Robert Mitchell
I set up Atala Forestry Group in 2008 as a trading division of Atala Limited to provide a one -stop shop - incorporating a lifelong interest in trees and a career in their care and management.
I can clearly remember being interested in trees from a very early age. Family holidays were spent caravanning in Dalby Forest on the North York Moors following trails and seeing timber stacked at the roadside. I even spent many hours over the years doodling pictures of conifers with a woodman's hut in the background and a thin plume of smoke eminating from the chimney - it was inevitable that for this eight year old boy a career in forestry was likely to follow!
My practical career began back in 1986 when school and parents were starting to think about the future of their children. I remember being asked what I would like to do, I didn't want a normal job stuck in an office for the rest of my life - I wanted to be outdoors, I wanted to work in forestry...
My dad managed to organise two weeks work experience for me and that year I found out what hard work really was. The two weeks passed and I spent my whole summer holiday stacking timber at Harewood Estate near Leeds. I was hooked and spent every school holiday opportunity doing the same for the next two years. I must have been fairly good at it because the Head Forester offered me a full time position in the woods team when I left school at 16.
During the 3 year course I spent a year on contract as the Assistant Woodland Manager at Buckinghamshire County Council, preparing grant schemes, managing contracts and dealing with the public across the whole county which included small farm woodlands in the north, country parks in the south and large areas of woodland on the Chilterns escarpment.
After leaving College in the early 90s I joined Fountain Forestry in Mid-Wales, supervising a direct labour team and contractors working in both forestry and large commercial landscaping schemes. This was followed with a spell of self-employment, measuring standing timber for sale and writing appraisals for other forestry companies, alongside contracting work for various clients including previous employers, the Woodland Trust and the Countryside Council for Wales. Then a chance glance through the weekend papers saw an advert for a Head Forester on a local estate. I felt settled in Wales at this time and my girlfriend (now wife!) had joined me after leaving university - this was my chance to realise the dream. I got the job and a cottage in the woods - a throwback to those early days when forestry was still only a seed in my mind!
I spent many happy years at Leighton Estate, home to the famous Royal Forestry Society redwoods.Now with the support of the owner, sadly no longer with us, and the retiring forester I was able to put all my experience to date into a very fulfilling job and learn a lot more about traditional forestry practice and estate management. After 5 years and still only a young forester I ran out of challenges on the estate and I made the very difficult decision to leave after securing a job with BSW Harvesting (Wales) Ltd as a harvesting manager. This job was definitely a great challenge, purchasing, harvesting and marketing thousands of tonnes of timber a week and I relished the professionalism and support of my colleagues and the company generally. This was not only a busy time at work, but I also topped up my qualifications with a distance learning degree in Forest Management which I completed successfully over the next 3 years. Not too long after joining BSW I was then offered a senior position in a successful forestry company owned by a friend back in my home county of Yorkshire. This again was not a straightforward decision as BSW was a great employer and I was enjoying the job tremendously, however with a little push from my homesick family my happy times in Wales were drawing to a close and I made the move north.
My new role as Area Manager involved managing small estates, large utility woodlands, harvesting work and general contracting. Following the aquisition of a landscaping company the business moved into commercial landscaping and large scale, high profile fencing schemes. While the work was extremely varied, interesting and sometimes high pressure I soon realised that this was not my future and after several years I decided to rethink my career path and go back to basics...
I jumped out of salaried employment and set up a small contracting business. Most of my work was initially linked to my previous employment, but alongside this I found myself working for Fountains, Tilhill and others along with many private clients both as a contractor and sub-contractor. The work was truly general contracting, involving miles of footpath and road building, maintenance and drainage works, fencing, planting, woodland management projects, employing staff and investment in plant and equipment. I had also started to diversify into pest control undertaking professional qualifications, but while not looking for management work, offers soon materialised and I found myself running three complimentary, but very different businesses. As the management business unfolded and became successful in it's own right I made the decision to move away from direct contracting and Atala Forestry group was born.
The connections I have made with people throughout my 25 year career in the industry remain strong and have helped me develop Atala into a successful family business. The company now manages several thousand acres of forest and woodland properties and undertakes individual projects across the UK.
When we looked at branding the company, we decided not to follow tradition and use a leaf or a tree as our logo. After researching names on the internet we came up with 'Atala' which just so happened to be a butterfly associated with woodland - hence the name and logo. The butterfly is synonymous with a healthy environment and we feel that as a logo it fits across the business and our company ethos - enhancing the countryside.
The Atala, Eumeaus atala is a rare and very beautiful butterfly once thought to be extinct. The species used to be found abundantly in tropical pinelands and hardwood areas on the Florida coast, however development almost wiped the species out in 1965. Today the Atala has made a spectacular recovery throughout Florida and the Everglades National Park.
