often the team chooses to go further than the minimum.
She also points to the importance of having a dedicated role focused on people and place. “Knowing that someone is there whose whole role is about connecting with communities really sets the tone,” she says. “Every project feels properly seen and properly heard, rather than just another job to get through.”
“Every project feels properly seen and properly heard, rather than just another job to get through”
Much of Pippa’s current work is based at Dorback, but she also spends time on the west coast, working in ancient Atlantic oak woodland. “Being in that rainforest environment is incredibly special,” she says. “It’s not somewhere I’d really worked before.”
Still, her heart lies in the Cairngorms. “That’s where my passion for forestry really began, probably in the Abernethy Pinewoods,” she reflects. “Getting to work with remnant Caledonian pine and help expand it feels like something I thought I might only achieve much later in my career.”
The work can be physically demanding, with long days moving through thigh-high heather, but Pippa wouldn’t change it. “When you stop and really look around, you realise how lucky you are to be working in places like this,” she says. “It’s a special environment to be part of.”
For Pippa, TreeStory is a place where listening is as important as planning, and where relationships are given the time they need to grow. That care for people, land and long-term outcomes is what makes the work meaningful, and what makes being part of the team feel genuinely rewarding.
If you are inspired by our work, we are always keen to meet people who want to be part of it. Or if you would just like to learn more about what we do, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
