Coppicing is believed to be the oldest management activity undertaken by humanity, pre-dating agriculture and the more I read of it, it seems to be just about the most sustainable one we do as well so no surprise it's so out of fashion now. Perthshire has a long documented history of managed coppice, primarily oak,ash and hazel for industries that either no longer exist or that now use oil based chemicals. Plastic becoming widely available in the 1950's did for a lot of traditional pole producers and saw a big decline in people coppicing for a living.
We will get a variety of benefits from the hazel's and so will the associated flora and fauna, but this wood is primarily for burning to replace oil. It can be hard to realise how productive hazel can be in a coppice cycle, so I have here some photos of Hazel from an inspirational website-
http://www.hazelwoodlandproducts.co.uk/coppice-management.htm
As you can see, this chap has some amount of potential firewood. If you look at the trees there and imagine 30 such trees, converted to logs and in your woodpile a smile will probably spread over your face. When you think on a little and realise that you will be (if you wish) cutting the same amount next year and the year after and the year after that and that this small planting at Loch Archie, a relatively small strip of land into which we will plant just 300 trees, could yield this indefinitely. If you cut a tenth (30) of the Loch Archie hazels every year, by the time you finished cutting your last "Coup", the first cutting would be ready to go again- ad infinitum as it were.
What a truly magical low impact fuelwood system. I have been told that coppice can outperform Sitka spruce in many ways and this renewable aspect certainly makes it so to my mind. If you cut a tree for firewood, the tree is gone and you must plant and grow a new one before you can do get firewood again. With coppice, the firewood grows while your back is turned. You don't even have to say Abracadra it just does it- providing you can control your herbivores of course.
Before our hazel can begin the cycle in the pictures it will need to become established which takes a few years. As little as 3 on good lowland sites, perhaps a little longer on ours. Once in the coppice cycle however the hazel stools can live for an extremely long time and be consistently productive.
So why not join GWI and the smiling happy children and teachers of Glenlyon Primary School for a mornings treeplanting on the 28th and be part of this wonderful cycle. Bring a spade if you can.
My thanks to Hugh Ross at Rawhaw woods for letting me use his photos for this blog and well done to them for what they are doing and creating.
http://www.hazelwoodlandproducts.co.uk/coppice-management.htm
I hope to see you there.
Wishing you all the very best of luck and energy for your planting on Friday.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anonymous. I will plant (in a hale and hearty way) an anonymous hazel on your behalf.
ReplyDeleteSo what's happening? Which estates in Glenlyon have formally engaged with the wood initiative and what is the deal for the local residents?
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid there is too much happening and that this is too big a question for the comment box. Come along on Friday and we can chat about it then.
ReplyDelete