Brad Dodson and Scott Hillier have both recently joined the Walcha forestry workforce.

Scott Hillier works for Forest Enterprises Australia (FEA) and up until recently managed 6,000 hectares of plantation out of Gympie in southeast Queensland.

Following the resignation of FEA forester Stuart Tutton, he is now managing the Walcha region’s 10,000-hectare plantation out of a newly established Armidale office.

“I found it hard to find an home to rent in Walcha and will be working from an home office in Armidale initially until I get a feel for the area,” Mr Hillier said.

The 27-year-old was born in Tasmania and comes from a long line of foresters.

“My grandparents owned the sawmill at Beaconsfield and my father worked for Gunns Ltd for many years,” Mr Hillier said.

“My brother also works for an FEA sawmill in Tasmania.”

Brad Dodson has been with Forests NSW for just over two years after a varied career involving forestry, natural resource management and sound engineering.

“I started out as a freelance audio engineer as I have always been passionate about music,” said Mr Dodson. “However it is such a cut throat industry I decided to switch my career focus to my other passion, the environment.”

Mr Dodson managed a forestry warehouse at a small production nursery and was involved with an urban regeneration project in west Melbourne.

“This gave me my first introduction to the world of foresters and the role they play in sustainable resource management,” Mr Dodson said.

“At the time I was surrounded by people who had a negative view of forestry but I believe the only way to implement change is to not judge from the outside but to dedicate yourself to the thing you would like to change.”

Mr Hillier moved to Walcha last month with his partner Skye Kory and son Kyuss aged 4 , to take up a newly established role as senior softwood forester.

“My role oversees harvesting, road construction and maintenance as well as fire protection for the region,” he said.

Mr Dodson is currently studying part time for his masters in forest science and is keen to get involved with the local community.

“My partner Skye has been running an annual boutique rock festival in four venues across Australia for a few years and we are interested in exploring opportunities to start up some kind of music festival event in the Walcha region.”

Both Brad and Scott studied forest science at Melbourne University over the same period but in different years. “We were aware of each other but didn’t really know each other,” they said.