Jameson Karns See the Forester for the Trees Imperialisms: 2019 CSA Graduate Workshop Abstract The relationship between a naturalist and Empire is akin to a shopkeeper and storefront. One indexes and inventories the natural goods which are marketed by the counterpart. This is the prominent historical narrative in British colonialism. This approach discounts the scientific and intellectual vacuum within British India that was often tenured by foreign and indigenous bodies of knowledge. In 1855 Lord Dalhousie sought an answer for the “quandary that no Englishman” could solve – forest management. Dietrich Brandis, a German Plfanzenchemiker was chosen to establish a sustainable forestry program and secure indigenous peoples as “friends and allies.” Dietrich’s primary obstacle was that he had no experience in forestry. As a foreigner to both the Empire and field of British botany, Brandis based his studies and the forestry department upon his experiences in with local communities. Indigenous groups such as the Karen provided the German with the fundamentals of teak management. Existing outside of the paradigm was consequential as Brandis failed to garner support for this work amongst British botanical communities. Indeed, Dietrich’s native inspired methods and natural decipherments were a Delphic ambiguity under the glass panes of Kew. The late nineteenth century witnessed an overhaul of much of Dietrich’s efforts in forestry as a discipline and institution. Through the perspective of Dietrich Brandis, an outlier to the British Empire, my work reexamines the role of credentialism and expertise in the ecological sphere of the British Empire..