George Peterken is a Londoner whose interest in wildlife, ecology and landscape history was stimulated by childhood holidays in the New Forest and by his teacher at Haberdashers' School, Barry Goater. After stints as an administrator for the International Biological Programme and the Biological Records Centre, he specialised in woodland ecology and conservation for the Nature Conservancy and successor bodies, where he developed the concept of ancient woodland indicators, initiated the ancient woodland inventory, helped negotiate and develop the Government's 1985 Broadleaves Policy, and summarised his experiences in Woodland Conservation and Management (1981). His interest in natural processes led him to hold a Bullard Fellowship at Harvard University, out of which he produced Natural Woodland: Ecology and Conservation in North temperate Regions (1996). Since 1992 he has worked independently for the Forestry Commission and others while living in the Lower Wye Valley, where, with his neighbours, he has developed local community grassland conservation projects. He is currently president of the Gwent Wildlife Trust and an associate professor of Nottingham University. In 1994, George was awarded an OBE for services to forestry.