Purchasing 25 acre oak stand in France - Pics

[Rough Hewn]

Which region of France is the woods in?

[JonnoR]

1 minute ago, Rough Hewn said:

Which region of France is the woods in?

About 2.5 hours East of Bordeaux, close to Limoges.  There is tonnes of forestry around here.  So much in fact that every man and his dog is selling firewood.  I saw a load of mature oak lumber just being smashed up for firewood.  Pity, but I'm sure there must be someone who sees the benefits of a home saw mill.  There's a few furniture makers who must be paying firewood money for lumber and getting some decent furniture-grade material out of the deal!

[Mick Dempsey]

There are loads of saw mills in this area (I’m not far from you) large and small.

 

You cannot teach the guys round here about milling, woodland management or any of that stuff, they know their stuff.

 

Nice spot anyway.

[tree-fancier123]

5 hours ago, Rough Hewn said:

It looks perfect.
In my eyes, I wouldn't touch it. Nature is thriving.
Wood land with masses of windblown and dead trees is great for biodiversity.
Inaccessible woodland means dog walkers and ramblers won't disturb it.
A proper sanctuary.
Be gentle with your plans.

Have to agree with this - there is something to be said for looking at woodland not in terms of 'management' , but as nature. A properly managed woodland should look like one did before man evolved. Of course, man has evolved, so it's only natural you'll want to steal a few trees for heating or building

 

Edited February 28, 2019 by tree-fancier123

[Big J]

I'm no fan of unkempt woodland, but that's programmed into me with my job. I see unmanaged and want to manage it. 

 

You're just over an hour away from my Dad. I'll maybe pop over one day (with the rods for the catfish!) to see the woods

[Rough Hewn]

I took my Alaskan mills to France a couple of years back. Told a guy I know, I've brought a sawmill with me.
He laughed, told me there was a dozen commercial sawmills within 25km.
Showed him the Alaskan.
He said it wouldn't work.
[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23][emoji51]
Yes they really know forestry.
But they are sooooo French.
[emoji12][emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

[the village idiot]

You can significantly increase the biodiversity of a Woodland (if you wish) with sustainable intensive management.

 

Nature has no 'agenda' when it comes to biodiversity. A woodland in lowland UK or France, if left alone, will eventually become Oak high forest. Lovely, but relatively low in biodiversity.

 

The Woodland with the highest recorded biodiversity in the UK is Bradfield Wood in Suffolk. It has achieved this by being the only UK Wood that has been in continual intensive (coppice with standards) management since the 1200's.

 

Good management of Woodland is a win-win. You get to harvest a valuable resource and create a more varied habitat for beasties and leafies.

[tree-fancier123]

10 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

You can significantly increase the biodiversity of a Woodland

so if biodiversity is a numbers game you could hit the jackpot by making it so lots of different small organisms flourish instead of a few big ones. Kew gardens must have high biodiversity, compared to the woodland it must have been before man arrived

[the village idiot]

20 minutes ago, tree-fancier123 said:

Kew gardens must have high biodiversity, compared to the woodland it must have been before man arrived

Possibly, I'm not sure once you factor in all of the insects and fungi etc.

 

You are talking about an almost complete change in land use though.

 

I think the OP is interested in what he can do with his Wood, keeping it as a Wood.

25 minutes ago, tree-fancier123 said:

so if biodiversity is a numbers game you could hit the jackpot by making it so lots of different small organisms flourish instead of a few big ones. 

Correct, but with a bit of consideration you can change the 'instead of' into an 'aswell as'

[hplp]

31 minutes ago, tree-fancier123 said:

so if biodiversity is a numbers game you could hit the jackpot by making it so lots of different small organisms flourish instead of a few big ones. Kew gardens must have high biodiversity, compared to the woodland it must have been before man arrived

Absolutely. It ceases to amaze me the agenda in the environmental industry of one or the other rather than each benefiting and complimenting each other.

 

H

Edited March 1, 2019 by hplp