The anonymous person that made the comment that they feel that in conservation they would like to see a landscape untouched raises an important point. I too would prefer that the land is not touched unnecessarily. However, in the UK there is not a single part of our country that does not show the hand of man upon it. Therefore, ironically to get back to a natural landscape we actually need to intervene and manage the regeneration.
Chopwell Wood is a tiny remnant of ancient woodland; we are in fact one acre short of a thousand acres now, when the original wood was over one million acres. Now there is no way that I can see, that we could even think of expanding the wood beyond its current boundaries. Therefore we need to manage the wood very carefully so we keep what’s good, and improve the rest. We could just rely upon natural regeneration, and allow the sun lovers such as Beach, Birch, fir Pine and Spruce to grow from the latent seed bank. That’s the dormant seeds in the soil already, and if we had even a quarter of the land the old wood used to occupy then that would be the right way to move forward. However, we have only less than one percent of the land occupied by the ancient woodland and if we let nature take its course we risk loosing the gene pool from the ancient trees long before the forest has the chance to regenerate.
In recent history, the last hundred years, the wood has constantly been devastated as wood and timber was harvested to supply the war machine of the two world wars. Going back even further, the wood was destroyed by Charles the first to build his flagship, so warfare has been the greatest environmental devastator of our woods here than anything else.
It is on the steep and inaccessible valley sides that retain the remnants of the ancient woodland. People tell me that the Oaks there are about three hundred years old, but as many of the trees are rooted into the stones of a cliff face, the standard measure of age based upon girth and height are inaccurate and some of these trees could be five or even six hundred years old. And that’s using data from Kew gardens.
Further, because in the North East of England we are loosing our ancient woodland, if we did not intervening positively, we could loose what little we do have. Additionally if we just allowed natural regeneration the small population of endangered or threatened species that we already have in the wood, would be at risk of dying out before we had recreated the habitat for them.
Any landscape management is and has to be a long-term project, even more so when we are dealing with woodlands, as a truly healthy wood requires various stages of decay and re-growth. Therefore, keeping dead wood is vital. Often the greatest difficulty is overcoming ignorance of what constitutes a healthy landscape. Some people want to see the countryside as a nice and tidy place just like a garden. But as anyone who gardens with wildlife in mind will tell you there needs to be some mess; those piles of logs, the nettle patch etc.
Add into that equation the need to ensure that the paths, tracks and bridal ways are safe from falling dead branches, and the balance becomes even more delicate.
While I know that some people don’t like other people using our woodland, it is only people that will protect it in the end. Therefore, while all this regeneration work is being done for the wildlife, ultimately it is for the benefit of all the people who use the woods.
The landscape is a living, breathing place, and just as a rotten apple needs to be removed from a bushel, we need to tend the forest to maintain its health.
Chopwell Wood is a tiny remnant of ancient woodland; we are in fact one acre short of a thousand acres now, when the original wood was over one million acres. Now there is no way that I can see, that we could even think of expanding the wood beyond its current boundaries. Therefore we need to manage the wood very carefully so we keep what’s good, and improve the rest. We could just rely upon natural regeneration, and allow the sun lovers such as Beach, Birch, fir Pine and Spruce to grow from the latent seed bank. That’s the dormant seeds in the soil already, and if we had even a quarter of the land the old wood used to occupy then that would be the right way to move forward. However, we have only less than one percent of the land occupied by the ancient woodland and if we let nature take its course we risk loosing the gene pool from the ancient trees long before the forest has the chance to regenerate.
In recent history, the last hundred years, the wood has constantly been devastated as wood and timber was harvested to supply the war machine of the two world wars. Going back even further, the wood was destroyed by Charles the first to build his flagship, so warfare has been the greatest environmental devastator of our woods here than anything else.
It is on the steep and inaccessible valley sides that retain the remnants of the ancient woodland. People tell me that the Oaks there are about three hundred years old, but as many of the trees are rooted into the stones of a cliff face, the standard measure of age based upon girth and height are inaccurate and some of these trees could be five or even six hundred years old. And that’s using data from Kew gardens.
Further, because in the North East of England we are loosing our ancient woodland, if we did not intervening positively, we could loose what little we do have. Additionally if we just allowed natural regeneration the small population of endangered or threatened species that we already have in the wood, would be at risk of dying out before we had recreated the habitat for them.
Any landscape management is and has to be a long-term project, even more so when we are dealing with woodlands, as a truly healthy wood requires various stages of decay and re-growth. Therefore, keeping dead wood is vital. Often the greatest difficulty is overcoming ignorance of what constitutes a healthy landscape. Some people want to see the countryside as a nice and tidy place just like a garden. But as anyone who gardens with wildlife in mind will tell you there needs to be some mess; those piles of logs, the nettle patch etc.
Add into that equation the need to ensure that the paths, tracks and bridal ways are safe from falling dead branches, and the balance becomes even more delicate.
While I know that some people don’t like other people using our woodland, it is only people that will protect it in the end. Therefore, while all this regeneration work is being done for the wildlife, ultimately it is for the benefit of all the people who use the woods.
The landscape is a living, breathing place, and just as a rotten apple needs to be removed from a bushel, we need to tend the forest to maintain its health.
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