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UPM Tilhill appoints mountain bike trail-building specialist

The UK’s leading forestry and timber harvesting company has appointed a specialist mountain bike trail-building expert to cope with the growing demand from forest owners who want to offer recreational activities on their land.

Simon Miller, who is based at UPM Tilhill’s Bala offices in North Wales, has been a senior forest manager for six years. He was instrumental in creating the hugely successful mountain bike trails at Coed Llandegla - the UK’s first mountain biking centre in a privately owned forest.

Coed Llandegla is now welcoming 150,000 visitors a year and was featured as the best mountain bike trail centre in the UK by MBUK magazine. It is also being used by British Cycling (BC) - the national body for cycle racing in the UK - as a mountain-bike training venue.

Simon’s new role will help establish UPM Tilhill as a serious player in this industry and will involve him travelling the UK to talk to forest owners about how financial, ecological and amenity sustainability is achievable by introducing recreational activities such as mountain biking.

With new trail centres and mountain bike projects currently being planned all over the UK, Simon will be able to use his experience, and highly skilled mountain bike trail-building team, to grow this area of UPM Tilhill’s business. He will look at mountain bike trail building opportunities, upgrading trails and trail design. An additional service is available to companies with existing mountain biking facilities which includes an audit to check safety procedures and minimise risk to staff and visitors.

He said: “I’m very proud of what we achieved at Coed Llandegla which is now regarded with admiration and cited by the Scottish Development Agency as an example of how to diversify. It is important in terms of wildlife and the environment and the conservation value of the forest has increased.

“Now I am really looking forward to mirroring what we have created in Wales expanding and developing in other parts of the UK.

“Coed Llandegla now buzzes with life. There are people mountain biking, walking, horseriding and cycling with their families. We also have environmental, youth and university groups visiting, along with police and military groups training, as well as the CTC.”

Simon started mountain biking in 1990 while studying forestry at the University of Aberdeen. He regularly travels to mountain biking centres across the country and occasionally takes part in competitions.

Simon can be contacted at UPM Tilhill’s Bala office on 01678 530206.

Ends-

For further information, please contact:
Suzi Christie Blueberry PR
01435 830031 or 07590 591140
suzi@blueberry-pr.co.uk

Notes to editors:

Coed Llandegla Forest covers 650 hectares and was planted in 1972/73. It is owned and managed by UPM Tilhill - the UK market leader in forestry and timber harvesting. It provides services to owners of over 200,000 hectares of woodland, and manages 22,000 hectares in Wales alone. Around 150,000 people visit the forest each year and the 40kms of mountain bike trails have made Coed Llandegla one of the most popular mountain bike centres in the UK.
Coed Llandegla Forest was the first privately-owned forest in Wales to be recognised as a source of sustainable timber and to carry the Forest Stewardship Council logo. Wood from well-managed forests is environmentally-friendly and renewable. It reduces the threat of global warming as trees and wood products act as carbon sinks and, even at the end of its cycle, wood can be used as a bio-fuel. The renewable resource of Llandegla’s timber is increasingly being used in building products such as roof trusses, pallets, fencing and chipboard. The forest grows at a rate that allows the harvesting of 7,000 cubic metres of timber per year without affecting the total volume of timber in the forest. 150,000 visors 40kms of trail – one of most pop in UK.

UPM Tilhill is the UK’s largest timber harvesting and forest management company. It harvests and markets over 2.0 million tonnes out of a UK market in excess of 8 million tonnes per year. The company provides a full range of consultancy and contracting services to the forest owner and forestry investor. It also provides market leading services in utility arboriculture and commercial landscaping throughout the UK. Further information is available on the company’s website at www.upm-tilhill.com

UPM leads the integration of bio and forest industries into a new, sustainable and innovation-driven future. Our products are made of renewable raw materials and are recyclable. UPM consists of three Business Groups: Energy and pulp, Paper, and Engineered materials. The Group employs around 23,000 people and it has production facilities in 15 countries. In 2009, UPM's sales amounted to EUR 7.7 billion. UPM's shares are listed on the Helsinki stock exchange.

UPM – The Biofore Company – www.upmbiofore.com and www.upm-kymmene.com