The southeast of England with its
glorious sweet chestnut plantations (which, to this day, support
a thriving fencing industry), the hazel coppice of Hampshire
and Dorset, the oak of the Lake District and the willow of
Somerset are all good examples of woodland being maintained
through the act of regular cutting by practiced woodsmen.
Not all of this woodland was natural: most of the southeast
was planted with chestnut in the 19th Century and similar
planting of hazel took place in Hampshire and Dorset at the
same time. As with any crop in demand, the landowner sees
a commercial advantage to planting. |
|
As the world changed and the demands
of the brave new world (electricity, oil, gas, etc, etc) increased
after the end of World War II, so the decline of coppicing
gathered pace, and by the end of the 1980’s, the industry
of coppice had all but retreated to the southeast corner of
England. As decline continued so scientists and a few enlightened
foresters began to notice an obvious detrimental effect on
diversity.
There are roughly 500,000 acres of native broadleaved woodland
in the UK which could benefit from the introduction of a coppice
management programme.
Growing Short-Rotation
Coppice - A defra publication
(Click to download - 4MB PDF file)
|
Richard Edwards - California Redwoods
|
Richard Edwards, the owner of Red Pig Farm, has an unrivaled
knowledge of the economics of coppice management in the UK.
He has contributed toward the creation of management standards
for the Forest Stewardship Council and developed woodland/forest
certification schemes for small communities, which have been
adopted worldwide. Red Pig Farm is home to several quite unique
and, in two cases, world-leading businesses, which are based
around the use of small coppice poles. These businesses are
the culmination of more than 20 years of working with small
roundwood in British woodlands.
There is a belief that these
models, if expanded and promoted to a wider audience, can
save more CO2 than planting trees in parts of the world which
perhaps have no real carbon issues and/or no need for more
trees. |
