Sustainable Forestry
Sustainability may be defined in terms of sustaining biophysical properties of
the forest, in terms of sustaining a flow of goods and services from the forest,
or a combination of the two.
A combined definition follows: sustainable forests are able to provide goods
and services to the present without impairing their capacity to be equally or
more useful to future generations. The goods and services demanded of the
forest include wood of specified quality; habitat for wildlife , fish, and
invertebrates; recreational, aesthetic, and spiritual opportunities; sufficient
water of appropriate quality; protection (e.g., against floods and erosion );
preservation of natural ecosystems and their processes (i.e. allowing large
forested landscapes to be affected only by natural dynamics); and the
preservation of species .
Regenerated birchwood before re-spacing.
In order to produce larger dimension trees (taller and fatter), it is necessary to
reduce the density of the regenerated trees. This is known as respacing. The
density after thinning depends on species and target markets in the future, but is normally between 2500 and 3500 stems per hectare.
Birchwood 1 year after re-spacing
With birch the objective is to grow trees as tall as possible and having a girth
of 15 to 30 cms at 1.2 metres above ground (breast height diameter). This will
produce fuelwood that can be processed for domestic firewood or commercial
energy production most efficiently. Trees would normally be harvested
between 30 and 35 years depending on conditions such as soil type, elevation,
aspect, demand for the product and price achievable.
Birchwood 5 years after re-spacing
If the trees were not respaced a similar crop would be produced naturally by
dominant trees shading out and killing less dominant trees, but it would take
twice as long.
After respacing the unusable parts of the tree are left to rot down. This
produces a very different habitat that allows a far wider range of animals,
plants and other organisms to utilise the site, thus providing greater diversity
within the woodland.
Where do my products come from?
All the wood used to make my gifts and products, from pencils to blackbird calls is
gleaned from the respacing operation.
When the wood is cut up to produce products, that which is unsuitable is
retained for my domestic firewood, to be burned a year later. Any offcuts
from pointing and sharpening is dried and used as kindling.
The clean sawdust is given to two neighbours who keep chickens.
The ‘dirty’ sawdust, bark etc., plus the dust from the sanding process, are sent
to the local recycling centre for mulching.