Family realize their dreams with their own forest and sawmill

John Cushnie bought a Logosol sawmill to take care of timber from his woodland property, situated in the middle of the English Lake District, one of the UK’s most visited tourist destinations. “My wife Jane comes from the area and our neighbors are all her relations,” says John Cushnie, looking as though he is the cat who got all the cream as he lifts an oak log onto his Logosol saw.

“I’m a qualified engineer,” says John, who currently works for a mobile telephone company. For him, the forest is not only an opportunity for relaxation. The engineer in him also sees an opportunity to improve and create. That’s why a few years ago he bought a Logosol M7 to deal with storm damaged and thinned out trees. “It’s economically better we take care of the trees ourselves than to bring in a contractor,” says John.

USEFUL AND RELAXING

According to Jane, her husband’s motivation is not quite as scientific as he makes out. “When we have parties for our friends and their families, the dads always congregate around the sawmill,” she says. She means that the sawmill awakens the boy in both her husband and other men. John admits that there could be something in that. “Sawing is both interesting and relaxing. It’s also useful. There are worse places you could be working in,” says John, sweeping his arm over the lake vista.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Currently, the forest and sawmill are just a hobby, but in the long term, the forest will become part of the family’s source of income. The idea is to build a few overnight cabins and run courses associated with the forest. Having a forest with its own sawmill in one of the UK’s hottest tourist areas makes these plans all the more realistic.

Logosol is a Swedish based international company developing and selling unique machines and services within wood processing and woodworking. With innovative and affordable solutions, we have visibly changed forestry and woodworking for more than 20 years. Our products are known for simplicity of design, reliability, and efficiency. See more about their chainsaw mills, bandsaw mills, planer/moulders & joinery machines by visiting their website www.logosol.co.uk.

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

This article is for your information only and the GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW does not (necessarily) approve, endorse or recommend the product, service or company mentioned.

When will the lies about paper stop?

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The other day I received a press release with regards to an Eco Comics having won an award and the claim was made, in the statements by the CEO of the publisher as to why they work digital, that paper use and the paper industry was responsible for the deforestation of the tropical rainforests.

Now this is a blatant lie that continues to be perpetuated by those that should know better and I am sure do know better. So, what's the agenda?

Well, if we would but know that.

The truth is that tropical hardwood, in fact all hardwoods, are unsuitable for the production of wood pulp from which to make paper and thus it is a little bit on the difficult side for the paper industry to be responsible for the deforestation of the tropical forests.

While it is true that one particular company – Kimberly Clark – is not a very environmentally friendly outfit considering that they are involved in the destruction of Canada's boreal forests in that, unlike the majority of paper companies, do not replant and in fact just fell under a license from the government.

The majority of the paper industry, however, at least in Northern Europe, owns its own forests (though they do buy in from private and state forestry) and replant a minimum of three trees for each single one felled to make paper.

Were it not for the paper industry those forests would not even exist and the land would, more than likely, be used for something else, though not agriculture or forestry in any other sense.

Most of those forests are on very marginal lands that only support the likes of pine or birch and thus making paper from the timber is, basically, the only answer. Without the industry those forests would not exist and/or be managed and be lost as carbon sequesters to the environment.

Don't allow yourselves to be deceived by ignorance or by an agenda where the myths of how bad paper is for the Planet is being peddled.

Rather than being bad paper can be a force for good...

© 2012

Selective coppicing

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Under selective coppicing we must understand the difference between removing all stems from a coppice stool, as is the general practice, and just removing large (overgrown) ones. Selective coppicing is the latter.

Selective coppicing should be considered in order to have a continuous supply of wood available, especially when a wood is being restored, which can take many years. This available wood is what pays, to some degree, for the restoration of the wood and gives an income to the coppice worker.

All too often a coppice stool is being entirely cleared of stems, including small regrowth that is nowhere useful at the time. This regrowth, however, is often a year or two, or even three, old and thus, in the not so distant future could provide income already from the stool, well before others stems have grown enough to do that.

Cutting all stems, including the young ones, when coppicing, is a case of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, proverbial speaking, and thus one has to be a little farsighted in this department.

Forestry is such a trade where one has to look further ahead than one has to do in farming, for instance, and this also goes for rotation coppicing, even though here rewards arrive earlier than in forestry per se.

Planning, good planning, is part of the process and selective coppicing, is part of this, even though this method seems to be rarely used, it would seem, but should be one to be considered, if it is not.

© 2012

Traditional woodland crafts are, once again, becoming a growth industry

Finally traditional woodland crafts are being regarded as valuable again and not before time

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

They are a source of food, fuel, building materials, artistic inspiration and stress-relief, and thus is is hard to believe that the link between Britain's people and its woodlands was ever in any doubt. But it was so.

In the years following the Second World War, traditional woodland jobs such as wheel-wrights and bodgers, clog-makers and other woodland workers, were becoming obsolete as, apparently, synthetic materials were far more exciting to have in your home than boring old wood, and the Forestry Commission was busy creating Sitka spruce plantations.

We must, however, not forget that the Forestry Commission was never tasked with woodlands and woodland jobs and -crafts but to be producing timber for the mines and the trenches.

Within a generation, or less even, the relevance of woodlands to the daily lives of most people had become vague. Most products that ones were made of wood had become replaced by plastics and other synthetics.

However, and thank the gods, in the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century our woodlands are beginning to enjoy somewhat of a renaissance.

Our woodlands, which have existed for thousands upon thousands of years and have been managed for that time also, and that predominately through coppicing, need to ALL come under that management again as, otherwise, they will not survive.

In many parts of England there are old coppice woods that have not been worked now for fifty years and more and if they are not dealt with very soon and efficiently then those coppice stools that are presently standing will break apart and that will be the end of those woods.

The resurgence of interest in using woodlands and woodland culture has attracted a very diverse range of people, from hobby foresters and entrepreneurs to some very skilled crafts people but what they all need is support from us, as consumers, to buy their goods, and from government as those woodlanders are the custodians of our future.

The new woodlanders cannot make a living from the woods if we will not buy the goods that they provide, from firewood and charcoal to treen goods of all kinds.

The New Woodlanders include not just those of the ancient crafts but artists who work with wood, furniture makers, basket weavers and specialist producers, including those who make wooden jewelery, etc.

When Herbert Edlin wrote his classic book Woodland Crafts in 1949 he was sure that many of the crafts he had recorded would not survive the ravages of the Second World War and in a few cases he was right, but in actual fact many of the woodland crafts have persisted or been revived including the skills of chair-makers, turners, charcoal makers, basket weavers, horse-loggers and herb gatherers.

In economic terms, woodlands can offer income to both groups and individuals. However, the consumer has to get behind those that are reviving the use of our woodlands and buy the products that they produce.

A Forestry Commission survey found that nearly a quarter of people questioned had gathered wild plant material from woodlands or forests in the past five years (the most popular things to collect were berries, mushrooms and firewood).

While the economic recession may have taken the main focus off the environment and on to the economy, I believe that it will not halt the great resurgence in woodland culture that is taking place at present

In fact there may be more of us looking for ways of supplementing our income or diet, or reducing our fuel bills, by returning to the woods and there will certainly be more stressed-out folk seeking the solace they can find in the forest.

Over the years, ever since about World War Two, we have forgotten the value of our woodlands (and forests) other than, maybe, for recreation and this could be seen very much during the protests against the proposed “sell off” of Forestry Commission lands.

But, aside from the amenity value of the woods, we must come to understand, and especially many misguided environmentalists, that we must work and manage our woodlands once again in order for them to survive.

Coppice woodlands that are not being worked in the traditional way will die. It is as simple as that. The stools will become top-heavy and, literally, break apart and that will be the end of the trees and thus of the woods.

© 2012

The Long Fight Against Ash Dieback Begins

BREEDING PROGRAMMES WOULD PRODUCE TREES WITH STRONGER RESISTANCE TO THE CHALARA FRAXINEA FUNGUS, PRESENT IN THE UK OUTBREAK.

A recent, Swedish study in the Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02827581.2012.735699http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02827581.2012.735699 ) has revealed crucial information for horticulturalists in the UK, and in Northern and Central Europe, in their battles against the aggressive attacks of the Chalara fraxinea fungus (otherwise known as ash dieback disease) on mature forest areas. Results from the study are far reaching, encouraging governments to invest in ash breeding programmes that will all but eliminate the disease.

The study
• Ash dieback damage on 16-22 year old trees in Swedish orchards analysed
• Findings indicate that the disease is strongly genotypically controlled, meaning that it attacks ash trees that display the same or similar genetic properties
• Scope for introducing breeding programmes to produce ash trees with greater resistance to infection

The research is more important than ever. Yesterday, a ban on UK imports of ash trees came into force before reports from BBC News indicated that 100,000 trees had been destroyed in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease.

Governments in Sweden, the UK and other affected countries need to act now or they could experience the same disease deforestation witnessed in Lithuania over the past decade, where forested areas dropped from 53,000 hectares to 38,000 hectares in just eight years. In a Lithuanian observation of ash orchards, similar to that of the Swedish study, 90% of the trees died (2005-10), this in the country where the disease was first documented in the early 1990s.

British Prime Minister, David Cameron should take note. On the day where The Daily Express reports that his country could be footing a ￡37m a day bill to the European Union (a meagre ￡13.6bn each year), the ￡3m funding cut to the Forestry Commission – representing 25% of their overall annual budget – seems like a drop in the ocean.

The Forestry Commission Trade Unions announced their disgust in 2011, stating the “cuts will severely compromise the FC's ability to retain a properly resourced forestry estate with protected access and services, and to protect biodiversity, wildlife and the environment”. This opinion has now been realised with ash dieback sweeping the UK’s forest population.

Other findings
• Ash survival is strongly heritable
• Little known about H. pseudoalbidus (the disease-causing pathogen discovered in 2010) but genetic diversity will provide a buffer against new diseases
• Faster growing clones less susceptible to ash dieback as rapid growth restrains the disease
• 90% of ash trees died in a similar observation in Lithuania (2005-10)
• Forested area of Lithuania fell from 53,000 ha to 38,000 ha (2001-2009)
• Government investment needed to support ash breeding programmes

Mr Cameron and his counterparts across Europe must do something to stop this spread. The research suggests that this should be through financial action.

Did the ￡3m Forestry Commission cut lead to this problem in the UK? What will the eventual cost to the taxpayer be? Only time will tell. However, one conclusion that can be drawn from this research is that there is an answer to the ash dieback problem. Through stringent breeding programmes of stronger clones, ash trees with greater resistance to the disease can grow, meaning a reduced risk of a Chalara fraxinea fungus outbreak. For now, the government must deal with this problem but a sustainable plan for the future must be considered imminently.

Read the full article online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02827581.2012.735699http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02827581.2012.735699

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References
----------------
SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH, 26 OCTOBER 2012, LARS-GORAN STENER
ASH DIEBACK: 100,000 TREES DESTROYED TO HALT SPREAD, 29 OCTOBER 2012, BBC POLITICS NEWS
ANGER AT BRITAIN'S ￡37M A DAY EU BILL, 30 OCTOBER 2012, DAILY EXPRESS UK NEWS
SAVE OUR FORESTS, 30 OCTOBER 2012, FORESTRY COMMISSION TRADE UNIONS

Full Disclosure Statement: The FORESTRY REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article.

This article is for your information only and the FORESTRY REVIEW does not (necessarily) approve, endorse or recommend the product, service or company mentioned.

Ash dieback (Chalara fraxinea) in Britain

Already 100,000 Ash trees have been destroyed

by Michael Smith (Veshengro), RFA, Ecofor

After the devastation wrought by the New Dutch Elm Disease to the Elm trees of Britain, the Bleeding Canker in Horse Chestnut trees and the problems with Cameraria ohridella, the leaf miner moth in the same, and Sudden Oak Death, now the Ash trees of the British Isles are under threat by yet another – possible devastating – disease.

Ash trees make up almost one third of Britain's tree stock – there are 80 million of them – and they are under threat from a deadly disease which is sweeping the forests of continental Europe sand have now arrived in the forests of Britain.

After much clouding of the issue and pussyfooting from the side of the government, it now appears that a staggering 100,000 trees have already been destroyed in an effort to stop the spreading.¹

The Ash is the fourth most common tree in the countryside so this poses a terrible threat to the UK’s forests and to trees growing in parks and gardens. The first cases were discovered almost eight months ago. They came on trees imported from the Netherlands.

But it has also been found on British ash trees and it is thought that it can also be carried by the wind or be lying dormant for years

Photo source: Forestry Commission

The disease, called Chalara fraxinea, is a fungus that causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees, and it can lead to tree death.

First found in Poland 20 years ago, the fungus has gradually spread across Europe, reaching Denmark in 2002. There it led to estimated losses of between 60 and 90 per cent of Denmark’s ash trees.

The disease will devastate the landscape because if it spreads the trees will either die and rot or have to be destroyed, leaving huge gaps in forests and harming the wider eco-system, as they provide homes for birds, insects and mammals. It is second only to the oak tree in its popularity in the British countryside.

For now, effective from Monday, October 29, 2012, all imports of the Ash tree have been stopped and also no further planting of the trees in public forests will take place. A commission has been set up to examine the whole matter.

The Woodland Trust says: “Ash dieback is only one of numerous tree pests and diseases in the UK. With more than 15 separate pests and diseases listed on the Forestry Commission website as already present in the UK, it is crucial that the wider issue is tackled. The government must set up an emergency summit bringing together representatives from all areas of forestry, plant health and conservation – because today it's ash, but tomorrow yet another of our precious native trees could be at risk”.

Of great importance is also to introduce proper bio-security measures and to ensure that only trees raised from seeds in the UK, under monitored conditions, are grown for planting. And the same must go for all other trees.

We must, in fact, stop the importation of trees – all trees – and shrubs from abroad in order to ensure that diseases are kept at bay.

It would appear that New Dutch Elm Disease came into Britain with Elm lumber, imported as whole trees with bark on (lazy forestry practice), from the USA in the middle part of the last century after having first been exported with the same bad practice into the USA where the disease mutated in American Elms.

Sudden Oak Death also was brought into this country from abroad, and to all intents and purposes also from the USA, and in this instance via Rhododendrons.

It is, however, also true, as far as Ash dieback is concerned, the the spores of the fungus Chalara fraxinea are arriving in the UK on wind currents from the European mainland, such as from the Netherlands. Unfortunately there is little that we can do to protect against that kind of unwanted immigration.

Ash dieback is a reportable disease and anyone, especially woodland owners, managers of municipal parks, woodlands and open spaces, and in fact anyone else involved with trees, should immediately contact the appropriate authorities. The Forestry Commission research station at Alice Holt Lodge is the most central post of call in this case.

(C) 2012

1However, according to forestry sources in Germany felling and burning the trees will not prevent the disease nor lessen its impact as their efforts have shown. In fact, according to German forestry sources there is, basically, nothing that can be done.

Original Löwe 8.104 Anvil Secateurs – Product Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Original Löwe 8.104 anvil pruning shears feature the ‘best of both worlds’, utilizing anvil technology with bypass geometry. The slimness and curve of a bypass cutting head, makes selective pruning of intensive crops (fruit, flowers, etc.) easy, while the anvil blade allows easy cutting and less impact during use.
Designed for use in horticulture, fruit growing, forestry, and viticulture; these pruners can be used left or right handed, for cutting any kind of wood with plastic grips and easily adjustable handles to suit any hand size.

It was the Löwe 1 which made the Original Löwe brand and the anvil principle (a drawing cut against a fixed base plate) world famous. Original Löwe pruners are designed, produced and assembled in Germany to the highest standards with a unique hardening process giving the blades an unrivaled hardness and the latest CNC grinding machines, ensuring an outstanding sharp cutting edge.

Length: 21cm

Weight: 230g

Cutting Capacity: 25mm (1")

While it is often claimed, especially by manufacturers of bypass secateurs that anvil secateurs (pruners) should be used for dead wood only and that only bypass secateurs should ever be used on green wood this is a fallacy. But then again not all anvil secateurs and pruners are equal. Some do not cut clean enough.

Many an older groundsman or gardener will remember, fondly I should think, a brand called ROLCUT which were, in fact, Original Löwe anvil pruners, made under license in Britain and I still have a small old one of that brand and have refurbished it, in fact, after seeing Original Löwe at the recent IOG Saltex 2012.

Original Löwe tools are 100% “Made in Germany” and not a single part is outsourced abroad; not even the steel for the blades. The steel is made for Original Löwe in Germany and the products are then made, in their entirety, in their factory in Kiel.

The review sample was supplied by Dominic Elson of Quality Garden Tools, the sole distributor in the UK for Original Löwe, during my visit to IOG Saltex 2012.

All parts of the Original Löwe secateurs are replaceable and the blades can be changed for replacement with just a spanner in a few seconds, literally.

This is a very sturdy, as all of them appear to be, pair of secateurs that feels good in the hand simply because of its weight which speaks of being a solid product and outperforms the competition by miles.

The Original Löwe 8.104 looks to all intents and purposes like a pair of bypass secateurs but does, in fact, have an anvil. The blade, however, has the curvature of the bypass.

There are many who prefer to use bypass secateurs when pruning trees and such as they have the habit of cutting a branch flush with the trunk. This, however, is very bad practice and should not be done, except, may be, in viticulture.

I have put this pair of secateurs now through its paces and aside from the fact that they have a very reassuring weight speaking of strength and quality of workmanship they work a treat indeed with everything that I have thrown at it, from cutting very thin stems in harvesting beans to about 1inch thick branches of apple. The trees of mine are in need of a haircut.

The lock is the most positive kind of lock imaginable of one that is intended to be opened one-handed and when the lock, though a simple one, is in place you know that your secateurs are securely locked and should not open accidentally in your pocket or holster. And this lock can also be adjusted should you wish to do so.

Despite the fact that the majority of Original Löwe secateurs use the old style caterpillar spring, which many manufacturers have now dropped as they tend to drop out it would appear that this is not going to be the case here. Also, a little TLC on the side of the user can, in fact, prevent the spring from coming out (even if it is gay) and a little oil goes a very long way.

Being someone who appreciates good tools and someone who was very partial to the old ROLCUT brand I may be a little predisposed towards the products by the company which is, after all, ROLCUT's parent but I think most of my readers will know that I call a spade a spade and would mention if there was something that I did not like to well.

Those secateurs are a real serious piece of kit and made with the professional in mind and at around £46 retail in the UK certainly come cheaper than does the nearest competition.

I would definitely rate the Original Löwe 8.104 secateurs with a six out of five, if that would be possible and thus, I guess, we will have to settle for five stars.

© 2012