Thanks Steve,
I put a link to wikipedia on post 33 but will post another doc with more detail, may make interesting reading for all the woodsmen in the US as it doesn't seem to be common paractice over the pond. -
The site wouldnt let me post the whole document (over 8300 charecters long) so will have to put it on a couple of posts.
Coppicing is a Continuous Cover Woodland management
The old tradition of Coppicing is just one of the many different Continuous Cover Forestry Practices.
Coppicing used to be a very common way to manage woodland. With increasing industrialisation, the introduction of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas and modern materials such as plastic, many coppices became neglected due to the fact that the produce of coppices (smaller bits of timber/wood such as firewood, poles, charcoal, and a whole range of stuff like broomsticks, chair and table legs, hurdles, gates, etc. etc were no longer required). Nowadays there is a revival of interest in coppicing, partly because it produces a particular woodland habitat which favours a rich variety of flowers (many of the old bluebell woods were coppices) and other biodiversity.
A coppice is a woodland where the trees are harvested, whilst they are still young (for example 7-12 years old only). If this is done in the winter, whilst the trees are dormant (without leaves - 'sleeping' or hibernating) then in spring they will send up several new shoots, which results in a multi-stemmed tree.
This multi-stemmed tree is called a stool. In another 7-12 years all these shoots will have become trunks with a diameter of maybe 3 to 5 inches or more. The thickness and rate of growth depends of course on species, soil, location, weather, and so on.
All these new shoots/trunks/stems are then cut down again (always only in winter) and the following spring the stool will again begin to grow new shoots.
This process can go on indefinitely. Many species of deciduous trees (= those trees that lose their leaves in winter) appear to be rejuvenated by being cut down when they are relatively young. Such trees, if regularly coppiced maintain that youthful vigour and will become much older than if left to grow as an 'ordinary' one-stemmed tree.
An Ash tree for example normally dies of old age at around 250-300 years, but if coppiced regularly and properly , the stool can keep on going for as long as a 1000 years and maybe longer.
Coppicing produces a woodland with a very stable environment, because the roots themselves never die, as they inevitably will in clearcut-forestry. Only a part of the Coppice-woodland is cut down to the ground each year, which allows more light to enter. This mixture of shaded and light patches creates eventually a mature environment that is very rich in biodiversity.
Some tree species are more suitable for Coppicing than others
Not all trees are suitable for coppicing. Conifers tend to die, rather than send up shoots, and some broadleaf/deciduous trees like Oak do not respond well either.
Examples of tree species that are very successfully used for coppicing in the UK are Ash, Hazel, Beech, Willow, Alder, Sweet Chestnut, Sycamore, Poplar, etc.
You may have guessed by now that there are many similarities between coppicing and hedge growing, because we are using tree species that thrive in spite of being cut back. The difference is of course that in hedges the trees are planted much closer together and we often choose species, which will form a good looking hedge by sprouting a mass of leaves from tiny twigs. Coppicing stools are at least 2.5-3 metres apart and we grow them to produce long multiple limbs rather than a mass of dense little twigs.
More to follow.
Billy.
