In fact, some rare butterflies have a very close association with regularly coppiced areas. Turns out, coppicing also fosters a huge jump in biodiversity because of the bursts of sunlight that hit the forest floor. Many kinds of woodland flowers, butterflies, and birds thrive in coppiced woodlands and are not found in other areas. Note how the flowers and groundcover plants are able to flourish with the extra sunlight. A lot of problems on our planet can be corrected and eliminated by just planting some trees.Ī beautiful example of a coppiced woodland diversity. Like: improved soil and water quality, natural woodland protection (because these methods work so well, there will be less and less need to cut mature trees), labor reduction (replanting every year? so old-school), and regeneration and toxic clean up. Those things are grand, but these techniques supply a plethora of other benefits too.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t energy kind of a big deal these days? What coppicing/pollarding experts are saying here is that we actually can have it all - a sustainable, clean energy source that will meet all of our needs. Let me say that again: a renewable, carbon-neutral energy source. Well, everything! Both methods provide a renewable, carbon-neutral energy source. Pre-industrial Europeans thought it was a waste of human energy to grow a tree to a huge size just to kill it, split it, and have to replant. Diseases rarely have time to take hold of the young growth and weather elements do not affect trees of short stature so they live much longer than their unpruned counterparts.Īnd, because permaculturists don’t like to do more work than we have to, these methods actually reduce work two ways: by harvesting wood that is already partially dry (during the dormant season), and by growing firewood to just the right size and no more - less need to split and stack wood for drying. What makes these methods so appealing is that by keeping the tree in a perpetual juvenile state, they actually extend the life of the tree by hundreds or sometimes even thousands of years. but its historical use of a wooded pasture system also fits into a permaculture method very well - stacking functions to get more yield out of one area. Today, it is a technique that can be used in very urban environments to prevent trees from invading utilities or sewers. Pollarding (from the word “poll,” which originally meant “top of head”) has been used since the Middle Ages - in fact, there are still stands of continuously pollarded trees that date to that time. By working on a rotation we are assured of a crop somewhere in the woodland every year. A properly coppiced woodland, harvested in rotational sections called coups, has trees and understory in every stage and is a highly effective method to grow a fast supply of naturally renewing timber. The main difference between the two methods is that coppicing occurs at ground level while pollarding is done 8-10 feet high to prevent browsing animals from eating the fresh shoots typically, coppicing was done to manage woodlands and pollarding was done in a pasture system.Ĭoppicing a tree produces multiple stems growing out of the main trunk - suitable for firewood, fencing, tool handles, and many more woodland crafts. Oak, hazel, ash, chestnut, and willow work well. The best trees for either technique are deciduous trees that don’t “bleed” too much (such as maple). These are harvested again when they reach the desired size - anywhere from 4 to 25 years.
The concept is simple: by cutting a deciduous tree when it is dormant, you allow it to send up fresh shoots in the spring.
0 kommentar(er)
