Wood Pasture

[corylus]

We have an area of c5 ha of upland wood pasture (open grazed woodland that provides both food and shelter) that we would like to restore (hopefully with a lot of grants!). The wood now mainly consists of mature ash and sycamore, as all the wych elm which was the predominant tree, has succumbed to Dutch elm disease.

 

As the land is grazed no natural regen has occurred and as the grazing regime is likely to continue none is likely in the future. So new trees will have to be planted and protected.

 

I am struggling to find information regarding history, evolution and management of upland wood pasture. We will be working with the Yorkshire Dales National Park and FC on this but would love some 'outside' information.

 

Any suggestions/help greatly appreciated.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

http://www.treecouncil.org.uk

 

Have you looked at the tree council?

[corylus]

Have now.....thanks.

 

Sadly can only find a mention of wood pasture on their site. However I will contact them.

[David Humphries]

This is an FC pdf on ancient WP but there is a suggested reading list about woodpasture

 

may open some avenues of investigation

 

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/ancient.pdf/$FILE/ancient.pdf

 

have a look at pages 48-50 for glossary of technical terms and the reading list

 

.

[openspaceman]

As the land is grazed no natural regen has occurred and as the grazing regime is likely to continue none is likely in the future. So new trees will have to be planted and protected.

.

 

There is a field near here that has been reverted to wood pasture management, animals were not grazed for 30 years and now are only allowed in for a few weeks after September to nag the grass down. It has reverted to predominantly sallow and oak with bramble under and some grassy glades.

 

So if you do go for protection why not fence bits off and plant desired species not likely to self seed from the existing trees, allowing these to develop naturally?

[codlasher]

There's a piece of Common land that the NT owns in Naphill, Buckinghamshire. It was on one of the original drovers routes taking cattle to London along with providing grazing for local Commoners.

The interesting part is that the classic big beech trees have been allowed to grow and in sizeable chunks with the associated natural regen, surrounded by the grazing.

There is some debate on how this was achieved, but to cut a long story, it was, and the whole area could and still does provide subsistence grazing to a few remaining Commoners.

The theory was that the people worked together to erect hurdle type barriers, like islands, round the stands of trees and moved their animals through the area.

This provided income from timber to the furniture industry in High Wycombe, occasional brash grazing and meat for the table and possibly for sale. The difference between these islands and the grazing is very obvious and has taken many, many years to achieve. It makes for an interesting walk.

 

Perhaps you could consider a 'natural barrier' like woven hurdles as this is kinder on the eye & supplied by local materials and labour?

codlasher

Edited January 18, 2014 by codlasher

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

This is slightly tangential but in terms of quantifying some of the potential future financial / social / Eco "payback" for grant funding applications maybe useful as a starting point for research:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/13/flooding-public-spending-britain-europe-policies-homes

[corylus]

There is a field near here that has been reverted to wood pasture management, animals were not grazed for 30 years and now are only allowed in for a few weeks after September to nag the grass down.

 

That does not seem like traditional wood pasture. Here our wood pastures are used for semi permanent grazing and shelter, very different from above.

[corylus]

 

Perhaps you could consider a 'natural barrier' like woven hurdles as this is kinder on the eye & supplied by local materials and labour?

codlasher

 

We will also be re-establishing an out of cycle hazel coppice, on a different site, which is of little use as smart hurdles, but may be just the job for protective ones.....

 

Cheers

[openspaceman]

That does not seem like traditional wood pasture. Here our wood pastures are used for semi permanent grazing and shelter, very different from above.

 

It's not traditional ( it was an exchange field for a road scheme) because it is a small field adjacent to the common and even with 4 animals grazing the density per acre is much higher than a traditional common wood pasture.