Scout camp in an Ash wood land?

[benedmonds]

Rushcliffe scouts have a fantastic  woodland where the scouts camp. The trees have not been actively managed and have basically been left to to their own thing for the last 40- 50 years. It is predominantly ash, with a few sycamore and an mixed understory.  My kids have been camping there for years and it is great, no facilities, no running water a bucket to toilet in,  hammocks to sleep in etc..  There has always been a lot of deadwood and standing dead trees and I always have a wonder round to see what they have tied there hammocks to and its not always been great.   

 

The trees probably have a  DBH range of 30-75cm, tall up to 20m skinny things that probably should have been thinned out in the past.   Over the last few years I have been very concerned that it is going to be wiped out by ADB and even if only a small percentage of the trees were to succumb it would become a very dangerous place to be.  ADB is only really starting to take hold around here and I was up at the site last night and noticed a number of the ash trees were not looking great and there were several medium sized dead elms.

 

 

The scouts obviously don't have a budget to DW or remove the trees, I don't know if it is even surveyed. 

What would you recommend they do? 

My thoughts are it might be worth getting a contractor in now before it goes to crap..

Could the timber be sold standing now while still OK and they could possibly make some money or at least cover the costs?

Could a low impact contractor get in take out the ash and leave the understorey so there is still something left? 

If nothing is done it likely to become unsafe and a liability? 

 

There is access up a steep track and a neighbouring plot has recently been thinned, and logs extracted. 

 

 

[Dan Maynard]

This is a good point, there are plenty of great scout owned woods which have basically been unmanaged.

Our local Wildlife Trust wood had contractors in to clear conifer plantation and thin other areas so fussy spec. Not a money maker but I think in the last couple of years the biomass price has become high enough to cover costs, it's not good enough to be saleable as timber.

Maybe IronMike can set up a sideline taking his logbullet round to all the sites?

[dan blocker]

Wild camping as got to be good for the kids but you mention that “there as always been a lot of deadwood” Ben😳. We all know that woodlands can never be 100% safe but surely the scouts should carry out a risk assessment for these activities and try to minimise the risk. Deadwood turning into deadfall poses a significant risk to the kids safety and so in my opinion there should be a management plan for that woodland.

I remember an old soldier telling me years ago about an incident in Malaya in the 60s when they lost a member of their platoon when a piece of deadfall landed on his bivi in the middle of the night. Perhaps the scout ambassador Bear Grylls can shin up a few trees with his Swiss Army knife and deadwood them🤔