Adventures with Paul
As the resort’s resident ecologist and outdoor programming manager, Paul is responsible for the conservation and management of our 300-acre Nature Preserve and the catalyst for our new Lost Arts programs. These endeavors combine his two greatest passions—nature conservation and traditional woodworking.
Paul grew up in London, England—a curious place to cultivate an outdoorsman. He spent the early part of his adult life in the corporate world before being introduced to a completely different career path by a chance encounter with a park ranger. That ranger introduced him to a life working with the land, free from the trappings of office work. Paul and his ranger friend remain close to this day and visit with each other on either side of the pond.
Paul went back to school and attained a degree in environmental management from the prestigious Merrist Wood College in Guildford, UK. After his studies, he worked for the National Parks as a field ranger, implementing medieval land management techniques and traditional green woodworking programs. He mastered the ancient practice of coppicing, a technique that involves cutting trees back to encourage continuous crops of sustainable green wood that can be harvested without felling the tree. The oldest known coppiced tree stands today in Gloucester, England, and is estimated to be more than 2,000 years of age.
Paul became interested in traditional charcoal making and embarked on his own business making fine artist’s charcoal and briquettes for cooking. He provided countryside, forestry, and wetland management for stately homes, and became a specialist contractor for the National Trust and English Nature on sites of special scientific interest. He honed techniques for building hazel hurdles and crafting living hedges while finding innovative ways for landowners to coexist with wildlife. In his spare time he taught river ecology on the River Thames.
Paul moved to Canada more than 25 years ago to work for Ducks Unlimited as a wetland specialist, managing more than 45,000 acres of land throughout Atlantic Canada. A far cry from the streets of London and the stately homes of the Norfolk Broads, Paul found himself traversing hundreds of miles of forest to manage bird migratory sites and beaver dams, dodging moose and the occasional black bear. He taught wildlife management to Canadian high school students, encouraging a new generation to study the environment.
Paul met his wife Kendra and moved to Skaneateles, NY where he continued to work in conservation as the Director of Stewardship for the sixth largest land trust in New York State, managing more than 4,000 acres of public access land and working with volunteer groups before taking on this new role at the Inns of Aurora. He assures us he is happy to have a more manageably sized conservation area and wood shop to focus on.
Paul loves to meet new people and share his knowledge with our guests. You can usually find him on the trails or running one of our many outdoor programs at Webster Barn where he will likely introduce himself and offer you a cup of tea brewed on an open fire in his traditional Kelly Kettle.
