Quote:
Originally Posted by wild worlds
Not true! The devil sat on top of the spire and wrapped his tail around it. That is what caused the distinctive spiral!! 
Interesting parallel between the “Christmas tree post” and the use of pollarding and coppicing in European woodland in the link here. Intervention in nature is not always a bad thing then? WW |
For sure not - there is a wide difference between plantation forestry (
i.e planting a monoculture, commonly of non-native plants) with regular total harvesting and sustainable forestry where the native trees are harvested over regular cycles by coppicing or pollarding (or even
small compartment clearance). The differences in management of sustainable woodlands relate to history, geology, wood use &c
but in general are much better for animal wildlife than plantation forestry.
This is said in a British context - the rest of Europe does/has done things differently and, for various reasons, different things have happened in American woodlands. A long tale which I'm not going into this moment
but I do think that the value of coppicing is exaggerated in British (mainly English) conservation circles because it favours
some birds and some butterflies as well as the flashier plants. Not much consideration is given to the effects of coppicing on other insects .... Obviously the
natural succession woodland would be of trees which are not interfered with at all ... I'd love to see some of that in Europe
