Cutting trees down for Tree Week
11 December 2008
For three days during National Tree Week, Conservation Volunteers’ biodiversity team and some eager volunteers cut down trees for conservation.
The frosty weather didn’t put anybody off as we all carried the tools, tea box and first aid kit up the side of Cave Hill Country Park, just behind Belfast Zoo.
This part of the country park is mostly native woodland – mixed ashwood – with hazel, rowan, hawthorn and ash, but also with non-native larch, sycamore and other ‘exotic’ species.
Traditionally, hazel has been managed by coppicing – cutting the stems to ground level and waiting something like 7-20 years before doing the same again. The long, straight poles that hazel produces are used for a variety of jobs.
Not much is known about coppicing in Ireland, but some of this woodland is beginning to be overtaken by sycamore and the hazel ‘stools’ are dying because the sycamore blocks out the light. Left unmanaged, the woodland would probably become dominated by sycamore.
Belfast City Council has started to remove the sycamore and we went along to coppice a small area of hazel to see how it responds.
The cold weather wasn’t a problem. Jackets were soon shed by volunteers as they warmed up felling, cutting and stacking the timber.
These few days were part of our specific biodiversity project. We’ll be carrying out more work in the New Year, so keep a look out if you’d like to get involved. Opportunities will appear on our website.
| Relevant links |
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| Biodiversity |
| External links |
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| Belfast City Council |