Is It Kinder to Cut Down a Tree or Hug It?

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Until recent years much of our native woodland has been left untouched.  With concerns over climate change, carbon emissions and excessive use of paper goods we have all been encouraged to ‘love’ our trees, but a contemporary rethink backed by organisations such as the RSPB, Friends of the Earth and the Wildlife Trust is encouraging woodland management and the use of wood as fuel.  Surprisingly, felling trees and burning wood could actually be good for the environment.

British woodland had been managed intensively for centuries.  It had been used for fuel, building houses and ships, but over the last 50 – 100 years or so our woodland has been left untouched.  There are several benefits to managing woodland, it lets more light into the woods and wildlife flourishes in managed woodland.  Good management can assist nature by producing an edge habitat (ecotone), and encourages biodiversity.  Managing woodland by felling, thinning and replanting creates an ecosystem from high canopy down to grass and brings balance between open clearings, woodland rides and mature woods. Benefits of woodland management include:

- renewable production of building materials and firewood

- reduced carbon emissions from fossil fuels

- improves or produces new habitats for wildlife

Coppicing is the best way to produce firewood.  The tree is cut approximately 15cm above ground which allows the root stock to re-shoot leaving the tree with several stems.  Most broad-leaf trees will coppice such as hazel and ash.  Ash is even good as firewood when green.  (If you have a wood burner or open fire and live near woodland it could be worth speaking to the owners to see if you could collect unwanted wood as a way of cheaply supplementing your own fuel stocks). 

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trees coppiced 15 years previously, and ready for coppicing again

Wildlife such as bats, birds and butterflies benefit from managed woodland.  The Pearl Bordered Fritillary prefers sites 2 to 4 years after a woodland clearing has been formed.  This the time when the food plants and nectar sources are optimal for this species. However, these sites can quickly become overgrown and, unless there is suitable habitat nearby, colonies will tend to die out.