The sadness of a working forest

[Ipso Facto]

I understand and accept many of the comments that have been made here - as I suggested at the outset, this is a working forest.

What you see in the picture is the harvesting of a cash crop, what you cannot see, because of the perspective of the picture (I only had my phone with me and I had little time to select a better vantage point) is the acreage that has been flattened (and this was not the only stand that had been reduced to zilch), the ground has been badly churned up and it is littered with bits of branch and other woodly detritis - great for bugs but a total eye sore - and this is likely to be so for at least a decade. Experience suggests that initially nothing will be planted but then, just as the silver birch start to repopulate, the place is cleared again for the next cash crop (mainly scots pine rather than spruce although both are present). I would love to see it returned to a more natural broad leafed habitat but I know that that just isn't going to happen.

Sadly, at this time, the removal of trees seems to be out-stripping the rate of replanting and I would rather see trees (any trees!) than a waste land.

Don't get me wrong, it isn't all down ... there are broad leafed areas, there are other stands of the less loved conifers and a fabulous wetland has been created. I suppose my initial cry was more one of despair at the way that "man" is free to do with the environment (any environment) exactly what he chooses to do just for money. What I stood looking at yesterday was nothing less than a Blitzkrieg ... I would hate to be in the Amazon and see this without even the hope of eventual replanting!

[glsammy]

Your image is a common sight around our area, as we live near Sherwood Forest. Lately they've also been clearing large areas, not only pine but even Beech trees. Huge areas have been cleared, they say they're not native, hence the clearance. This has left large areas with just ancient stags as in this shot: The whole area looks terrible at the moment, I only hope time will prove them right.

[Gill Catton]

but if you want paper, books, furniture from 'sustainable resources' isn't this kind of thing you need? can broad leaved woodland be grown for these uses in a reasonable timeframe?

they're not all bad these plantations, lots of goldcrests, chaffinches, crossbills in the right areas, marsh tits, coal tits great tits even heronries.

I'd rather we did this and made our own wood than ban it and import it from abroad and pretend it isn't happening.

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by Dan Salter

Nothing wrong with this....proper woodland management of non native trees. As others said...could be a heathland restoration project...either way...that clearing has just INCREASED biodiversity.

I'm with Dan on this one - it's surely just part of the life cycle of a working forest and many such forests have proved to be havens for all kinds of wildlife so even the regular and systematic clearance of quite large areas is not all bad news.

Here in East Anglia we have the largest working forest in England at Thetford and such sights are common. But the forest also sustains a wide variety of birds including Goshawks, Crossbills, Woodlarks, Nightjars and Great Grey Shrikes are also regular winter visitors to the clearance areas.

I know it's not pretty but so much in nature isn't and the romantic idea that all our working forests can be made up of beautiful deciduous native species simply isn't practical.

Jeff

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

but if you want paper, books, furniture from 'sustainable resources' isn't this kind of thing you need? can broad leaved woodland be grown for these uses in a reasonable timeframe?

in fact there is only one fresh pulp mill working in the uk now, and they are paying a paltry £10-20 per tonne at the roadside whch doesnt make for economic clearance - 99.9% of the paper produced in the uk now comes from recycling - what paper is made from timber is sadly imported from areas where clearance and felling costs are much lower.

most softwood cleared in the uk today goes for woodchip either for mulch or for power, with a minority going for timber and firewood.

as regards delamere and other such plantations woodland I agree with dan that this is effective and responsible management - hopefully they will either restore to heath or plant with broadleaf rather than planting more soft in the hope of an upswing in the market

[Kymba]

I posted a thread last week in Wildflowers, Plants & Tree Forums
called Trees felled illegally
which I think is a lot worse then what has happened here... At least there is a reason for this Tree Felling..

[oceanroc]

Probably by the end of august there will be bracken, gorse, foxgloves, ash saplings etc. growing and the current bleak patch will look lush and green. Trees have to be felled. The wildlife will move away from that patch temporarily and then return. Or am I an optimist? I agree with previous people (I haven't worked out how to look at previous messages while writing a reply) that on the scale of things this is not very dreadful.
Has anyone seen photos of the Antarctis showing the hole in the Ozone layer??? Now THAT really is something to get vocal about.

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by oceanroc

Probably by the end of august there will be bracken, gorse, foxgloves, ash saplings etc. growing and the current bleak patch will look lush and green. Trees have to be felled. The wildlife will move away from that patch temporarily and then return. Or am I an optimist? I agree with previous people (I haven't worked out how to look at previous messages while writing a reply)(

If you scroll down the page as you are writing your reply you will see all the previous posts

[crispy]

i didnt realize we recycled so much paper, im glad.

[Varan Komodosky]

Ummm. Several posters have pointed out that the best method of creating biodiversity in timbered areas is to actually clear some of the trees. If the woodland floor is left to do it's own thing the following will occur: Birch plantations spring up and grow through the scrub. Oak saplings start to grow and will eventually kill the birch by shading them out. As it is, monoculture of conifers is pretty worthless, the amount of light allowed to the ground levels are too minimal to allow anything much to grow. As humans we tend to view things in a very narrow manner as regards timescale. You could try to forget your lifetime, think about what your great-grandchildren will be experiencing. Around here there is a really good determination to create new woodlands, and the councils have pushed what was a mere 1.something per cent wooded areas to 3 % in around ten years. Naturally, this won't have any significant impact for many, many more years

It probably isn't worth complaining about what happens in commercial forestry as it simply is totally commercially oriented. Imagine protesting about that nice field of barley when that is threatened with destruction in Autumn? Pretty pointless, I would imagine. Probably worth remembering as well that virtually every landscape you can see in Britain, apart from a few mountain tops, have, at some point, had the creative hand of man involved in it's genesis.