Slios Bruguaine

The History and Sustainability of Coppicing  Part 4: Hedges  To read about other forms of coppicing, see Coppicing: Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3 . Definition Hedges are lines of closely planted trees that form a barrier by growing together thickly. Fedges are living fences of trees, planted closely like a hedge, but carefully pruned to keep the trunks open and visible (the trunks are often woven in some aesthetically pleasing pattern). Hedges frequently reach 6' thick, and are allowed to grow with minimal edge-pruning for years at a time between pleachings. Fedges must be pruned yearly and only their tops become brushy and thick. History Hedges are as old as pasture divisions, and remain in use today. In WW2, hedge-rows in Europe were so old, well-rooted and impenetrable that they were able to stop tanks, and had to be blasted out of the way for machinery to get through. Unlike stone walls and wattle fences, hedges become stronger and better at containing livestock...

The History and Sustainability of Coppicing  Part 3 of 4: Pollarding Definition A pollard is like a coppice, except that the tree must be trained to the purpose from a relatively young age, and the above-ground section of tree is not completely removed. Instead, the tree is allowed to retain the first section of trunk and sometimes a few side-branches. Then, the annual growth is cut and harvested every winter—or, in the case of fruit tree pollarding, new growth is pruned away during the growing season. Pollarding is designed for a pastoral system or a domestic yard, rather than a forest system. The goal of a pollard is to combine livestock pasture, or home and garden areas, with useful wood or fruit production (especially slender withes for making baskets or wattle), all with a minimum of risk to the tree and to the human settlement. A pollard is kept artificially short, so that it never reaches a dangerous height (it cannot fall on structures or fences or livestock), ...

The History and Sustainability of Coppicing  Part 2 of 4: Coppicing  Definition Coppicing is the practice of cutting deciduous hardwood poles again and again from the same stool. Generally, the cutting must occur in freezing weather, to be certain that the sap will be below-ground and will keep the roots alive. A tree, managed this way, will learn to heal the cuts quickly and become better at growing the next batch of shoots efficiently. A good way to remember how coppicing works is this short couplet: If the roots survive, the tree is alive! Selecting a tree The process begins with a mature tree. The root system, below-ground, must be large enough to contain sufficient energy to regrow an above-ground tree after the above-ground section is completely removed. If the tree is too young (say, a 2-yr-old sapling), it may not have enough strength built up to recover from the initial trauma of the cutting. The tree should also not be too old. When a tree has developed and gro...

The History and Sustainability of Coppicing  Part 1 of 4: Deforestation  Since before the development of agriculture, humans' presence in an area could periodically result in deforestation. This forest removal could be temporary, as when primitive hunters intentionally used wildfires to drive game or to clear an area to create meadows for game. Usually, in such cases, the forests grew back as soon as the nomadic humans moved on. These brief deforestation events did little permanent harm, since the tree roots and seeds remained in the soil and the woods could recover quickly. When humans did not move away quickly, however, a more permanent form of deforestation appeared. The constant human demand for wood (for fuel, for construction, for tool handles and fences and all other daily infrastructure) could lead to the total destruction of forests, as mature trees were cut down without adequate time left for the regrowth of saplings to replace them. A standard oak tree can take ...