Managing Your Woodland Properly
Just as a garden needs continual upkeep and care to flourish, woodlands rely on productive management. Trees need to be thinned out to encourage good growth and those encroaching brambles need to be tamed so that other plants have space to thrive.
Trees are slow growing by their nature, and in today’s fast paced world, they often don’t produce the quick results expected of them.
A solution to this can be coppicing. Coppicing, in principle, is to harvest shoots from the stump of a cut-down tree. Cutting all the shoots from a stump at once creates roundwood for a variety of uses such as beanpoles, hurdles, and hedge laying. Thinning trees provides logs for firewood.
One of the added benefits of coppicing within a woodland is the possibility of being able to promote biodiversity. Different areas within a coppice can contribute to habitat for a range of wildlife. Dormice love to live within a coppice, and there’s nothing more stunning than a carpet of bluebells thriving from the extra light reaching the floor of the forest. A coppiced woodland will also attract butterflies. In short, the whole ecosystem flourishes.
The number of people who are recognising the advantages of this traditional form of woodland management is growing. If you have woodland attached to your property, there are many ways to revitalise it.
www.jamesfosterlandscaping.co.uk
“With a passion for trees and woodlands, it was obvious to add this service to our business a few years ago. We specialise in managing and maintaining small woodlands, typically fewer than 5 acres, for either timber production, amenity or wildlife benefits. We can survey your wood, produce a forestry management plan and work as your agent with the Forestry Commission. We are fully insured to fell trees and work alongside contractors to extract timber. We often work with local horse loggers to extract timber and use traditional methods to manage woodlands.”
