Kevin Martin is the Keeper of the Tree Collection at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and is responsible for the management of Kew’s world-renowned collection of trees, some dating from the founding of the Gardens in the 1760s. In conversation with Mark Chester, Kevin shares about life at Kew and his own journey from a commercial tree climber to working on international research projects in the first of this two-part interview.  

The youngest manager at Kew as well as the youngest Keeper of the Collection, Kevin has a unique role at Kew, where he manages the trees as ‘custodian’ and ‘advisor’. He also teaches about trees on the Kew Diploma, and is part of the team contributing to a new Channel 5 documentary series. He is presently working on research into compaction damage, how trees cope with drought, trees and motion and Eco Habitat Matching.

Mark Chester is editor of e-magazine The World of Trees, and is also the Principal Consultant at Cedarwood Tree Consultants and part of the team at The Tree Academy, which provides an education resource at early years and primary school ( Key Stage 1 and 2).

www.theworldoftrees.org.uk www.treeconsultants.org.uk www.thetreeacademy.org.uk

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