What goes round

[Red Adder]

I was looking for something else this afternoon and found a set of courses I planned 20 years ago. Interestingly the controller then was fretting about the FC being sold off and access lost to some of our best areas (esp those of the SE of England) - and the govt then was of course Tory - quelle suprise.

Ironically it was probably one of the last events held on the area (then in the top 3 in EA) before the FC got serious with their felling program - its truthfully never been the same again - with them somehow managing to keep at least a quarter of it pretty much unusable as far as O is concerned.

Is it me or have their harvesting patterns changed over the last 20 years - they seem to take partial crop (leaving ghastly brash behind) off blocks more regularly and seem to leave fewer to reach full maturity.

Sadly the other thing I've noticed is that promises to plant in a more sympathetic layout and have large increases in the planting of native hardwoods has conversely not materialised. In EA I've seen none of the latter planted and the actual layout of the forests from maps 40 (yes 40) years ago can be pretty much identical - though obviously with new conifers replacing old.

[DavidJ]

from maps 40 (yes 40) years ago

Santon Downham and Highlodge Warren? Although I think I did that one 37 or 38 years ago so perhaps not!

[Clive Coles]

When you state " got serious with their felling programme" this suggests a rather random " shall we shan't we" approach. They are however working to a very precise Forest Design Plan which determines when timber is ready to be taken fron the Forest. There are some years therefore when there is hectic harvesting activity, there are other leaner years. It all depends on the type of tree and age and maturity of the block of forest.

We are talking about an 80 year cycle between planting, growing , thinning, maturing, felling and then restocking. if you are looking at a block of recently thinned Corsican Pine this year it probably will still be there in 30 years time. All that really changes during that period if the height and runability of a block.

The FC have a chance to change the tree species when they restock a recently harvested area. Then they can change the species of tree to introduce faster growing conifers or slower growing broadleaf varieties . I agree there is little evidence of there being a switch to broadleaf varieties. They are however introducing some different varieties of conifer.

The aim of the Forest Design Plan is to ensure a steady flow of timber over the growing cycle across the Public Forest estate. All the planting data from the individual plans is held in a data model which allows the Forestry commission to project harvesting revenues year on year over the growing cycle.

Events do occur however which frustrate that aim of achieving a consistant and sustained source of revenue. The 1987 Hurricane for example devastated many of our forest in the South of England and East Anglia ~ vast areas of planting were lost at a time when they were not due to be harvested. The areas were of course cleared, the timber was sold and trees were restocked but that will mean there will some years coming up when there will be more thinning activity than has been usual in more recent times. The harvesting model does infact now project a significant drop in harvesting revenue over the next 20 years as there are less mature trees ready for harvesting .

What has changed over the last 30 years is the degree of mechanisation and the switch to sub-contract most harvesting activity. Brashings are now being left in situ to rot down. To clear these away would be costly as it would extend harvesting timescales and would reduce profit margin. And the conservation/environmentatists will of course argue that dead wood in a forest is a valuable habitat and that brashings should not be removed. Like it or not these organisations are having more and more influence on decision making and forest operations.

Frustrating times i know Red for Orienteering club mappers and event planners. We in East Anglia are heavy users of plantation forests. I don't however think there is much we can do persuade our foresters to delay or suspend forest operations. They are running a commercial business.

[Big Jon]

My rule of thumb is this: once an area is mapped the owner will decide to thin/fell large sections. When it is mapped for a major event this will happen in the 1-3 months before the event, after the planner has done all their work.

[AndyC]

Had the shock today while setting up tomorrow's event of finding our way to the start barred by a new 5ft fence -it wasn't there last week.
We've handled it with little pain but it had us worried for a while!

[Red Adder]

I've been mapping this weeks accompanied by the sounds of the contractors felling. Fortunately in this case in another part of the forest (and in accordance with the FC's published plans).

Of great irony to me is the fact they are also working in the conservation area. We are banned from it lest our big fat size nines damage the habitat. It seems it is ok though for the Wildlife Trust to use a couple of JCBs to scrape up all the existing brush, including the remaining heather and the first 6 inches of top soil. They also use them to batter any larger birch trees (which are actually part of the natural succession towards oak woodland in this part of the world) and leave them looking like the blasted stumps from the Somme.

[This is the organisation that massacred another area of natural landscape to try and return it to unnatural heathland - in the process cutting down 40-50 yo oaks and left an area that is just a mass of bracken and brambles - to much local fury].

[Red Adder]

The 40 year old map was the excellent efforts of Gerry Arbor and the Razzell brothers of Havoc on Tunstall forest - 10 sq km at 1:20,000 60 miles away from home territory - that must have been some effort. I've managed to find all their pits (apart from a couple buried by rootstock banks) exactly where they mapped them - and very few extra pits that they missed.

[Clive Coles]

The Wildlife Trust ( in Suffolk at least) are a "do as I say - not as I do organisation".

They, with grants authorised through Natural England, are pushing ahead with so called heathland restoration at the expense of conifer and broadleaf woodland habitats in our County without even conducting Environmental Impact assessments. Attracted no doubt by the ready availability of funding ~ that's I suspect how the can afford their new toys.

It' no surprise that they are one of a collection of consevation organisations who are pressing Government to split up the Forestry Commission in England and merge bits of it in with Natural England.

There is not much acceptance that recreational activities can be tollerated on land they seek to control in their response to the NE/EA Triennial review. http://www.wcl.org.uk/docs/link_response_to_triennial_review_feb13.pdf Notable organisation who has not signed up to this response is the Woodland Trust.

Meanwhile the Forestry Commission seems likely to be split up; funding is being cut. The fight to save our Public Forests is not over.