felling small conifer regen to waste

[Wood wasp]

I don't know your site Gareth but I can never get my head round why birch woodlands need felled on peatbogs, if anything like up here then it'll be beautiful wee woodland that was getting along just fine on its own till some quango deciding the land needed "managed".

 

Meanwhile up the road another quango will be planting birch... And all the time the debt keeps spiralling.

 

If you really want to create peatbogs, native woodlands etc then fence it off and leave it to f@ck alone and nature will sort it out quickly enough. That of course doesn't suit agenda of the non-job contingent though.

 

Hopefully common sense will prevail soon enough, coupled with a long hard dose of financial reality!

[Gareth_elms]

Yeah most of the time leaving it can work to help restore peatland. The site we are working on atm is Humberhead Peatlands nnr owned by Natural England. The site unfortunately can't be left to improve itself due to the high levels of scrub. So fortunately for me and starting up my business there is lots of work for us on the moor.

[Gareth_elms]

I also worked for Natural England on the same site. The levels of scrub reduces the water levels considerable meaning the peatland won't restore itself as it's not wet enough for sphagnum moss to establish, so the task of reduction of scrub will continue till the water levels increase significantly.

[Wood wasp]

That's good you're getting a turn just now but remember this can't go on, the nation can no longer afford (and never could) so many depts spending so much money and creating absolutely nothing year after year.

 

As for specific site, if it's meant to be a boggy hole with scrub then just leave it as it is. Alternatively drain it and plant it with a productive crop

Edited December 6, 2014 by Wood wasp

[Wood wasp]

A productive crop such as softwood (and I'll emphasise I don't know your site) gives work for the drainage contractor, the planters, beating up, then thinning work for contractors, road making, finally harvesting. From the harvested timber the haulier gets work, the sawmill gets work, the pulp mill, the chipboard factory. Then we have a finished high value product which needs hauled to markets, maybe exported.

 

At every stage jobs are being created leading to more wealth and taxation.

 

Alternatively we can buy in the finished products from abroad while we f@ck about spending millions that we don't have creating a worthless peat bog.. And next year the cry for more funding gets louder, of course we're now so skint and in so much debt there will be no funding never mind more.

[Gareth_elms]

Natural England are a conservation body, as I am a conservation and woodland management contractor. The conservation of habitats and there restoration are the key goals of Natural England.

 

The removal of scrub is to return the peat bog back from its peat cutting days to being peatland habitat as part of the habitats directive. Peatland habitat is protected as it's in decline. The land is not owned for the purpose of timber production so will never be used for a financial crop. That tends to be (as far as government organisations are concerned) the forestry commissions job (aswell as the protection of woodlands and forests).

 

The site in question was a peat bog prior to being purchased by scotts peat factory (part of the miracle grow company) due to the decline of peatland habitats the site was bought by natural england to be restored and conserved as a rare habitat. The direction now is to increase size of the site under "Nature improvement areas".

 

So as far as production crop goes it isn't a forest site hence the removal of the silver birch scrub as it's only plays a 10 percent part of the structure of a peatland habitat.

[Gareth_elms]

As far as Peatlands being a worthless habitat. Peatlands store more carbon dioxide than woodlands directly contributing to the reduction in carbon dioxide in the air and ultimately reducing "climate change". They are also flood alleviation sites as they can store many times the amount of water than normal flood plains can, and are also natural water purifiers leading to better water quality in a more cost effective way.

[Wood wasp]

As previously emphasised I don't know your site, I was making general point and perhaps venting frustration that the nation is awash with quangos "managing" the land for the environment but who is planting tomorrow's commercial timber, both hard and softwood?

 

Also as stated its good that you're getting a turn, however the money is kaput so I'd suggest branching out into other fields in coming years.

 

I will stick to my guns though in that no one can create a natural habitat better than nature, fence it off and leave it alone.

 

So on that note I'll sign off and wish you a merry Christmas!

[Gareth_elms]

Forestry commissions commercial side manage most of the planting of commercial hardwood and softwood, aswell as the woodland trust doing some work in that.

 

Some land could be better used for things like commercial forestry. Some sites (like this particular one) I would say we're unsuitable it would cost in excess of the current spending to make the site acceptable for forestry work.

 

My business currently works doing conservation management including habitat management ie scrub clearance, spraying mowing. We also carry out small woodland and forestry work, mainly pre forestry operations like felling wind blown trees and clearing small scrub that may damage forestry machinery. We also and start off as a agricultural and forestry fencing business. Which we still do a lot of in between times. So as far as diversity is concerned we try to offer most on ground works. Scrub clearance also counts for land clearance before property or other developments, and our fencing also includes species fencing like great crested newt and badge fencing.

[Gareth_elms]

Oh and have a merry Christmas yourself.