Gareth_elms

Sitting in a pub with acouple of my employees after a day of scrub clearing, around 3 hours north of where the girlfriend will likely be out with her friends.

Signed

No self employed

I couldn't agree with you more. I also agree that more land may need to be set to forestry to meet possibly demand or a need to plant more to meet the employment demands of the timber industry, however having worked on both forestry and peatland sites (from a conservation point of view) a peatland does not having the ability to be turned over to timber production. They are too wet and are used elsewhere for alternative reason, draining it would be a bigger drain on funding than any other process as the need to continue to drain it 24 hours a day 365 days a year would be economically disastrous.

So as a conservationist who both works on conservation sites and as someone who works smale scale within forestry I'd still believe an abandonment of environmental agenda in favour of a forestry only agenda would be unrealistic so better cohesion between the 2 is a better solution.

And if that means the FC must have an environmental agenda as well as other organisations then so be it.

I'm based in south yorkshire, ive done alittle not much hedgelaying previously, I'd be one of the mentioned one just getting his eye in, I'd be willing to help to get some experience towards getting accredited, as mentioned above though very busy felling and fencing atm so wouldn't be much good as a definite right now.

Best of luck

Then the Forestry industry is not suistanable and will eventually nail it's own coffin shut unless dealt with. The environment agenda would allow that as chunks of funding can be directed towards aforestation. None of this however points towards the cutting of funding to the environment agenda as it all is intertwined and needs each other to function successfully.

If the forest commission don't plant the trees because they don't manage their forests, point the finger at those owning the woodland and not the environment agenda.

Large areas of felled forest are replanted every year. Mainly by contractors. So I guess a direct answer to your question is contractors are planting "tomorrow's" timber as funded by the forestry commission and if on private land by those with a stake in its production.

Funding will be reined in on all sectors environment and timber production alike. The forestry sector is equally as vulnerable as the environment sector as it all comes under land management. The environment agenda remains a large focus of much of the globe.

The balance between timber production and the environment may need to be re addressed as funding gets tighter. The forest commission are still however the largest land owner in the uk and whether that lands used for commercial enterprise, recreation or environmental agenda it still must be managed sustainably. Ultimately it is not the fault of the environment agenda why the quality of timber is going down or sparce that is clearly down to the quality of the areas it is grown on and clearly the way in which it's been managed through its 40-70 year growth cycle. The answer to none of these problems is therefore to stop the management of other parcels of land not suitable or not currently within forestry because that will not aid the quality of timber, it will just make the money be spread further and quality decrease even further. The pot comes from the same place DEFRA if it's not spent on the environment the money won't go to the production of timber it will go to a different pot probably for development of housing and further decrease the land available for forestry and other land management operations.

Forestry commission through their commercial wing still manage the tendering for timber production on their sites, for instance in thetford forest, Dalby forest, sherwood pines, kielder forest, all of which are predominantly timber production forests owned and tender by FC.

Unfortunately although costly and yes maybe more draining than if we turned every spare parcel of land to forestry to keep forestry professionals happy, the environment and the ecosystems that come with it are as important, healthy timber production realise heavily on the right environment to grow a healthy crop. So although taking up parcels of land and meaning organisation focus on the environment it is as important as the production of timber for products.

Oh and have a merry Christmas yourself.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I wish you look with this contract sounds like a nice bit of work. 1 week ago we started 15 ha of silver birch regrowth on a peatbog in south yorkshire. Sites ridge a furrow with ditches every 10m, size varies from 5mm to around 20cm depending on how well the stump treatment worked. Cut and left where they fall stumps treated. Done 6 days and 11.5 ha done with 2 cutters and 1 lad stump treating. I think I prefer the bigger stuff easier on the back, but it's rewarding to look back along the area at end of day and see how much you've cut.

Hi my name is Gareth, I am the owner of Environmental Land Management Solutions.

I currently conduct agricultural and forestry fencing and small tree work in the winter months (mainly scrub clearance). Soon we will offer drystone walling in the Yorkshire region.

As the post says I am looking for fencing work in the Yorkshire region and in the north Lincolnshire , Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire areas.

Quotes given on all jobs, no job to small.

Contact me regarding any work you would like a quote on.

Contact me by email or by phone.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07854929419 (if I do not pick up leave your name and number I will contact you back, I am often in places with poor network and don't want to miss your calls altogether).