“When we try to pick out anything by itself we find that it is bound fast by a thousand invisible cords that cannot be broken, to everything in the universe.”
John Muir
Jim Jones, MSc
Imagine for a moment we are sitting by a fire on a warm summers evening…
Leaving behind a career as Living Landscapes Manager at Surrey Wildlife Trust, I arrived as a new settler in Ontario in 2018 with a bag of bilhooks and clutching my copies of ‘Distant Neighbors’ by Wendell Berry and Gary Snyder, ‘Web of Life’ by Fritjof Capra and ‘Working with Stories’ by Cynthia Kurtz. I came to run the Hedgelaying In The Ontario Landscape Project at the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience .
Three years later I’m now a PhD Student in Socio-ecological sustainability at the University of Waterloo researching in the multidisciplinary fields of ecological economics, systems thinking, complexity, transition and resilience. Through my research I aim to explore the role of narratives and stories of land-based artisans and craft-people might play in prefiguring post-covid political economies.
I set up the Ontario Rural Skills Network to teach and network craftspeople and artisans and build an understanding of how crafts and skills help people to develop holistic ways of living, embracing concepts of flow, systems theory, complexity, regenerative leadership and advocacy.
I am an Associate with the Oak Ridges Institute for Applied Sustainability (ORIAS) where I currently manage a series of workshops called Resilient Palgrave supporting a local community to develop their own resilient vision and action plan using Participatory Narrative Inquiry Approaches
In the course of my work I have assisted other NGOs, NFPs and community groups such as Save The Oak Ridges Moraine (STORM), Friends of The Dingle Schoolhouse and, in the UK The Wey and Mole Catchment Partnerships in forming partnerships for change through facilitation, collaborative techniques such as Participatory Narrative Inquiry and Ketso and through the development of Citizen Science Programs including Hedgerows for Dormice (Peoples Trust for Endangered Species 2009-11), Riversearch and Hedgerow Heroes/ Hedgerow Heritage (for Surrey Wildlife Trust 2011- present)
I am a hedgerow specialist, hedgelaying teacher and founder member of the North American Hedgerow Society and the start up company The Hedgerow Co. I am also a member of the UK Hedgelink Steering Group . I explore the connection between people and hedgerows through storytelling at The Hedgerow Rite
I have a long-standing interest in the exploration of connectivity and the many pathways we can take to explore the patterns created by separation and unity.
Please get in touch if you would like me to:
- Facilitate your community workshop
- Collaborate with your research
- Speak publicly or write about my work
- Sit round a campfire and share stories
Previously on “Jim Jones”
- Knowledge Management Specialist for ‘Protecting Our Waters’ Project, Save The Oak Ridges Moraine
- Visiting Scientist, Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience
- Living Landscape Manager for Surrey Wildlife Trust www.surreywildlifetrust.org .
- Manager River Mole Catchment Partnership and Wey Landscape Partnership
- Member of Hedgelink Steering Group www.hedgelink.org.uk I maintain the twitter link @HedgelinkUK.
- Mammal ID trainer at The Mammal Society www.mammal.org @Mammal_Society
- 2009-2011 Hedgerows for Dormice Project Officer at Peoples Trust for Endangered Species @ptes
- Treasurer and Vice Chair of Surrey Mammal Group @SurreyMammals
- I worked in ecological consultancy and for the RSPB as Volunteer and Farmer Alliance Officer (EERO).
- I worked as a care worker for people with learning disabilities and as a motorcycle despatch rider, amongst other things.
- In 2010 I trekked to Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for PTES.
“He who holds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy
He who kisses the Joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise”
Eternity, William Blake
James T Jones 
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