A programme of practical silvicultural training to improve the timber quality of broadleaved woodlands.
Yorkshire has a proud reputation for growing some of the best quality hardwood timber in the UK. But growing broadleaves to produce quality timber requires good silviculture, with timely and appropriate management techniques, from planting at the right spacing to formative pruning and thinning of the final crop. These operations are frequently inexpensive to undertake and can show a positive return on time invested.
In conjunction with Woodland Heritage and the Forestry Commission, YORWOODS set up a series of low-cost workshops to highlight these and other broadleaved silviculture techniques. The workshops are held on the Farnley Estate, near Otley. A total of nine one day workshops have been organised of which six have been completed. These are:
1 Planting and Establishment
2 Early Formative Pruning
3 Early Thinning and High Pruning
4 Managing Neglected Woodlands
5 Mid-Rotation Management
6 Selecting and Felling for the Market
With the following still to be held:
7 Alternative Quality Crops
8 Uneven Aged Woodlands
9 Growing Broadleaves in a Community Woodland
The sessions have been lead by Keith Rawling, an experienced forester, with the emphasis on practical application of the theory "in the forest".
Although suitable for anybody with an interest in woodland management, the workshops have been ideal for those with a basic understanding of general silviculture but who want to improve their knowledge with respect to growing quality broadleaves. Twenty people have registered on the course, all of whom have found the sessions extremely useful. The professional backgrounds of the attendees vary greatly with experienced estate foresters, land agents, woodland owners and enthusiasts all coming along to learn something new.
YORWOODS, 3-4 The Courtyard, Sycamore Business Park, Dishforth Road, Copt Hewick, Ripon, North Yorkshire HD4 5DF. www.yorwoods.org.uk Tel: 01765 609355.
Delegates assess tree spacing before marking stems for thinning.
A fine stand of sycamore on the Farnley Hall Estate, where the courses are held.