Keeping woodland owners better informed


John Morris attends a conference discussing the future of new woods


A new drive to create more woods across the UK has been announced, as part of the UK Low Carbon Plan. Participants at a Forestry Commission/Defra hosted event in December were asked to consider what the main barriers to woodland creation are. What is helping to attract private funding to woodland creation, and what is not? What actions are needed? How can we help and how can we guide woodland creation to contribute most to a range of objectives? The day was specifically about


how new woods will in time help lock up carbon by absorbing it from the atmosphere as new trees grow. The target could be another 150,000ha of woodland over the next 10 years. The thinking is that if 10,000ha of new woods can be created each year it will help by using 50 million tonnes of CO2


by 2050, while delivering


jobs, fuel and materials as well as sustainably-managed woods. The existing forest biomass in the UK in trees contains 550 million tonnes of CO2


but UK forest soils contain


even more, at about 4 billion tonnes, showing that soil conservation measures are vital. Trees in the UK


Acoustics


Tree assessments may be improved by sound


There is a growing demand for new ways to assess tree characteristics and qualities so that the forest resource can be directed and the most appropriate end use. The FC has recently published a new Technical Note on the use of acoustic technology to predict the mechanical properties of timber and to classify and sort wood earlier in the wood supply chain. Visual assessment is good for estimating volumes, but less accurate for the structural purposes. A pdf version of Using acoustic tools in forestry and the wood supply chain can


be dowloaded from the What’s New page of www.forestry.gov.uk/publications. Or you can order a free paper copy by calling 0844 991 6500.


06 Smallwoods Spring 2010


Woodland News Future Woodlands


absorb around 15 million tonnes of CO2


trees, planted in the right places, then even more CO2


per annum. If there are more can be used,


but it takes at least 20 years to get a positive impact if permanent grassland is planted. I asked the Forestry Minister Huw


Irranca-Davies about the disincentive to tree planting caused by increases in tree pests and diseases. His response was that the Forestry Commission were looking into this! The Woodland Trust’s stated


position at the meeting was against timber production, which we consider as counter-productive. The SWA thinks it is the quality of woodland management that matters. Timber used in buildings and furniture is one of the better ways of locking up carbon for long periods of time, while decaying trees actually release the CO2


back into the atmosphere


(similar to burning for fuel). Also timber buildings (and woodfuel) have a much lower carbon footprint than alternative materials. So it makes sense to create new woods and to use the better trees for timber and poorer ones for fuel.


Cuckoos


Changing weather, the National Trust reports, has had a big impact on wildlife populations in recent years. In 2009 the cuckoo suffered particularly, but for no apparent reason, though it could be due to problems abroad or a lack of hairy caterpillars to eat in Britain. Craneflies have also suffered, with a knock-on effect on bats.


The Chilterns Woodland Project is running two Woodland Archaeology Days on 5th and 6th March at Pigotts Wood near High Wycombe, including a mapping exercise of the woods. Call 01844 355503 for details and to book (£40 per person). The Chilterns Woodland Conference this year is to be held on 12th March, with a theme of field and hedgerow trees. Call 01844 355504 for details (£25 per person)


Pine lappet Forest Research are asking anyone who thinks they might have seen the the pine lappet moth, which has been seen in Scotland, to contact them so that they can control the spread.


Plant health


With representatives of the forestry and wood-using sectors, the FC has established a Biosecurity Programme Board to oversee and advise on the protection of British trees from pests and diseases/pathogens. It will guide FC on how to implement the new Plant Health Strategy that will be published later this year. Roddie Burgess of the FC’s Plant Health Service says that trees are at greater risk due to climate change and increased movement of people from country to country. The Board met for the first time at the end of November 2009, and more details are available from forestry.gov.uk/ planthealth.


T R E E P LAT FORMS & Z I P WI R ES


AC T IVI T I ES Coppice House Buying a


If you want to build a tree platform, search your woods for old coppice


I


n May Richard King is hosting a Small Woods woodland visit to his woods in East Sussex. Like many other owners


Richard bought the woodland for the wilderness and to provide an adventure park for his children, as a place to learn about risk and to have fun. His wood has a bit of everything, and an ancient coppiced oak seemed the idea venue for a tree platform or two. Another nearby woodland owner, Martin Chapman, has taken the same view, building a 'treehouse' in an old coppiced sweet chestnut. One of the obvious advantages of using old coppiced trees is that you have a space in the middle, and usually plenty of branches on which to rest supporting poles or rails. You ought, though, consider that deadwood might be a good home for wildlife and shouldn't all be tidied up, but that a rotted stool might not be the safest base for a tree platform. Richard didn't want to nail or screw into the tree, so he bound chestnut poles to the oak with rope. This is


zip wire How to buy a death slide on the Internet


less likely to damage the tree, and is more flexible. A further advantage (as illustrated by Martin Chapman's platform, below) is that the foliage creates walls to the treehouse in spring and summer. Richard built his platforms seven


years ago, and they've survived well. He made ladders from split chestnut, but unfortunately one of them has been vandalised recently. The woodland visit in May will look at how he has used dead hedging reinforced by barbed wire to keep out thieves who have been stealing wood, presumably for firewood. Recently kids attacked some of his trees with axes, and built bike ramps in the wood without his permission. Richard sent out 150 pamphlets to the local community trying to discourage vandalism. Elsewhere in the woods he is thinning a pine plantation so that it doesn't shade out native broadleaves, and he has various archaeological features (charcoal hearths and sawpits) to show visitors. The visit, on 16th May, should coincide with bluebell season, and with a following wind there should be a 10 acre carpet of wildflowers to see.


To find out more about the visit, and to book a space, call Phil Tidey on 01952 435854 or email on philtidey@ smallwoods.org.uk.


www.smallwoods.org.uk www.smallwoods.org.uk


Richard


King has built tree platforms into an old oak, while Martin Chapman has used overgrown coppiced chestnut (below left) to house a similar construction


Terms


Cord The volume of stacked wood (notional) about 1.2x1.2x2.5m (4x4x8ft) and weighing 1 tonne when dry. A cord is made up of cordwood, a word often used for unprocessed firewood.


It's actually quite easy to buy an aerial runway on the Internet, and in principle they are very simple to fit. You can buy a basic kit of parts that arrives neatly in a box from www.tsttoys.com for just over £360. You get the length of wire you need, a pulley and most importantly a fixing mechanism. The wire has a loop at one end. You run the wire round one tree and feed the end through the loop. Then you drill a hole through the other tree or post and feed the wire through the tree and onto a ratcheted tensioning mechanism (above). Don't drill through trees of timber or historical value. It's quite easy to take the wire down, which is fortunate because the pulley can't be added afterwards. The wire is threaded through the pulley before you push the wire through the tree. This is actually a bit frustrating if you should want to make the zip wire inoperable when you're away from the wood. In reality installing a zip wire


isn't as simple as that. You have to get the levels of the fixings right at each end so that the aerial runway isn't too fast. Then you have to get the tension right so that users don't bottom out on the ground, and ideally you need a platform at each end for lift-off and arrival. Ideally both platforms are angled so that users of different height can get on the zip wire, and you can slow yourself down at the other end. An old rubber tyre fed onto the wire acts as a brake.


Spring 2010 Smallwoods 07


photo: john morris


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