G- Coppicing

This woodland is carefully managed through rotational coppicing, a traditional woodland management technique that dates back to the Stone Age. It involves felling trees at their base to create a ‘stool’ where new shoots will grow. You can recognise a coppiced tree by the many thin trunks or ‘poles’ at its base. Coppice woodlands are divided into sections called coupes or cants, which are then cut ‘on rotation’. The trees in one coupe are harvested for their timber in one year and those in the next coupe are harvested the next year, and so on, until the process comes back to the first coupe. The length of the rotation cycle for a coppice depends on the type of tree and how long it takes to produce poles of a suitable size and length. Hazel is usually coppiced on an eight-year cycle, while chestnut has a cycle of 15 to 20 years. Coppicing was originally used to ensure a regular source of firewood and timber. These days, coppicing is primarily a way of improving the health and biodiversity of a woodland area by opening it up to the sunlight and allowing a wider range of plants to flourish, dramatically increasing the diversity of species that thrive in these areas. By creating and maintaining this range of habitats, coppicing can help to provide a home for endangered or declining species. Dormice and Nightingales, amongst others, depend on the diverse type of woodland created by coppicing.