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Arboriculture • Woodland • Forestry

Capel Manor’s 9th annual

CELEBRATION of TREES and the COUNTRYSIDE Sponsored by Husqvarna

Friday 15th and Saturday 16th April 2011, 10am–5pm GET MORE FOR LESS THIS YEAR WITH

FREE ENTRY trade tickets Visit www.capel.ac.uk/trees and download yours now!

Take a look inside this edition for more information on the show, to exhibit visit www.capel.ac.uk/trees Capel Manor College Bullsmoor Lane, Enfield EN1 4RQ Just off junction 25 of the M25 Free Parking | 08456 122 122

AUSTRALIA’S REMARKABLE TREES PAGE 29

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a World of Trees Issue 24

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RLD ofTREES Arboriculture • Woodland • Forestry

ISSUE 24

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Contents 4 News 8 Trees mean life 10 Profile on Decay Fungi Part II – Collybia Fusipes 12 Muscardinus Avellanarius – The hazel dormouse 14 No Job too Big or too small 18 Why do we prune trees?

20 Plough to Perpetual Trees 22 Powered up for tree work 26 An Arboreal Legacy of the Duke of Sully 29 Australia’s Remarkable Trees – Review 30 Charcoal Makers 34 A Mans World 35 When Times are Tough - TrustMark 36 Protecting the Trees 39 Poem – Ivy Tree

For Advertising and Editorial: For advertising & editorial contact -

dal@eworldoftrees.com Head Office: 01543 500255 Sales Office: 0121 218 7643 a World of Trees, Coppice Lodge, Teddesley, Penkridge, Staffordshire ST19 5RP

a World of Trees Issue 24

Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, neither a World of Trees nor its authors can accept any responsibility for errors or omissions. The views expressed in a World of Trees magazine are not necessarily those of a World of Trees.

There is no unauthorised reproduction, in any media whatsoever, in whole or in part, permitted without the written consent of a World of Trees. If you feel that your copyright has been infringed in any way you should contact the editor. We undertake to remove from our publication or website any images or written media that have inadvertently infringed copyright or to give appropriate credit(s) where applicable. Unsolicited manuscripts and photographs are welcomed, but no responsibility can be accepted from them, however delivered. a World of Trees magazine is independent of all political parties, private interest groups and government.

It has no affiliation to commercial interests other then its own and represents no organisations or associations. Our policy is to provide news and information to our readers in a balanced manner. If you find any error of fact in our pages you should contact the editor by telephone, letter or email. We undertake to correct errors promptly and to issue apologies, where deemed appropriate.

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News

Arboriculture & Woodland

SPALDINGS JOIN FORCES WITH SILKY FOX SAWS

Silky Fox saws unique technology and design ensures superb cutting quality which is smoother and faster.

Lincoln, 20th September 2010 –Spaldings announced the introduction of Silky Fox saws to their grounds maintenance range. The new additions include folding saws, sheathed saws and pole saws to suit all types of pruning requirements. The premium quality blades and razor sharp teeth ensure maximum cutting performance, again and again.

“Silky Fox saws have developed a world-wide reputation for being the best saws in the business” says Alastair Ramsay, Marketing Manager for Spaldings. “The Japanese based company has been making saws for over 90 years and incorporate silky technology

which cut on the pull stroke for faster, more efficient cutting.”

The Sheathed Saws come complete with their own custom carrying sheath, which can be attached to a belt for convenience and comfort. The folding saws offer easy portability as the blade folds neatly in half, when open the blade can be locked securely into place for cutting. The telescopic range provides the user with an easy and safe solution to high pruning tasks with a choice of a telescopic or fixed pole.

“The design of each saw has been carefully thought about and each blade is made from high carbon steel which is heat treated for maximum hardness” Ramsay says. “The handles are constructed from rubber compound which protects the user from excessive vibrations, ensuring these

saws are fully safe for uninhibited use.”

For details of these and other products supplied by Spaldings, contact 01522 507 500, email: gcsales@spaldings.co.uk or view the catalogue at www.spaldings. co.uk

Raising the Profile of the Arboricultural Industry TrustMark management team has been working with Andy Burgess of Tree Care Approved to create the first edition of the new, full colour ‘Consumer Watchdog Magazine’.

This means that for the first time, a consumer produced publication will be highlighting tree related matters to the consumer, a well as other trade sectors covered by TrustMark, the Government endorsed, find a tradesman scheme.

The new publication has our full support along with many other consumer protection organisations such as Directgov, Consumer Direct and Trading Standards, to name but a few. We have already given the magazine prime advertising slots on our website, both on the front page and on all 26 trade pages where people who are looking for an approved contractor will find the nearest firms to their entered postcode. We have agreed to print many thousands for 4

the key exhibitions we will be attending this year to further develop awareness of the TrustMark Scheme as well as this new publication.

We would like to take this opportunity of thanking Andy and his team at Tree Care Approved for developing this very exciting opportunity, and we hope you take the time to view the site and consider for yourself why you should get involved with the TrustMark scheme for arboriculture through Tree Care Approved.

To view the new consumer magazine visit www.onlinewatchdog.co.uk To apply for TrustMark Government Endorsed Standards for Arboriculture contact Tree Care Approved on 0845 4094552 Stuart Carter, Head of PR & Marketing TrustMark, Englemere, Kings Ride, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7TB Tel: 01344 630880 a World of Trees Issue 24

New Makita Outdoor Power Equipment Products Makita, Britain’s number 1 professional power tool manufacturer, has introduced a new selection of high performance tools designed to meet the challenging requirements of landscapers, forestry workers, local authority contractors and grounds care professionals. The Makita Outdoor Power Equipment range offers rugged, high performance products for every application.

The Makita OPE range includes the new

EBH341R low-vibration back-pack brush cutter which has a 33.5cc 4-stroke, low emission engine developing 1.43hp, plenty of power to drive the 305mm diameter blade; the GSE2200 240v electric shredder where the nine-blade shredder will easily consume 50mm branches whilst rotating at low speed for low-noise output at just 83.7db; the new Li-ion battery powered pruning chainsaws with 115mm cutting capacity and a 36v Li-ion powered saw with 25cm chain bar, tool-less blade change; and

two new petrol engine chainsaws, the 35cc DCS3501 and the 43cc DCS4301, both with 2-mass handle vibration damping and easy-start, inertia-assisted, first-pull starting system.

Acorn Shelters - over engineered or simply great value for money?

Changing a customer’s perception of a product can be a challenging and expensive process. When VW bought the brand Skoda, tarnished as it was by years of reliability a credibility issues, it took a gargantuan effort to get potential buyers to believe the truth – that Skoda is now a quality product that can hold it’s own against traditionally trusted marques. Having purchased Acorn Planting Products in the summer of 2009, The Boddingtons Group are now grappling with a similar, although diametrically opposite problem.

Designed by a professor of Forestry, the Acorn Shelterguard® features all the

elements required to ensure safe and speedy establishment of young trees and shrubs – no expense spared. For the first 3-4 years of establishment most broadleaf species thrive in a mini greenhouse, which also protects from accidental herbicide spray damage. Acorns Shelterguard® provides this environment with the inclusion of a translucent film lining. Then, from year 4 onwards, most broadleaf species thrive better in an open and airy environment, in which the tree is still protected from browsing but not enclosed in an unhealthily confined space, which can promote overheating and moisture retention. Again, Acorns Shelterguard® provides this environment as the film lining breaks down leaving a sturdy mesh protection for at least 7 years. When the tree exits the shelter a smooth top lip is required to avoid potential chaffing damage as the trunk rubs against the side of the shelter. Once again, Acorns Shelterguard® provides this in the form of

a specially inserted ‘silky smooth’ top lip, which is designed to break open when the trunk diameter exceeds that of the shelter.

No other shelter on the UK market is designed to cleverly match the requirements of growing trees and shrubs at different growth stages the way Acorn shelters do, and many customers might expect to pay a premium for this unique technology.

Ironically it’s this perception that the Boddingtons Group are attempting to change. Efficiencies in manufacturing and processing have actually reduced the cost price to that of the UK’s market leading brand of shelter – one that doesn’t have all the beneficial features of the Acorn Shelterguard®.

When it comes to treeshelters, there really has never been a better time to up-grade to Acorn.

Sales office 01621 874201 Email sales@acorn-p-p.co.uk www.acorn-planting-products.com

Blades boom and manufacturing enhancements lead to 20% price cut at Wood-Mizer UK Wood-Mizer UK is reducing the price of its three lines of band saw blades by 20% in Great Britain and Ireland.

The reduction follows further investment at Wood-Mizer’s European manufacturing facility, including introduction of a punch press and increasing blade production lines to seventeen.

Added to this is the advantage of being the sole band sawmill manufacturer to produce its own blades, the company claims.

This development follows worldwide sales of the company’s blades reaching unprecedented heights. Wood-Mizer’s Russian branch, for example, in 2010 sold one million metres of them.

The new Stellite-tipped blade stays sharp longer when cutting, claims the company.

Called RazorTip, it is the latest result of a World of Trees Issue 24

continuing research and development, leading to a bandsaw blade for particularly abrasive, extra hard wood species.

Standard length, DoubleHard band saw blades’ attraction lies in durability and flexibility. Such a combination provides longer blade life compared with similar, competitors’ blades. The secret is a special steel alloy, claims Wood-Mizer, which invests in high grade steel and individually hardens teeth by induction. Certainly it is the most used band blade in world of woodworking.

SilverTip blades are of standard steel.

Each tooth is induction hardened. Originally developed for secondary processing, cutting clean, debarked material, they are mostly used for primary log cutting in Europe.

David Biggs, general manager of Wood-Mizer UK reveals that seventeen band

blades lines operate at the Polish plant and twelve at the Indiana, USA facility where four more are being installed to meet demand and he adds… “…as well as being used by our mill owners, an increasing number of other band saw brand owners use them too.” www.woodmizer.co.uk

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News MORE for LESS

at Capel Manor’s Celebration of Trees 2011, sponsored by Now in it’s 9th year the Celebration of Trees, sponsored once again by Husqvarna, has gone from strength to strength and following last year’s success there’s a definite consensus of ‘I’ll be back!’ A firm fixture in the arboriculture calendar it’s a show greatly anticipated bringing together working professionals, students, general public and youngsters wanting to discover more about the industries including career opportunities and training advice.

And this year visitors to the show will get more for less as Capel Manor has decided to offer FREE ENTRY to trade and students. In this difficult economic climate Capel wants to support the industry by not only maintaining stand fees for another year but allowing you to sign up for complimentary tickets. Simply visit www.capel.ac.uk/trees and click on Complimentary Tickets and print your own (which you must bring with you on the day or standard admission fees will apply). Tickets

are valid for both show days: Friday 15th and Saturday 16th April.

So what’s in store at this year’s event? As well as equipment sales from the key industry suppliers all in one field, after last year’s success they’re holding another Employer’s Forum on Friday 15th from 1pm. This will look at Short Courses, Apprenticeships, the NPTC Assessment Centre and will feature a talk by Tony Kirkham from Kew Gardens.

The ISA will also be running their Certified Arborist Exam on Saturday 16th April and the Consulting Arborist Society (CAS) will be running seminars on the Friday and Saturday. Capel’s own students will be climbing competitively, the Gwynedd Axemen (sponsored by Husqvarna) will be testing their skills and most importantly a licensed bar makes a welcome return for those important ‘networking’ meetings.

For more information on all show features including how to exhibit at the show or advertise in the show programme visit www.capel.ac.uk/trees.

Perkins Commercial Services Perkins Commercial Services provide a full one stop shop for converted commercial vehicles.

From standard vehicles such as panel vans, pickup trucks, Luton’s and tippers, to specialist conversions, such as arboricultural and waste management tippers. Plus an extensive range of optional extra’s including towing equipment, amber & LED beacons & lighting, winches, ramps, finish paint work & sign writing.

Being partnered with Tipmaster Ltd, one of the UK’s largest commercial vehicle body building companies we are in a strong position to truly offer a complete one stop solution from initial discussions to design & build, we have the body

building experience to project manage the total package ensuring that we supply the complete chassis & conversion fit for the job intended & built right first time.

Our sales team are always on hand to offer you help and advice to ensure that you take delivery of the right vehicle for your application.

Perkins is able to offer a complete range of commercial vehicles at competitive prices along with very competitive funding solutions with up to 5 year terms.

For any further information on our range of products & services please do not hesitate to contact us on 0800 014 1099

COUNCILS GOING GREEN! East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Kirklees Borough Council joins a growing number of environmentally aware companies and organisations using Aspen.

With global warming now becoming more of a pressing issue than ever before, local councils have realised the need to safe-guard their local environment – not just for the next generation but also for themselves. The government is putting more and more pressure on people to protect the environment and many councils’ have incorporated an environmental policy into their sustainable development plans.

Distributed in the UK by Wareham based Anglo American Oil Company (AAOC), Aspen alkylate petrol is an environmentally friendly fuel available in 4-stroke and 2-stroke varieties. It

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contains no benzene, sulphur, toluene or other aromatic hydrocarbons. Consequently, it produces far smaller amounts of pollutants in the exhaust gases of smaller-engine machines, such as mowers, strimmers and chainsaws. Producing less toxic emissions, and with a five-year shelf life, it is better for people, machines and the environment.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Kirklees Borough Council have both realised not only the environmental benefits of using Aspen over other fuel but also the huge health benefits the green fuel can bring to their employees.

Michael Wileman from East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: ‘Environmental issues are becoming a pressing concern for the whole country; we are making every effort to protect our local environment and recognise the positive impact

that Aspen has for not only the environment but also our staff and their machines.’

AAOC also supplies Aspen alkylate petrol to the The National Trust, London Zoo, London City Council, Longleat Enterprises Ltd, Whipsnade Zoo as well as other councils around the country who are actively protecting their employees and the environment.

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Rare Bat Breeding in Lincolnshire Barbastelle bat

Dave Hughes searching for Barbastelles in Chambers Farm Wood

The Forestry Commission can reveal that the rare Barbastelle bat has established a maternity colony in a Lincolnshire woodland – a first for the county and one of the very few such sites identified in Britain.

The bat is generally regarded as a southern English species, but research has revealed that it is not only present, but breeding in 900 acre Chambers Farm Wood, near Wragby.

The discovery was made by Dave Hughes, Lincoln University postgraduate research student and Principal Ecologist at Lincoln-based Ecological Consultancy, ESL. He has fitted tiny radio transmitters to bats in the Forestry Commission beauty spot, part of the Bardney Limewoods National Nature a World of Trees Issue 24

Reserve, and used harmless nets to catch the mammal. Both pregnant Barbastelles and most tellingly recently born juveniles have been recorded and further detective work led to the discovery of the maternity colony under the bark of a rotting tree.

Wally Grice, from the Forestry Commission, said: “This is really great news and shows that sensitive management of woodlands pays dividends for wildlife. It means that we now have nine bat species in Chambers, making it a real hotspot for the endangered creature.”

Dave Hughes added: “We have caught 37 individuals so far, which is a good sized colony. I’ve also found Barbastelles in other woods

nearby, but only in Chambers do we have a maternity colony. The habitat here is just right, being in part an old oak wood with plenty of insects to feed on and dead wood to provide roosting sites. Barbastelles are becoming increasingly rare so finding a maternity colony is cheering news.”

Bats have suffered a dramatic decline in the 20th century and are on the European Protected Species list together with otters and the dormouse.

The UK population of Barbastelles is estimated at just 5,000 individuals and because of its rarity it has its own species action plan. Listed as ‘near threatened’ on the red list of the IUCN – an international conservation agency – just five colonies were known to exist in England in 2001.

Wally Grice added: “The bat’s strange name is derived from the Latin for ‘star beard’ and refers to the delicate beard of frosted white hairs radiating from its lower lip. It has a squat face giving it a `pug-like’ appearance. The discovery of a maternity colony is of national significance.”

The initial discovery that Barbastelles were living in Chambers was made using an electronic detector which captured the unique frequency of its echo location system. That led to the Forestry Commission, Lincolnshire Bat Group and Vincent Wildlife Trust installing 100 special boxes in the woods.

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For communities in Africa, trees mean life Rebecca Miller works for the UK’s only forestry focused development charity. Here, she introduces us to TREE AID and the vital work it is doing in Africa.

For millions of families in rural Africa, trees can mean food, housing, fuel, medicines and a vital source of income. Yet, faced with hunger and uncertainty, villagers are often forced to cut down their trees to sell or use as an essential source of fuel.

As trees disappear, soil becomes eroded, leading to poor harvests and an increased likelihood of farmland floods. Families are barely able to feed their families, let alone make a living from their land. This situation is compounded by climate change hitting the poorest first and worst.

From the beginning TREE AID’s founders, a group of foresters from the UK, understood the potential of trees to significantly reduce the vulnerability of the communities in rural Africa to future drought and famine. That was in 1987.

Since then over 450,000 villagers have been supported to plant over 7 million trees, and protect millions more in the drylands of the Sahel - an area of low rainfall, frequent drought and few natural resources.

The lives of villagers have been transformed as a result of gaining knowledge in how to grow, protect and use trees sustainably, as well as learning how to market the seeds, fruits and nuts. Earning money from the things that grow on trees means villagers have the incentive to look after and plant more of them. More trees mean harvest after harvest of vital resources. More trees also mean more productive land and so more food. The extra money that the villagers earn from these tree products can pay for healthcare, schooling and food, enabling families to thrive rather than just survive.

More recently TREE AID has worked with communities to develop the idea of rural enterprise - supporting village tree enterprise groups to produce and manage 8

products with which they can develop a viable business. In partnership with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), it has worked with these communities to produce business plans as well as providing skills training and micro finance credit.

Getting businesses off the ground is never easy and TREE AID works with local partner organisations in West Africa to ensure that the village enterprise groups have the technical support, business know-how and product expertise to have the greatest chance of success. In particular TREE AID has introduced a Natural Resources team to develop the Trees for Trade programmes, designed to support groups to secure the forest resources on which their business will depend.

As part of the project, enterprise groups visit different markets to see which products sell best. This enables them to make an informed decision about which products to focus on. They are also introduced to people who know about the different trades, and are taught negotiation skills. In this way, once their enterprises are up and running, the entrepreneurs are fully equipped to access markets quickly and efficiently, thus increasing the profitability of their businesses.

Andrew Dokurugo, who works as a Project Officer in TREE AID’s West African office, explains how the Growing Tree Businesses project in Northern Ghana has progressed: ‘When we started we had to train all the trainers to work with the villagers.

Despite the time this took the villagers are all committed. The project is moving more quickly now and with the villagers’ attitude the outlook is very positive. They can see that the project is adding value to resources that are all around them. They also understand that, by protecting this resource they are protecting the future of their children. The most important thing is that the enterprises will enable them to pay for the wider social economic development of the community, such as health care, food, and education.

As a Ghanaian, I am proud to be part of something that brings such positive benefits to my countrymen and women’ Next year is the International Year of the Forest and TREE AID is launching a Tree Revolution to celebrate the amazing things trees can provide…food, shelter, the basis of sustainable enterprise, thriving communities, and a healthy environment. To read more about this and all of TREE AIDs vital work in Africa visit www.treeaid.org.uk

Tree names Local name

Common name

Latin name

Taanga

Shea

Vitellaria paradoxa

Gomiga

Gum Arabic

Acacia senegal

Roaga

African locust bean

Parkia biglobosa

Pusga

Tamarind

Tamarindus indica

Toêga

Baobab

Adansonia digitata

www.treeaid.org.uk

Boukary Lankoandé (selling Acacia senegal) who is from the village of Tanwalbougou in Burkina Faso, has been involved in one of TREE AID’s enterprise groups. Here, he explains how it works: ‘Everyone is uniting behind this project.

The planned activities completely meet our interests and will especially help us with our food shortage, farming activities and trading. It is developing our village and it will mean we can stay here. Trees are very important to our lives. Take the Taanga tree, it is now Burkina’s gold. This project will help me to grow Gomiga, Taanga, Raaga and Pusga trees for food and gum.

Of these, Gomiga is the most important for me to build up my gum Arabic trading.

I will plant a hectare of these trees and if that is a success I will plant more. I will also plant half a hectare of Pusga. I have never planted these trees before but TREE AID has linked us up with a good source of quality seed so we can raise our own seedlings. As well as benefiting from the products from these trees, they will protect my land and provide shade.

The project will also help us to manage our land better. In a previous project we were inspired by a half-hectare demonstration site that produced as much as a four-hectare field. This was due to anti-soil erosion techniques, sowing crops following the contour lines of the fields and using improved compost. These are all things we have learnt and will continue to apply. In addition, we will learn bush fire control and work with the whole village to prevent tree cutting. To begin with we will lead by example and stop cutting down trees ourselves’

Case Study: Ama Yahaya, from Kananto in Ghana (seen here with her daughter Makaram) In the poorer regions of West Africa, only 23% of children go to school (Unicef 2008). In the Sahel region where resources are scarce, families are not only unable to afford to get their children to school, they also need them to stay at home to help work the harsh and often barren landscape. The money which women receive from their tree businesses provides additional income to pay for food, especially when crops fail or in times of famine. This in turn frees up more time and the additional funds can be used to send more of their children to school.

Ama Yahaya is one such women. She lives in the small rural village of Kananto in Ghana, and has two daughters and five sons. On a typical day she wakes at 4am to start her daily chores, including collecting enough fire wood and water for the day. As well as cooking and looking after the whole family, she will spend a large proportion of the day harvesting Shea nuts from the trees which she tends when they are in season. At other times of the year she will harvest other fruits such as mangoes.

As a result of working with TREE AID, Ama is now a Shea butter enterprise group sales representative. She says ‘As many of our daily needs are from the woodland, this project is very important. It is also helping people to change the way they use forest resources and reverse the losses we have seen from the increase in population. The regular meetings of the enterprise groups have also united the village….I like the fact that it allows me to make a direct financial contribution to the development of my village. Through observing our activities, children can appreciate trees and natural resources and learn to cultivate a sense of personal responsibility.’

The beauty of tree enterprise: Villagers are able to market the fruit and leaves from the trees, as well as producing popular products such as Shea butter, which is used as a moisturiser as well as in cooking. a World of Trees Issue 24

TREE FOCUS – The Shea Tree (pictured: Salamata Bagyan from Burkina Faso and friends selling Shea nuts) The Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa) averages 15 m in height and has a thick, fire resistant bark. It is no wonder it is so highly valued by rural communities across the western Sahel as it has so many uses culturally, for domestic consumption and economically.

Shea trees rarely grow to their full height in the wild, so when cultivated it will reach its full growth and so increase income potential.

Shea butter is produced by roasting and then pounding the nuts to a paste, which is washed repeatedly until a white, fluffy, buttery consistency is achieved. This is sold for domestic and industrial consumption, primarily as a cooking fat and a moisturiser and cosmetic. It is also burnt for lighting, used as waterproofing for walls, and as a ceremonial ointment and in traditional medicines.

The leaves are used to cure stomach-aches in children, as a vapour for headaches, to cleanse the eyes and as a decongestant. The flowers can be made into edible fritters.

The ground roots provide a cure for jaundice, diarrhoea, or to treat sores on horses.

Infusions of bark treat worms in cattle and gastric problems in humans.

Collecting the Shea nuts is largely seen as the preserve of women and children and it plays a vital role in the culture of many ruralised areas. This is why it is such a special tree within TREE AID projects.

Shea Tree

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Decay Fungi

Part 2 Collybia fusipes (Spindle Shank)

ure 1)

Collybia toadstools (fig

David R Rose, Centre for Forestry & Climate Change, Forest Research

The fungus Collybia fusipes is a common component of the native oakwoods in Europe. In France it has long been regarded as a major cause of dieback and decay in oak but in Britain it was, until recently, considered to be of only limited significance. However, in the last decade in Britain, Collybia fusipes has raised its profile and is now causing significant damage to oaks in woodland and amenity settings.

This article describes the fungus and its effect on oak and attempts to answer the question about the change its behaviour.

Tufts of Collybia toadstools arou

nd an oak (figure 2)

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The fungus and is hosts The annual toadstools of this fungus are large (up to 50 mm across) with reddish brown caps, whitish gills when fresh (Figure 1). They are borne on a grooved, reddish brown stem, approximately 100 mm high and up to 12 mm thick, that tapers markedly at the base (hence the common name Spindle

a World of Trees Issue 24

Dieback of oak

Shank). With age the caps become a pale, dull tan colour and often crack, while the gills darken and gradually turn the same colour as the cap. The fungus is often confused with honey fungus, Armillaria species, but it lacks the ring on its stem just below the cap (see my previous article on honey fungus in Issue 18). They are found at the base of the affected tree or arising from the ground along root lines a little distance away from the base of the tree (Figure 2). The toadstools can appear at most times of the year (apart from midwinter) but are particularly common from August until late autumn/early winter. The toadstools remain alive for only a short time but decay slowly so it is possible to find decaying remains for some time after their first appearance.

The fungus is found mainly on oak species but can occur on sweet chestnut.

Type and severity of the decay The fungus attacks the tree via the roots and, like honey fungus, it both kills and decays the roots. Affected trees will show progressive dieback as more roots are killed and the foliage is chlorotic and sparse, resembling honey fungus root killing (Figure 3). The fungus causes a white-rot in the roots that, unlike honey

a World of Trees Issue 24

of oak due to Root failure re 4) ly Col bia (figu (figure 3)

fungus, does not extend above ground level. It can take several years following initial infection before dieback becomes apparent and several more before there is any significant decay.

It was long held that in Britain this fungus was the cause of dieback in some oaks but, as is usual with a native fungus on a native host, the effects were largely in balance with its host. Decay of the roots was believed to be limited and never led to root-plate failure so it was regarded as a low-risk problem in oaks in amenity situations. However, the last decade has seen a sharp increase in the cases of dieback and death caused by this fungus in both woodlands and amenity sites. More worryingly the number of cases of tree failure due to decayed roots has increased (Figure 4).

Thus it appears that the fungus has now not only acquired the same status as a cause of serious dieback in oak, as in France, but is also now a serious decay problem on oak.

the situation in France was previously worse than that in Britain but now it is comparable in terms of the dieback but worse in terms of decay. Climate change may well be impacting on both the host and the fungus leading to an imbalance in the previous host/pathogen relationship that now favours the pathogen. Over roughly the same period oaks have become susceptible to oak decline, both chronic and acute, and this suggests that oaks are now under some considerable stress. In a normal woodland ecosystem such stressed trees would be the ones most at risk from Collybia so it is not surprising to see the incidence of infection increasing. The increase in the decay abilities of the fungus might indicate that the behaviour of the fungus has also changed. If this proves to be the case, and can be linked to climate change, then this has implications for other pathogens currently showing low activity on their hosts.

What are the causes of this change?

The short answer is that we do not know. There are a number of theories but all lack good evidence to support them. The most intriguing theory is that the change in pathogenicity is linked to climate change. In support of this,

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The Dormouse

released dormouse’s micro chip being read

The hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) is an attractive creature with golden fur, large black eyes and a furry tail.

Native to Britain and historically widespread throughout England and Wales, it is now rare and vulnerable to extinction in the UK. It is essentially a woodland creature, living in the canopy and finding food mainly in the undergrowth in summer and hibernating on the forest floor in winter. In summer, dormice make distinctive grapefruit-sized nests from woven strips of honeysuckle in which to rear their young.

Dormice rely on a wide range of foods that vary seasonally according to availability. In early spring after waking from hibernation, they feed on flowers such as hawthorn and willow and later on honeysuckle or bramble flowers. In summer, after flowering finishes and before the fruit and nuts ripen, dormice feed on invertebrates such as caterpillars and aphids. Oak and sycamore can be useful trees for dormice as they support large quantities of insects. Bramble is valuable in autumn when dormice feed on the abundant blackberries. They also eat a range of fruits and seeds, ash keys, yew berries, sweet chestnuts and hazel nuts.

Dormice are nocturnal, alternating bursts of activity with periods of rest.

Breeding males live alone, whilst females

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All images copyright Paul Manchester

volunteers, project partners and release

and non-breeding males are often found nesting together outside the breeding season. Sometimes the same male and female will live together in successive years. Dormice weave spherical summer nests from shredded plant material (often honeysuckle bark) and will regularly use green leaves as an outer layer. Nests are often sited in tree holes and dormice will also make use of the existing nests of other mammals or birds. Later in the season nests may be found in bramble and in the tops of hedges. Dormice are mainly arboreal in the summer, preferring not to cross open ground.

The old English name for the dormouse is ‘sleeper’. They usually go into hibernation when the first frosts arrive in October or November and are not active again until April or May. Unlike summer nests, the hibernation nest is built near or on the ground and the animal curls up into a ball and goes to sleep. Hibernating dormice let their body temperature drop to that of their surroundings and their heart and breathing rate are often reduced by 90% or more.

Over the last century their distribution has shrunk due to loss of their woodland habitats, a decline in the use of traditional coppicing methods and the fact that unlike other small mammals they find it harder to recover their numbers quickly as they are slow to breed, tending to only have one litter a year. There has also been a 64% decline of dormouse occurrence

in hedgerows since the late 1970s, equating to a red alert decline of 70% over 25 years. The dormouse became extinct in at least seven counties where it was reported to be present a century ago and, even where it survives today, populations have declined as woodland and hedgerows have been lost to arable production. The reduction in traditional woodland management such as coppicing affects food availability and the poor management and removal of hedgerows leads to the isolation and fragmentation of populations. The long, historic, decline of the dormouse continues today but encouragingly our annual monitoring shows that the decline is slowing.

The dormouse is a high-profile flagship species for conservation - its demanding habitat requirements make it an excellent indicator of woodland biodiversity. Managing habitat for dormice improves the general species richness of an area, benefiting plants, birds and invertebrates. Dormice thrive in coppiced hazel woodland, a type of woodland management that has been in decline over the last few decades due to lack of demand for coppice products. Coppicing the trees allows light to the woodland floor promoting wildflower growth which in turn attracts butterflies, bees and birds.

In addition to monitoring existing dormouse populations, over the past 20 years there has been an effort to return the dormouse to some of the counties

a World of Trees Issue 24

least 20 hectares in size, with dense shrubby habitat and good hedgerow connections to nearby woodlands.

It needs to be in a county in which dormice are either extinct or exist in very few locations and it needs to be surveyed to ensure that it does not have an existing dormouse population.

In addition the woodland manager and owner need to be enthusiastic about the release of dormice in their wood and prepared to undertake woodland management to ensure the long term survival of the released population.

In June, large cages are secured to trees in the selected wood and dormice are released into these cages in nest boxes usually one male and one female, though sometimes a male is paired with two females. A team of volunteers regularly check the cages and provide food and water for the dormice whilst they get use to the sounds and smells of their new wood from the security of the release cages.

After two weeks small openings are made in the cages and the dormice are free to leave and explore their new home. The volunteers continue to visit the cages to provide food until such time that it is no longer required.

Usually young dormice will be born at the new site early in the first season and will be able to put on enough fat to enable Page 1 them to survive their winter

Hazel Dormouse

The Dormouse

from which it has been lost. The first reintroduction took place in 1993 in a woodland in Cambridgeshire.

This population has been continually monitored since the release and has now spread throughout the wood.

The dormice that are released are bred by members of the Common Dormouse Captive Breeders Group which consists of both individuals and larger organisations such as Paignton Zoo in Devon and Wildwood in Kent.

Female dormice can be used as breeding stock for at least two seasons and new dormice are regularly brought into the programme to maintain genetic diversity. These are obtained either from animal sanctuaries, where members of the public have rescued dormice, or from the monitoring programme, where young, underweight dormice that would not survive a winter, are removed from the wild into captivity, to give them a chance of survival. In spring young dormice are sent to London and Paignton Zoo to begin a period of quarantine to ensure that when the animals are released into the wild they are not carrying any pathogens that could affect their survival or infect other species.

One of the hardest parts of the reintroduction programme is to find suitable woodlands in which to release the dormice. A wood needs to be at Nov2010-HalfPage 10/11/10 12:22

hibernation.

Since the first reintroduction was undertaken in 1993, 16 further reintroductions have taken place in 11 counties. Unfortunately the releases at three of these sites have not been successful, probably due to inappropriate or insufficient woodland management. Dormice have survived at eight of the sites and have dispersed throughout the woodland in which they were released. At six sites however the dormice have not only dispersed throughout the wood but they are now starting to move out of the woodland into the wider countryside. These are the current successes of a programme that was set up to restore dormice to their former native range in Britain.

Nida Al Fulaij and Ian White both from People’s Trust for Endangered Species.

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13

NO JOB TOO BIG (or too small)

by Jamie Saunders, Trojan Tree Care 14

a World of Trees Issue 24

In early July, I was in my office and finding it difficult to get motivated for the day’s work. It was my first day back after a two week break in Florida and it’s always the same for me after a holiday, a good two days before I’m back up to speed. On this occasion though, my interest was soon pricked whilst working through a backlog of emails.

I noticed one from Andy Poynter, a respected arboricultural consultant at well known Quaife woodlands whom we have worked with in the past.

It was an invite to tender for this job and I recognised the trees in the attached images immediately having driven past them many times before on the way into London from our base in Kent. In fact I had once pondered just how I would go about working on them if I ever got the chance and knew it would be a technical job. The email invited me to attend a site meeting set for three days later along with 4 other Arboricultural Association approved contractors, the consultant, the appointing engineer and two TFL (Transport for London) representatives.

I had a rough idea of who the other contractors would be and looked forward to going head to head on this one!

The job was to remove and grind out the stumps of seven mature London Plane trees from a school playground. The trees were growing right up against an 8 ft high listed red brick wall and were beginning to push it over. After the trees removal the Engineering firm would stabilise the wall, another firm would re-plant four large Planes further into the playground and the whole playground would finally be resurfaced. The difficulties were firstly the schedule, in that the job had to be started just three weeks later at the start of August which would mean adjusting a World of Trees Issue 24

our diary to fit it in. once started , It would have to be done quickly with no room for delays as the entire operation from tree removal, wall stabilisation, re-planting to final resurfacing had to be done within a 10 day window.

The other difficulties were that the trees were hanging over the busy red route A2 which is one of the main routes into south east London and if that wasn’t enough, there was also a pedestrian crossing directly beneath them.

The site meeting went well enough although neither the TFL reps or the main engineering contractor were that familiar with tree work and were understandably a little uneasy when the use of cranes was brought up. I suppose from their point of view, men, chainsaws and 3 tonne logs dangling over one of the busiest roads in London equated to nothing more than a potential disaster on their watch!

Consequently, the feedback from TFL was that the winning contractor would have to do everything by their book with a traffic order costing over 2k to work on the road and provide an alternative footpath for pedestrians. There were also doubts as to whether the traffic order could be raised in time for the beginning of august.

This time frame meant the quote had to be back within a week along with the method statement and risk assessment. If we won the work, we would also need to provide TFL with a separate set of RAMS for pedestrian and traffic management and have a further meeting with them to finalise the arrangements. I have to admit that after the initial enthusiasm for the job died down, the extra work involved in this tender caused me to build up some resistance to actually getting it completed.

It’s much easier to keep filling the diary with the straight forward stuff. Each time I sat down to get it done, some small issue or task would strangely appear more

pressing than it had before and I started to ask myself whether I really needed the extra hassle involved as we were busy anyway, whether I might be risking my reputation as this was by no means run of the mill, and had greater scope for something to go wrong. If it did, you know what this industry is like, word would be around before the climber was out of the tree! In the end, I decided I would make double sure it went well and this could then only enhance my reputation with all parties involved.

I got the tender out and needless to say, won the work. Interestingly, I found out later that 3 of the original 5 AA approved contractors invited had declined to tender for the work. Perhaps they had similar concerns!

I decided the best way was to do it on a Sunday to minimise traffic disruption and using a crane parked inside the school play ground meant we could get all the trees safely on the floor in one day. The following 2 days would see the clearing away of the timber and grinding the stumps. Thankfully, TFL were happy with my RAMS for traffic and pedestrian management and on that basis neither a traffic order nor any further meetings were ultimately required.

We use Beck & Pollitzer on a contract lift basis for crane work. They are local to us and have some really good drivers who are very experienced in tree work which is important.

There was myself and five of my men on that first day plus the crane driver and his banks man. We laid out our own traffic management along four approaches to the site and when the climber was ready for each lift, two grounds men would temporarily close the footpath directly beneath the site with steel barriers and then stop the traffic with stop & go boards. My job was to keep back the 15

NO JOB TOO BIG odd determined pedestrian insistent on exercising their right to walk through to site regardless of the obvious danger!

The section would be cut and lifted back over the playground whereupon the traffic and pedestrians were allowed to continue. I would then go round into the playground and help the other two grounds men clean off and chip the growth (You will notice from the images that the trees had been pollarded just a year or so previously) and stack the timber. We continued like this all day until all the trees were down.

After getting in to the yard at 5.30am and not leaving it until 6.30pm it had been a long day but it was a successful day and a perfect summers evening to boot which made the pint in the local pub beer garden afterwards taste all the better!

The next day was Monday and it was now a straight forward job of sending two guys to help my friend and owner of MS plant Haulage load up his 26 tonne hiab lorry with the timber sections which were taken back to our yard for recycling. In the end he removed three full lorry loads from site as well as two of our smaller truck loads of noggins and off cuts. Tuesday saw Jonathan Vartan come in with his superb Rayco RG80 stump grinder which made short work of the stumps and that was it. The stump grindings were piled over the pits for later removal by grab lorries during the resurfacing work, a final sweep and blow up and it was all over, another tricky job successfully completed on time and on budget.

I started Trojan Tree Care back in 2000 in what to me seems like a lifetime ago, but until 2005 when I got married it was just me and a groundie doing a few private jobs with a bit of sub-contract climbing here and there. With new found responsibilities and not being the most natural of climbers, I soon realised I was not going to earn the money that top climbers did and had to find another way.

I knuckled down and started to run the business as a business and not just as a means to get by.

16

(or too small)

With a lot of sacrifice, hard work, risk and some luck, the business has grown well and we achieved AA approved contractor status along with CHAS in late 2008. Despite the recession, we only dipped around 10% in terms of annual turnover due to a renewed focus on finding new business rather than just relying on existing clients and advertising.

Things have picked up a lot now but one thing I learned from the recession is not to rest on my laurels when I feel busy as it can all change so quickly. I am now constantly looking for new ways to grow the business and to that end the company has recently undergone successful assessment by Tree Care Approved who are the only body currently able to award the Government endorsed Trustmark scheme approved status to the Arboricultural industry.

Its focus is predominantly the domestic market which apart from the traditional & very expensive Yell/ Thompson advertising, is hard to make real inroads into due to it’s fundamentally fragmented make up. Being AA approved we already had our systems & processes up to scratch but Tree care approved do work with companies to bring things up to their standard.

It’s early days yet but the signs are good and with work coming in already, it was well worth the money.

a World of Trees Issue 24

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17

Why Do We Prune Trees?

By: Saul Heath

An ancient Oak Tree stands alone on a slight incline in the corner of a farmer’s field. Its huge crown sways in the autumn wind shedding leaves as it does so; covering the ground in a blanket of gold and brown. In these surroundings of rolling fields this magnificent tree dominates the landscape today has it has done for the past hundred years or so. Untouched by man with not a pruning cut in sight it stands as testimony to the wonder of nature.

Its architectural structure, shape and form contribute to its strength and ability to outgrow and outlive other lesser organisms.

But what would happen if somebody wanted to build a Fresco supermarket on the farmer’s field beside this great Oak. Would the tree be allowed to remain in its current untouched form? Or would she have her first encounter with 18

a chainsaw?

In this article I briefly discuss why trees in the built environments frequently require pruning when human intervention is not required in nature.

Trees survive as long as they have energy, space to grow, proper concentrations of water and essential elements, proper temperatures, enough time and the genetic capacity to compartmentalize effectively and adapt to adverse conditions.

Left to nature in the right environmental circumstances a tree will grow, compete for light, nutrients and water, reach maturity, re-produce, age to a genetically programmed point and then decline. During this existence many external factors will inevitably have influenced its shape and form.

Competition for light with other trees or a prevailing wind may have given the tree an un-balanced “flagging” form.

Branches may have been lost to strong winds or lightning strikes. A natural abortion of limbs caused by lack of light, physical damage or to compensate for low energy budgets may have occurred.

So what happened to all of those fallen branches?

No one got hurt! There were no cars in the woods and forests, no houses, no people and so no one noticed.

The life cycle of trees play major roles within the ecosystems they represent. From a seedling to complete demise and decomposition, symbiotically or competitively they play host to countless organisms.

In nature everything is recycled, when a branch or stem falls to the ground in the forest its final breakdown begins. Micro-Organisms inhabiting the forest floor feed on the nutrient components contained in the wood.

Decaying fungi invade and slowly reduce a World of Trees Issue 24

It may be that an unsuitable specimen was planted in an unsuitable location and has outgrown its niche. Or perhaps the tree has always been there and the developers have built too close.

Or as is often the case trees are planted with the acceptance that pruning will be required at a later stage.

Utility companies have a big stake in the space competition. Above and below ground services dominate our environments, from telephone to television, electricity and gas; all in regular contact with trees. Roots as well as shoots are affected by this co-existence.

Structural damage caused by external factors to a tree growing in close proximity to the public often results in the need for some form of remedial pruning.

Street trees often suffer from the affects of careless damage caused by motorists. With restricted parking in our towns and cities some drivers find it all too convenient to mount the kerbs with no thought for the limbs of a tree.

This often results in broken and twisted branches, perhaps not completely sheered but damaged in such a way that they become a danger to the public.

Construction work involving heavy machinery can have the same affects on unprotected trees.

A diseased tree growing in an urban environment can become a hazard to the public and structures in close proximity.

Pruning out a diseased section of the tree may prolong its existence and reduce the risk of damage to the public or property from falling branches. A dramatic crown reduction will reduce overall wind-sail on the structure, in turn reducing the risk of wind-throw or stem failure.

The damaging affects of the climate to a tree growing in competition with man often leads to the need for pruning.

Lightning strikes, strong winds and snow lying on lateral branches can result in severed and broken limbs.

Climate change in the UK has given us the opportunity to grow exotic species not native to our shores. This can have devastating effects when four inches of snow accumulates on the branch of a tree that is more at home on the banks of the Mediterranean.

Compensation: In a society rapidly leaning towards a North American influenced litigation culture we are increasingly subjected to barmy health and safety regimes. This has led to the mass culling and heavy handed pruning of perfectly healthy trees in recent years.

There is a duty of care with individual land owners to maintain and make safe any trees growing on their property.

The premiums demanded by insurance companies often leads to land owners; including Local Authorities making great efforts to minimise the risk of damage to the public and property from falling branches.

Pruning can therefore become essential to the viability of a tree growing in a built environment, although not necessarily the most economical way to deal with the situation. And all too often we are seeing how the restraints on “Landowners” budgets can lead to removal rather than considerate maintenance of our tree stock.

As part of his CPD Saul wrote this piece whilst studying towards a FdSc in Arboriculture at Myerscough College.

He completed the Tree Surgery Course at Plumpton gaining CS units-30, 31, 38 & 39 in 2005 and in 2009 passed the Lantra/AA Professional Tree Inspection course. He is now looking to find a consultancy based position. If you can help Saul with his career move/ advancement please email him direct saul.heath@tiscali.co.uk

the tissues by enzymically digesting the tougher lignified parts. Eventually all the nutrients stored up in the wood are released and returned to the soil matrix, where they become available for new plant growth. And so the life cycle continues.

So Why Do We Interfere With Nature?

Competition: Trees in the built environment often require frequent pruning, one of the main factors which dictates this requirement is competition.

Wrong tree wrong location, wrong tree wrong climate are factors influenced by competition. In nature these factors would have little significance.

Light and space, something we all need, but so do trees and when their need encroaches on ours they become a problem or “legal nuisance” and a competition for these resources begins. a World of Trees Issue 24

19

From plough to perpetual trees

Fordham Hall Estate - a colourful renaissance landscape Centuries of intensive arable farming at Fordham Hall Estate came to an end in 2002, and the 505-acre site, wrapping around a village of 900 people, today stands as a renaissance tree-rich landscape populated by otter, barn owl and now endangered water voles.

Like a phoenix rising from previously ploughed land, Fordham boasts new native woodland with a quarter of a million new trees from crab apple to oak, wild flower meadows on its 200 acres of grassland and 2.1km of wildlife-friendly river bank along the picturesque River Colne.

Nature is back to such good effect that part of the site, the meadow adjoining the water vole release site, was granted county wildlife status in 2009.

The first trees went into the ground in 2003, and parts of the new broadleaf forest now tower above walkers.

Fordham’s wildflower meadows benefitted spectacularly from hay spread from a local flower meadow, introducing cowslips, yellow rattle, red and white clover; an ‘artist’s palette’ of colours humming with bees and nectar seeking insects. Regionally uncommon southern marshland orchid, broomrape and yellow-wort have also appeared.

Bats abound, encouraged by bat boxes , with pipistrelle, daubenton and barbastelles Fordham Hall architect Geoff Sinclair

20

drawn by the insect life associated with grassland and young trees.

Barn owls, unseen previously in the locality, have colonised. Specially designed nest boxes brought another, unexpected, inhabitant - kestrels - which have nested in ‘attic’ areas of the boxes at the same time as barn owls and try to mob the owls when they come back with their voles.

Otters are back on the river corridor, with the stretch flowing past Fordham re-profiled to help wildlife, including fish, with gentle slopes and restoration of old river meanders to create temporary islands being planned for in the near future.

An artificial holt installed in 2006 was inhabited within six weeks, and there is now a stable population of otters with breeding females along the river corridor. They have colonised naturally from the Suffolk/Essex border.

Much of Fordham Hall’s renaissance is down to one man’s vision – Geoff Sinclair, Woodland Trust site manager , who was largely responsible for designing an effective eco-system.

“This has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we had to think hard about how the site would work for wildlife, the Wildflower meadows are part of Fordham’s charm

‘Ratty’; on his way back to a classic Wind In The Willows setting at Fordham

environment and people. Planting trees was an integral part of, a challenge to design a three-dimensional landscape stretching as far as the eye can see.”

Public meetings with the people whose lives the Trust site would affect were crucial, he confirmed. “We had to think how people would use this new accessible woodland site on their doorstep. After all it wraps right round the village.”

“It’s an incredible example of how if you provide the habitat, nature is not far behind.”

Fordham attracts visitors from near and far to walk its paths

a World of Trees Issue 24

dot ation posts e Grove dedic ap sc nd la forested Fordham’s

Geoff Sincl air with orig inal timbers taken from the London Docks

Geoff Sinclair and Countryfile presenter Katie Knapman filming at Fordham Hall Estate

Escape to the County Countryfile TV cameras captured the day that hundreds of endangered water voles were re-homed from the UK’s new deep sea container port at Thurrock to the peaceful riverbanks of the River Colne where it winds through Fordham Hall Estate.

Presenter Katie Knapman was on hand to witness the end of their 50 mile journey from DP World’s London Gateway site - part of one of the largest scale wildlife translocations in the UK. Essex has lost 90 percent of its water voles, popularised by ‘Ratty’ in Wind in the Willows and once a familiar sight and sound as they dived into the water from their

a World of Trees Issue 24

Countryfile filming bankside holes.

For Geoff Sinclair, site manager, the water vole re-introduction is further proof of new woodland’s value as wildlife habitat, following re-colonisation of otters on the same stretch of water.

“Thirty years ago voles would have been common on this stretch of the river and it’s marvellous to see them back,” he said.

Trapping water voles started in March 2010 under licence from Natural England, with voles weighed, sexed, and placed in holding cages with bedding and food before

vole release at Fo

rdham

being transported to temporary homes, including the Wildwood wildlife sanctuary in Kent.

Marcus Pearson, DP World, environmental manager, said: “This is what ecological conservation is all about, we have worked in partnership with the Woodland Trust and Essex Wildlife Trust and to identify and prepare a fantastic site for the translocation of more than 300 water voles to one of the most picturesque and diverse river systems in Essex.

21

Powered up for tree work

Safe, quick and efficient, the modern MEWP (mobile elevating work platform) is taking some of the physical risk and exertion out of arborism, but not the skill and satisfaction. In the first of two features, Steve Hadfield looks at how these increasingly sophisticated machines fit into the arborist’s workplace.

You won’t build muscles using a MEWP, but a powered platform will be first choice over tree climbing in a risk assessment for tackling work at height. As with any industry that predominantly plies its trade off the ground, reducing the risks of working at height is a pivotal responsibility of the arboriculture sector.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show that around 16 per cent of all reported tree work accidents involve a fall from height, and between a half and two-thirds of accidents in the sector happen to untrained arborists.

More recently in the tree sector, the HSE has been working to raise awareness that responsibility for the health and safety of arborist work is not confined to the arboricultural contractor. It is actively targeting its health and safety message to asset owners with trees on their land and the clients purchasing arboricultural services - local authorities, national bodies such as the National Trust and English Heritage, government departments and agencies like the Forestry Commission, private estates, universities, hospitals.

There is certainly no lack of health and safety regulations to guide us to making safe choices when it comes to planning and implementing ‘work at height’.

Those carrying out tree work will find relevant advice on lifting loads (including people) and working at height in a number of regulations, principally The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) 1998 and Work at Height Regulations (WAHR) 2005.

WAHR applies to all work at height where there is a risk of a fall that is likely to result in personal injury. LOLER covers lifting (lowering) operations in a broader sense and the equipment employed. The latter is especially relevant to arborist work which uses tree harness systems and chainsaws in addition to access equipment to raise workers and tools to height.

Both regulations highlight the importance of a number of common elements in preparing for lifting/work at height. Most notable are the need for thorough risk assessment and planning; ensuring workers are trained and competent in the use of equipment; and implementing reliable regimes of equipment maintenance and inspection.

The risk assessment will seek to reduce, if not eliminate, the risk of a person falling.

It might identify that a task can be achieved 22

A MEWP is great for work too difficult to tackle by climbing.

Courtesy of MBS Tracked Access.

from the ground, for example, the pruning of low-level branches using long reach cutters. But if work at height cannot be avoided, the use of a MEWP will be preferred to rope access ‘where ground conditions allow and where reasonably practicable’, as LOLER states.

The HSE leaflet “Mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) for tree work” provides an excellent, step-by-step guide to the principles of safe use of powered platforms. However, the user also needs to appreciate the finer differences between MEWPs in order to match the best one to a given job and maximise productivity.

Approach

Ground conditions on the approach to, and at the worksite will be a key consideration.

A platform that runs on Caterpillar-style tracks will be advantageous, if not essential, for a large proportion of arborist work. A crawler chassis generates better traction over grass, sand, gravel, soil and muddy terrain compared to a wheeled machine which may also ‘ground’ on steeper slopes and undulations.

By dispersing load, the crawler belt reduces ground bearing pressure and provides cushioned contact with the ground to reduce machine impact on lawns, delicate surfaces and even tracking through crop fields for work on power lines. Low surface loads will also avoid harmful compaction of fibrous root systems, a vital feature for TPO (tree preservation order) work and sites of scientific interest.

Wheeled platforms will need to run on substantial protective bases to protect turf, gravel, synthetic flooring or paving from the potentially damaging impact of the point loads they exert. If the sand and cement bedding under slabs, pavers or cobbles has been eroded in any way, wheel loads may also break these.

Surface loading problems will be exacerbated by higher working height, and therefore heavier MEWPS. Larger boom platforms are often used by arborists not for their extra height, but for the extra outreach they offer. Seek advice on machine weight, surface and concentrated loads as these can vary significantly between different makes of platform.

Check for tight points along the approach route – narrow gates, apertures, bordered pathways, alleyways – and ensure that the travel dimensions (including stowed height) of the MEWP will pass through. Some platforms are slim enough to pass through a single width a World of Trees Issue 24

Outreach is crucial when negotiating obstructions and working in challenging conditions, including close to water.

doorway. And some tracked spider lifts will be able to take steps in their stride as well.

Set-up

Again, ground conditions at set-up locations will need careful assessment.

WAHR also includes advice on this in ‘Condition of surfaces’ (Schedule 3, Regulation 8(b), Part 1). Here it stipulates that the surface should be stable, and of sufficient strength and of suitable composition to safely support the working platform, any supporting structure it uses and the platform loading.

Boards and matting may need to be laid to protect show lawns, special sports surfaces or yielding ground from the impact of staging the chassis and putting down stabilisers.

The levelling capabilities of the platform will dictate how much flexibility there will be to stage the chassis in the most productive locations, reducing the need to reposition and minimising downtime.

The outreach of a boom platform also has a major bearing on this. The more generous the outreach, the more scope there will be to establish a work position that overcomes problematic ground conditions while being within striking distance of the target tree.

Careful staging of the platform within its technical tolerances is very important to avoid the possibility of over-turning. Stabilisers and outriggers must be placed on suitable bearers, for instance.

Modern platforms have very robust alarm, cut-out and failsafe systems confining operation within safe parameters. Operator training and thorough induction on the use of different platform models as they are encountered plays an important part. Understanding both the limitations and capabilities of a platform ensures safe, snag-free use and maximises work efficiency.

Decisions on staging the platform should also account for the setting out of the target area for shedding or lowering debris.

Outreach

Platforms with good outreach can be offset some distance from the tree, so that the chassis helps to shield the target area from personnel on the ground or people passing by if in public a World of Trees Issue 24

grounds. With the work basket offset from the chassis, the potential for debris to hit the machine is also significantly reduced. But care must be taken to ensure the tailswing does not pose risks to pedestrians or road traffic. This problem is avoided with spider lifts where the base of the boom remains within the machine footprint.

Good outreach is arguably the biggest asset for tree work.

Frequently, outreach will be relied upon to negotiate intervening structures – shrubs, hedges, walls, watercourses, sheds, canopies, benches, tables, statues, gravestones, and so on.

A survey of the work site will reveal the potential hazards and obstacles that will dictate the kind of outreach required, in addition to the depth of penetration into the tree canopy to actually carry out the work.

Outreach assessment is all the more critical on jobs in remote places, such as powerline work, where the platform may need to be moved some distance over difficult terrain to the worksite.

Outreach may need to solve other site criteria, such as keeping debris clear of substation compounds. You will not want to arrive on site to find platform outreach is insufficient to do the job properly, especially for rail and utility work that may need to be completed within limited possession.

On some boom lifts, platform capacity may be restricted when using the outer portion of outreach. This is likely to limit the working envelope of the machine with two people in the basket, necessitating more frequent repositioning of the chassis to complete tasks.

Load sensors and alarm systems on some platforms will lock out the machine when load and outreach are at safe working limits. This peppers work-rate with frustrating interruptions and sometimes long delays if the operative is unsure of how to reset the machine.

Platform hire with an operator may be more expensive, but it usually pays dividends. An operator experienced in tree work will know exactly where to stage the platform to sustain the greatest efficiency. ‘Hire with operator’ is definitely worth considering for day or short-term jobs when the arborist does not want to be hampered by the learning curve of using what

A full telescoping boom will speed up the progress of a take-down.

may be an unfamiliar machine.

Boom configuration

Boom configuration is important for different types of work and tree species.

An element of boom articulation, or ‘knuckle’, is required for tasks such as dead wooding, cable bracing and crown work – lifting, thinning, pollarding, cleaning, crown reduction – where the platform needs to gain fine positioning around, under, over and into the canopy.

For taller trees with wider canopies, such as sycamores and horse chestnuts, a telescoping lower boom and articulating upper boom is an ideal combination. The telescoping element boosts cycle time of vertical movement while the articulation provides weaving agility around foliage and a greater envelope of lateral positioning.

Always ensure that the working envelope of a MEWP will provide sufficient range to tackle the extremes of a job without heavy reliance on repositioning. For safety, the basket must always be positioned at or above the level of a cut, so a flexible boom will deter the tendency to neglect this rule or overreach with the chainsaw.

A full telescoping boom, which gives fast, direct elevation, is perfect for take-downs. For this, the platform takes a fairly simple path to work up one side then the other side of the tree with no real need for intricate positioning.

MEWPs bring great productivity to work on many tree varieties, such as pollarding or take-downs of Lombardy poplars which are tall and not easy to climb. Where traditionally three operatives may have been allocated to branch skinning on this type of job, it will take just two on a platform to complete it, and much quicker.

MEWPs are also ideal for jobs requiring coronet or conservation cuts. These simulate the jagged effect of a natural break in a branch, sustaining woodland organisms better than conventional straight cuts and producing a natural aesthetic preferred for work on heritage trees.

Conservation cuts involve more chainsaw manipulation and it takes time to achieve the required ‘organic’ finish, making it a task best tackled from a platform rather than on ropes.

There are still some jobs that are beyond the scope of current MEWP technology. For example, a platform will not be able to penetrate deep into 23

Powered up for tree work

Check platform weight to see if it can be towed by a regular vehicle, as this will be a bonus.

the dense crown of a tree for deadwooding. But platform design is evolving all the time, so watch this space!

The towing weight of a MEWP should also be checked, as the transport weight of machines with around the same working height can vary quite significantly. It will always be advantageous if the MEWP can be towed with a more conventional vehicle such as a van or Landrover that do not require drivers with special licences.

Confidence

Ironically, for professionals used to exposure to heights, time may be needed to gain confidence on a platform and in the dynamics of the engineering. Booms at full outreach working in wind can exhibit a varying degree of movement; this is completely safe but sometimes unnerving for the uninitiated. Some arborists feel more secure strapped to the tree until they acclimatise to the aerial characteristics of an access platform.

The higher specification platform should generally offer better stability, supporting the fine, controlled movement especially critical for precision work, tasks on delicate foliage or when working close to fragile surfaces.

Of course, once nerves are conquered, tree work on a platform is much safer, far less tiring, and supports a level of work quality and output that some arborists even find addictive.

Faced with the prospect of climbing a big and risky old tree, a MEWP nowadays is the arborist’s best friend.

While there is great satisfaction in mastering the physical challenge of climbing a tree, the effort and concentration sapped in navigating

24

Make sure the MEWP you choose can cope with ground conditions on the approach to the worksite.

around branches on ropes will gradually effect work-rate and potentially quality.

It takes time to climb a tree, so once up, an arborist may be inclined to skip lunch and work on to avoid the time and effort lost in descending for a break and returning.

Particularly in hot weather, working conditions for climbers can be very difficult.

Wearing goggles, full protective gear and with a chainsaw to carry, work can be hot, sticky, dehydrating and uncomfortable. With a MEWP, the arborist can descend very quickly to take proper breaks and conserve energy to sustain work quality and productivity to the end of the day.

Manpower

MEWPs offer a big advantage when it comes to allocating manpower to tree work. An arborist using rope access will need to have a second climber on the ground who can scale the tree to carry out a rescue should there be an emergency. In contrast, an arborist on a platform will only need assistance from personnel on the ground who will be able to operate the lift from the chassis controls and bring the injured person down. The rescue will also be much speedier with a platform which could be vital if the worker is suffering heavy bleeding from a cut.

Some reservations still remain about MEWPs within the arboriculture world. There is a concern that novices can be exposed to work beyond their skill level. An inexperienced chainsaw user may be put into the high part of a tree to work on the crown when they may not even have mastered more basic tasks at lower levels. As with the allocation of any work equipment, this

A combination of telescoping and articulating boom provides the aerial agility demanded in arboriculture.

requires employers to make a fair and safe judgment on what trainees are capable of when working on a platform.

While care must be taken that novices are not taking on ‘too much, too soon’ from a platform, the MEWP is playing a valuable part in extending the career of older arborists.

Scaling trees inevitably takes its toll, but platforms offer a new lease of life for arborists feeling the wear and tear of full-time climbing.

MEWPs give employers the means of retaining the valuable knowledge of experienced tree workers who might otherwise leave for a change of career.

From 2010, the HSE declared that its vision for the future is ‘to gain recognition of health and safety as a cornerstone of a civilised society’. The increasingly integral use of MEWPs for tree work is a sign that the arboriculture world is already working well towards this goal.

In a profession where expertise is built on experience, the MEWP is helping to sustain the know-how of the seasoned arborist at the ‘work-face’ longer while safely nurturing the skills of new generations of tree practitioners.

Steve Hadfield is MD of Chesterfieldbased Ranger Equipment, specialists in premium access including Teupen tracked Spiderlifts®. www.rangergroup.co.uk Tel: 0870 2255554 With thanks to Rob Forrester of Forrester Access and Martyn Bass of MBS Tracked Access for their cooperation with this article.

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a World of Trees Issue 24

w w w. r a n g e r g r o u p . c o . u k 25

The Arboreal Legacy of The Duke of Sully

An exploration of trees in rural France

By Terry Brown

The enormous and healthy tree at Olby (Puy-de-Dome).

It all began when, by chance, we came across a commemorative lime tree in Riverie, Rhône Department, France. During the Wars of Religion (1562-98) this tiny Protestant village had been attacked by a force from nearby, and much larger, Lyon. All the village males, including infants, were massacred. Today this appalling event is remembered by a street named Rue des Morts and by a 400-year-old lime tree, planted by the church. The tree was planted on the suggestion of the (Protestant) Duke of Sully (1560-1641), Henri 1V’s First Minister, as a symbol of reconciliation and hope for the future. Sadly, this tree has since died and only a stump remains.

At the time I thought this was 26

just a one-off, but in subsequent years I discovered more in my travels round France. I found another lime tree in St-Maurice-en-Valgaudemar (Hautes-Alpes) which had been planted to celebrate the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes (1598) which granted certain rights to Huguenots and marked the end of the Religious Wars, at least for the time being. Next, I found another lime tree in St-Martin-en-Vercors, planted by Sully to celebrate the industrial success of the village.

All this set me thinking but where to look? Historians deal with much weightier matters than trees so I searched through old guide books. I found several references to trees known as “Sully’s Trees”, including a reference to an elm tree in Vernou-sur-Brenne (Indre-et-Loire)

which Frederic Lees, writing in 1909, said was one of many planted to celebrate the Edict of Nantes. A chance reading of a novel* based on the true story of Victor, the wild child who had been living rough near St-Sernin-sur-Rance (Aveyron) in the eighteenth century, led me to contact the archivist of the National Institute for Deaf Children in Paris. She confirmed that in the courtyard had been a huge elm tree which had been cut down in 1903. These are just examples of finds which gradually convinced me the subject had to be investigated.

The Duke of Sully was Lord High Pretty Well Everything in Henri 1V’s government and also his great friend.

Together they gave France 20 years of much-needed peace between 1590 and 1610. The Duke’s legacy is found all over France today in building developments, roads, and particularly in the world of trees. It was he who started the tradition of planting trees, especially poplars, alongside roads; they were nicknamed “Rosnys“ as Sully was also Baron of Rosny. As late as the time of Napoleon, workmen engaged in pollarding these trees joked about turning a Rosny into a … and here they put in the name of any well-known person guillotined during the Revolution. He halted the deforestation of France which had been going on ruthlessly, and ordered the planting of whole new forests.

But had he also been responsible for the planting of memorial trees in village communities? It would certainly have been in character. Sully was infamous for being parsimonious with public money and trees make cheap memorials. I contacted people I knew in Sully-sur-Loire which is the town twinned with Bradford on Avon where I live. But this produced no information about the existence of such trees.

I turned to the internet and found several sites which listed remarkable trees in France. One in particular listed a World of Trees Issue 24

The tree at Prévencheres (Lozere) which has been split in two by lightning.

about 70 trees known as “Sully’s Trees” - Cartoliste des arbres remarquables Francais (www.max.buvry.free.fr/ cartoarbres.html). Other sites offered more. Of course there was much overlap but I compiled a list of more than a hundred communities which have - or had - a tree directly linked with the Duke of Sully. The surviving trees are mostly limes, a tree symbolic of calm, peace and longevity. Others, however, were elms.

Elm wood was used for gun carriages.

Most of the elms have, of course, died.

Some authorities claim that Sully ordered the planting of a tree in every community as a kind of meeting point for industrial matters. This may be the case, though it is difficult to see how such a policy could have been enforced, given the state of communications at that time.

Much mystery surrounds these trees but I think we can safely surmise the following.

1. These trees were planted as individual trees on their own.

2. They were planted in places of importance and significance to the community, usually by the church but also, for example, where an important market took place.

3. They were planted on the orders of the Duc de Sully. Some plaques state this as a fact. But they are all called after the Duke, not Henri 1V, even when the tree commemorates the passage of Henri (Olby).

4. Many were planted for a specific reason, maybe more than one. These reasons haven’t all survived, but I have found the following. a To celebrate the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes. b To symbolise reconciliation and hope for the future. c To remember the passing of Henri IV through the village. d To celebrate industrial success. e To celebrate the birth of Henri’s heir. f To celebrate the annexation of a a World of Trees Issue 24

region (eg Bugey) into France. g (More speculatively) to stress an important site in the community.

One strange point about all this.

Every one of these trees, with the single exception of the elm in the grounds of the National Institute for Deaf Children in Paris, is in a village or hamlet; none are in large towns or cities. Nor are you likely to come across them by chance; none are on the popular tourist trails.

An organisation called ARBRES , which stands for Arbres Remarquables Bilan, Recherche, Études et Sauvegarde, has started the task of listing all the important or historic trees in France. So far they have listed only a handful of Sully’s trees. So far as I know, no other organisation is making a study of them.

Individual trees are treasured and cared for in particular communities but not in all;

The tree at Perreuse (Yonne).

Look carefully and you can see the chains which hold it together.

some trees are neglected and in danger.

Every time I visit France I make sure I hunt out a few more. As a result I have become more and more concerned each year. Here is a national heritage which is in danger. Collectively, the concept hardly appears to exist. It is up to local communities to look after their tree or to neglect it. In one case a tree has been sacrificed for the sake of two extra car-parking spaces. Contradictions and uncertainties abound. I have collated a list of 132 such trees of which 5 - or probably more - are dead. Some have been struck by lightning several times. I have visited

The elm tree at Villesèquelande (Aude).

Notice the three buttresses holding the branches up.

27

The plaque at Innimont (Ain) - amateurish but with a proud claim.

The plaque at Cormoranche-en-Bugey (Ain).

33 of these sites so far. Commentary on just a small selection of these will illustrate just how confused is the picture and how the whole subject is crying out for detailed research. There is no reason for any particular order so I’m listing them in the order in which I’ve seen them. All these trees except two are lime trees and all, of course, are known locally as trees planted on the orders of the Duke of Sully.

Riverie (Rhone) I mentioned this was the tree that started me off on a voyage of discovery. It was planted as a symbol of peace and hope for the future after a horribly cruel massacre. Since I started the research this tree has died.

St-Martin-en-Vercors (Drôme) This tree, by the church, has two plaques. It is in good condition and local history tells that it was planted on Sully’s orders to celebrate industrial success. St-Martin was a centre of working with metals at the time. This is the only example I know of a tree planted by Sully for this reason.

Olby (Puy-de-Dome) This magnificent lime tree with a very tatty plaque was planted to mark the passage of Henri 1V (and, presumably, Sully) through the village. I know of no other examples of Sully trees planted for this reason.

Bona (Nièvre) A sorry sight. In 2007 children throwing fireworks on Bastille Day set this historic tree alight. All that was left was a pathetic trunk but this has sprouted and it looks as though it will recover. But why was this allowed to happen?

Prévenchères (Lozère) A beautiful tree by the church. It is being well looked after which is just as well as it has been struck by lightning several times and split in two.

Villers-Rotin (Cote d’Or) A magnificent tree in what is now an affluent dormitory village. No plaque (they don’t want to encourage visitors). However, this is an example, not the only one, of a tree with a folk tale. According to legend Napoleon sat under this tree drinking a glass of milk and ogling the local damsels.

Perreuse (Yonne) No church near this 28

Road sign at Étables (Ardèche)

one. However, it is the highest point in the Department and a former market place.

So this supports the theory that some trees were planted in places important to the community.

Pesselières (Yonne) This is just a tiny hamlet with no church. There used to be an important market here and that must be the reason for this tree.

Innimont (Ain) An incomparable position by the church, high up with wide-ranging views over the countryside.

A rough wooden plaque is nailed to the trunk with the proud boast: “Depuis 400 ans, face a tous les temps je suis un Sully, je meurs et revis.” Éclassan (Ardèche) Their elm tree died more than 25 years ago. Its memory exists in a framed sepia photograph hanging in the Marie. The mayor was keen to show us exactly where it had been but hardly anyone in the village seemed to remember it.

Ste-Colombe-des-Bois (Nièvre) This tree is struggling a bit but hanging on. I have included it because of its super plaque which tells us to listen to this tree because it speaks of history. “Tilleul planté par Sully, Ministre d’Henry 1V (1596-1610). Écoutez-le, il parle.”

Villesèquelande (Aude) This little village is just west of Carcassonne but, to me, a much more exciting place.

Not many elms have survived over the centuries what with being used for gun carriages and then subject to killing diseases. But here is one more than 400 years old. There is not just a plaque but a road sign as well telling us it is one of Sully’s trees. Today, three buttresses support its branches. It is clearly well respected and loved by its community.

Linards (Haute-Vienne) This, sadly, is the other end of the spectrum. A few years ago the town council decided the tree was unsafe and they cut it down. No plaque, no sign of where it used to grow, no picture in the Marie. This community has just destroyed a bit of their history.

The magnificent tree at Paramelle, St-Cirgues (Lot).

Eileen is standing by it for scale.

Ironically there is a memorial of sorts.

Marthe Issoire has written an amusing little poem, “Regrets de Tilleul de Linards”, in which the tree bemoans the fact that it wanted to be celebrated but all that happened was that people drank an infusion made from its flowers.

St-Cirgues (Lot) This illustrates how difficult it can be to find these trees. This lime tree is actually in Paramelle which used to be a hamlet in the community of St-Cirgues. I say “used to be” because today it is little more than a single farm and it feels like trespassing (but it isn’t) when you go up the tree. It is gigantic and in superb condition. However, by it is a plaque which muddies the water even more. It claims that this tree is a “Tree of Liberty” planted by Sully. If it is, it’s the only one I know of, because other “Trees of Liberty” I’ve seen were all planted at the time of the Revolution, much later.

Furthermore it says only 35 such trees exist in France. Well, I know of over 100.

Taking into account the confusion at St-Cirgues, the sad story of Linards, the parlous state of several trees, the neglect of others, surely there is a clear need for research which, so far as I know, is not happening. It needs an enthusiast with excellent French because it will involve speaking to local people; a lot of what I’ve found out exists only in local folk lore.

Won’t someone take it on? There’s a Ph.D. in it, for sure. *”Wild Boy” by Jill Dawson (2003) A complete list of the Sully trees can be found on my website which is regularly updated. www.sullystrees.weebly.com a World of Trees Issue 24

W BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW

AUSTRALIA’S REMARKABLE TREES By author Richard Allen and photographer Kimbal Baker Published by Melbourne University Publishing Feb 2011 | 272pp, 500 photos £39.50 | Paperback | 978-0-522-85788-7 £51.95 | Hardback | 9780-522-85669-9 Where can you throw a party for a hundred or so guests in a hollow tree, or perhaps find a weather-proof tree home suitable to accommodate yourself, your wife, and your child?

This book has the answers. And much more. It is a labour of love by two enthusiasts who travelled more than 60,000 kilometres over Australia to research the material for this unique record of Australia’s arboreal heritage.

The result is an extraordinary book of more than 500 superbly evocative photographs and a commentary which succeeds in being on the one hand, scholarly, and on the other, fascinating for the casual reader. That’s a difficult achievement.

Trees can be remarkable for many different reasons as a glance at the chapter headings indicates: Magnificent Natives; Old Curiosities; Foreign Invaders; Historic Trees; Private Trees; Local Giants. But within the descriptions of individual trees are not just the relevant and sometimes bizarre botanical details, but also the histories of individual trees, local folklore about them, and some plain dotty but true stories about their pasts. All this and the turn of every page reveals yet another picture of play of light on bark and leaf, or perhaps a distinctive shape silhouetted against a blue sky. Looking through this book is a rare treat.

The Boab, for example, is a weird-looking tree which can live for more than 500 years. It has an enormous bulbous trunk which is invariably hollow. As a result, these trees have, in past times, been used as shops and even, in one instance, as a prison. Many other hollow trees are featured, including a 400-year-old Red Tingle which is so enormous it is claimed that a hundred people could comfortably throw a party there, with room to move.

Boabs exist in other countries, but in 1994 David Noble, a National Parks officer, abseiled down a deep and isolated canyon, somewhere in Wollemi National Park, New South Wales, and found himself surrounded by trees he did not recognise, with leaves serrated like a dinosaur’s tail. They turned out to be a unique survival of the early Cretaceous period around 120 million years ago when dinosaurs really did roam the world. The type was identified from fossil fragments scattered across Australia and, understandably, caused enormous excitement. The exact site of the canyon a World of Trees Issue 24

has been kept secret to protect the 100 or so existing trees. However, saplings grown from these Wollemi Pine conifers were later auctioned, a sale which raised more than a million Australian dollars.

In contrast, on 11 June 1933 to be precise, a seedling was planted, with full military honours, at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne. There is, of course, a story behind this event. During World War One some of the fiercest fighting took place on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, during the course of which more than 2000 Australians were killed; seven Victoria Crosses were later awarded.

High on the plateau above grew a single Turkish Pine which was destroyed during the fighting. One man, Sergeant Keith McDowell, salvaged a cone as a souvenir, took it home and gave it to his aunt. A decade later, she planted the seeds and four germinated. The Melbourne tree grew from one of these seedlings.

This is Australia and so there has to be a Coolibah tree. The one in the book is Australia’s largest, and is known as the Monkira Monster. It is in Queensland, by a waterhole which submerges much of it in the rainy season. You don’t pass this tree by accident. You have to drive for hours through flat, lonely country and even then this tree is half an hour’s drive from any public road. In September, an 82-year-old man made a six-day, 4000 kilometre round trip to pay his respects to this tree; that gives an idea of what it means to the people. But what a tree! Its trunk measures more than 10 metres and its total circumference is a staggering 200 metres plus.

There are also several different varieties of gum trees including four River Red Gums. One of these, in Black Springs, South Australia, had a hollowed out middle.

Johann Friedrich Herbig, a recent refugee from Germany, was in the area, looking for somewhere to live. This tree seemed as good a place as any and remained his home for many years. Then he married but it wasn’t until their second child was born that he decided it was time to move to more spacious accommodation. Today there are 860 Herbig descendants from this unlikely start to their family tree.

The Australian Ghost Gum has been called “the embodiment of bloody-mindedness in the face of extreme odds” because of its ability to survive in an extremely hostile environment.

Forty kilometres from Alice Springs is a

magnificent specimen which has survived nearly 200 years in one of the most inhospitable places in the entire country.

It towers, a solitary figure above the surrounding scrub.

However, many of these trees are not native to Australia but were brought here by settlers from Europe. One of these settlers was Sir George Verdon whose ancestral English home was Alton Towers now famous, not for trees, but for quite other reasons. He built a house in Victoria which he called “Alton” and planted many British and exotic trees in his 10 acres. Amongst these are 8 Monkey Puzzles, a tree which is difficult to grow in Australia; one of these is a particularly fine example with branches growing right down to the ground, a rare feature. Today, no fewer than 24 trees in this estate are listed in the National Register of Significant Trees.

Other settlers, particularly from Britain, made their own contributions to Australia’s heritage of trees. Edwin Jephcott, a seedsman from Coventry, planted 300 exotic trees including 50 species of pine, 10 species of oak, plane, ash, and a rare Shagbark Hickory from the Everglades in Florida. A cork oak in Hobart, Tasmania, traces its ancestry to an acorn taken from the gardens at Blenheim Palace, Winston Churchill’s ancestral home. As we all know, Blenheim Palace is in Woodstock, north of Oxford. Our Australian friends describe its position, endearingly, as “outside London”.

Books such as this one are particularly important in the modern world and are not just for specialists. Forests are still being felled and not replaced in Australia as in other parts of the world. Only 16% of the Australian native forest area is protected.

Allen tells the story of the Cornthwaite brothers who, in 1884, were convinced that a Mountain Ash in Thorpdale, Gippsland was the world’s tallest tree. To prove it, they cut it down and measured it. They were correct. It was 114.3 metres tall - or long by this stage. A totally senseless piece of ecological vandalism. This book is a call to everyone to treasure and protect our magnificent heritage of living things and the forests and wildernesses in which they live.

Order your copy now from: eurospan@turpin-distribution.com T +44 (0)1767 604972 F +44 (0)1767 601640 www.eurospanbookstore.com 29

‘Charcoal Burners’ by John William Buxton Knight (private collection)

Melvyn Jones Edited by Professor Ian Rotherham, Sheffield Hallam University

the charcoal maker are stacks of four-foot lengths of wood, called cordwood, ready for making another charcoal stack. The charcoal maker’s assistant is barrowing more cordwood to the stockpile, on an open-framed barrow called a mare.

Charcoal making is thousands of years old. There are different traditions of building a stack. One way was to begin with the laying of three short billets on the ground in the form of a triangle. Other billets were piled on top to form a central flue. A northern method was to drive in a long central stake which was removed when the stack was ready.

Whichever method of construction was used, the remainder of the stack was built by piling lengths of wood on end facing inwards round the central triangle or stake. This was continued until the stack was about fifteen feet in diameter and about five feet high. It was then covered with straw, grass, bracken and turves and then covered again by dust and ashes.

Red hot coal or burning charcoal was then dropped down the central flue.

Once assured the stack was alight it had to be watched carefully, ensuring that no gaps appeared, until the burn was completed. A slow burn was essential.

30

A charcoal making scene The painting of ‘Charcoal Makers’ by John William Buxton Knight (1843-1908) shown here depicts a timeless woodland scene in a wood in Knole Park in Kent in the late nineteenth century. It contains all the elements of the working life of the traditional charcoal burner before the days of steel kilns and retorts. During the coaling season, which usually lasted from April to November, charcoal burners or wood colliers as they were earlier called, lived a solitary life, often with their families, deep in the woodlands. The painting shows the charcoal maker, at the charcoal hearth or pitstead raking off the cover of turves and dust at the end of the burn (which could last for between 6-10 days depending on the greenness of the wood) to allow the charcoal to cool.

The rake would have been one peculiar to charcoal makers, with a board at its head toothed on one side, called a corrack.

The charcoal would then be packed in sacks or panniers for transport from the site. Full sacks of charcoal can be seen on the right-hand side of the scene. Behind

The charcoal maker’s hut On the left of the painting in the foreground is the hut in which they would live in the woods during the coaling season. The hut was placed near the charcoal stacks so that the wood collier could keep a close eye on the burn, especially during windy days and nights when they had to be protected by hurdles to make sure that the stack did not burn too quickly. The huts were conical in shape built on a framework of poles about 12 ft (3.6m) high like a wigwam sometimes around a low perimeter stone wall. The hut was normally about 10 ft (3m) in diameter at ground level. A lintel was lashed in place over a gap that was left as a doorway. Over the framework of poles sacking or skins were laid and these were then covered with turves in the manner of tiles. Doors varied in style and material, often just a covering of sacking.

Sometimes a stake was driven into the ground a few feet from the entrance. The door then consisted of wood battened together which could be pulled in front of the doorway at night and merely pushed outwards to rest on the stake when the charcoal maker emerged in the morning.

In the north of England a fireplace was often built inside the hut on the south side; but more usually a fireplace was built just outside the hut. The remains of these huts in the form of a circle of stones (the remains of the low perimeter wall with a gap for the doorway) can still be found if a thorough woodland search is made in winter when the ground vegetation has

a World of Trees Issue 24

Reconstructed charcoal maker’s hut, Weald and Downland Museum, Sussex

Door arrangement of a charcoal maker’s hut, Rockley, South Yorkshire, 1917

died down.

A particularly evocative but faded photograph of a charcoal maker’s hut has recently been unearthed in a Sheffield attic. A drawing based on the photograph is shown here. The hut is typical of its type with a turf covering over tarpaulin covered poles (one pole in the doorway is clearly birch). Note also the tiny cabin built for the dog. The underwood and timber trees would have been felled in the wood in the previous winter and, as can be clearly seen, the ‘reserved’ trees left to grow to maturity have been marked with white paint.

Leaning against the hut is a woodman’s two-handled cross-cut saw used to cut the cordwood to length together with a series of long pointed poles that were probably rake handles. In the foreground is a sieve used for riddling the dust that was used to form the outer cover of the stack and two baskets for carrying work on the site. The baskets are called ‘swills’ or ‘spelks’and were made from strips of oak woven round an ash or hazel framework. The strips of oak (spelks) were obtained by boiling oak coppice poles and riving them while still hot.

was the old name for a charcoal maker.

There is then a list of the people who paid for the monument to be erected: William Brooke, salesman; David Glossop, gamekeeper; Thomas Smith, besom-maker; and Sampson Brookshaw, innkeeper. David Glossop was in fact the woodward of Ecclesall Woods and Sampson Brookshaw was the landlord between 1780 and 1806 of the Rising Sun public house on Abbey Lane just outside the woods. Searches have been made of the baptism and marriage registers for St Peter’s parish church (now Sheffield Cathedral), the only church within Sheffield and Ecclesall where baptisms and marriages were recorded at this time.

George Yeardley (the spellings Yeardley and Yardley were interchangeable in this period), wood collier, is recorded marrying Ann Turner, spinster, on 13 March 1755.

This is almost certainly George Yardley, wood collier, who died in Ecclesall Woods on 11 October 1786. A search was then made for a George Yardley born in the parish between 20-30 years earlier, and the baptism of George, son of Samuel Yardley, filemaker, was found on 9 August 1734. If this is the George Yardley who died in Ecclesall Woods in 1786, he was 20 years and five months old when he married and 52 years old when he died.

It is possible to speculate about the circumstances of George Yardley’s death.

The fact that George Yardley was ‘burnt to death in his cabbin’ suggests that the fire that consumed him happened at night.

A number of possible scenarios come to mind. The first is that it was a very windy night and that before retiring to the hut for the night he had cooked a meal and made a drink over the fire that was usually made

Wood collier’s monument Living in a hut made from wood, turf and tarpaulin was not without its life-threatening dangers. In Ecclesall Woods in south-west Sheffield there is a unique monument to a charcoal maker which demonstrates the dangers of his often solitary life in the woods. It consists of a monumental stone inside a small cast iron railing fence. The monument states that ‘George Yardley, woodcollier, was burnt to death in his cabbin on this place Oct 11 1786’. Wood collier, as has already been pointed out, Drawing based on old photograph of charcoal makers at their hut Courtesy of Bob Warburton

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Remains of low perimeter wall of charcoal maker’s hut, Pepper Wood, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire

within a few yards of the hut. He then went to sleep and while he slept either the gusty wind blew red hot embers from the cooking fire that had not been properly extinguished or that red hot embers had been blown on the gusty wind from a nearby burning charcoal stack. He may not have been aware of the advancing and consuming fire because he had been drinking heavily at the Rising Sun. The fact that Sampson Brookshaw, landlord of the Rising Sun, was one of those named on the monument suggests strongly that George Yardley was a regular customer at the public house. Alternatively it may not have been a windy night at all.

But perhaps George Yardley had been

drinking at the Rising Sun, came back to his hut, lit a pipe and then fell asleep and dropped his burning pipe which started a fire in the hut.

There is one other tantalising fact about George Yardley’s death. A thorough search has been made of the burial records of the churches in all the surrounding area (St Peter’s, Sheffield; St Paul’s, Sheffield, Beauchief; Norton; Rotherham and Ecclesfield). No burial for a George Yardley in October 1786 has been found. Does this mean that the fire was so fierce and that it burned for so long before it was discovered and extinguished that virtually nothing of George Yardley remained and that no

burial took place in consecrated ground?

Is the monument to George Yardley, wood collier, in Ecclesall Woods, also his last resting place? Significantly, the monument is very precise about where he died: in his cabbin on this place.

Melvyn Jones is Visiting Professor in Landscape History at Sheffield Hallam University.

His best-selling book, Sheffield’s Woodland Heritage, which was used as the basis of a successful £1.6m Heritage Lottery Fund bid to restore thirty-five South Yorkshire woodlands is now in its fourth edition (Wildtrack Publishing, 2009).

Wood collier’s monument, Ecclesall Woods, Sheffield

32

a World of Trees Issue 24

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33

Mum of two Hannah thrives in a man’s world Hannah Mitchell is not your typical forester.

The cutting edge – literally – of the industry is no place for the faint-hearted and, as a wife and mother, she appears an incongruous figure among the men who earn their living from the forests of Wales.

But it’s here that Carmarthen-born Hannah is at her happiest – mingling with hard-baked contractors in all weathers as they extract the trees that keep the wheels oiled of an industry worth in excess of £400 million to the Welsh economy.

In such an environment there is no room for passengers, but Hannah’s knowledge and enthusiasm have quickly won over any doubters.

“The contractors are really good about it.

They used to stop in mid-sentence when they saw me turn up in the van and they mind their Ps and Qs for a bit but, once they get to know me, they just get on with it,” she says.

“Sometimes, it seems like a woman making her way in a man’s world, especially on harvesting sites, but I try to get on with it and not feel like a girl!”

Hannah, 37, joined Forestry Commission Wales three years ago after meeting James Tinney of the Commission’s Woodlands for Learning team while she worked as an animal care assistant for the RSPCA in Swansea.

When James moved on, Hannah joined the team as education officer in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, opening 34

children’s eyes to the potential of woodlands as a stimulating outdoor learning environment.

But when she was invited to spend two days a week with the FC Wales harvesting team, she jumped at the chance to expand her knowledge.

Hannah, who lives in Pentremorgan, attended Bro Myrddyn comprehensive school in Carmarthen and her rugged approach to life set in early on the family farm in Cynwyl Elfed, where she was always helping her father in the fields.

“I hate shopping for clothes and all that stuff,” said mother-of-two Hannah. “I never wanted to go to girl guides, I always wanted to go to scouts. There were definitely no girly pursuits.”

That’s hardly an expression that could be applied to her job with the FC Wales harvesting team – checking maps against information on the ground, ensuring contractors fulfil their obligations, measuring timber stacks and pulling together sales contracts, to name but a few tasks.

It’s a job which placed her at the heart of an industry which provides thousands of rural jobs and brings valuable economic benefits to Wales.

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the harvesting team and my forestry skills have improved greatly, as has my knowledge,” she says.

“I’ve found myself, whilst on holiday, measuring trees for the amount of logs that

we could get out of them and checking out their girth etc!”

Hannah’s thirst for knowledge about forestry seems insatiable – she’s currently studying for a forestry degree and has just taken on the role of conservation ranger based in Llandovery on a six-month career development opportunity.

The local forestry college, Gelli Aur, is also keen for her to share her knowledge on the industry with their students.

Fortunately, her husband, Jason, is also in the tree business, working as an arboriculturalist in Haverfordwest.

She even had time to appear in the popular BBC quiz show, The Weakest Link, and left the other contestants in her wake to scoop the jackpot.

Whether it’s dealing with groups of children, tough-talking foresters – or TV’s “Queen of Mean” Anne Robinson – Hannah clearly takes it all in her stride.

e r a s e m i T n e h W f o e r a w e B h g Tou s y o b w the Co unaware or unconcerned about Tree Whilst there are professional bodies Preservation Orders and Conservation for Tree Surgeons and Arboriculturalists, Areas. They will take the risk and there is nothing to stop anybody calling disappear with the cash, potentially themselves a Tree Surgeon and offering a leaving you facing a prosecution, a heavy tree pruning and felling service. A van, a fine and perhaps, more importantly, a chainsaw and a few hundred leaflets and criminal record. they are off, knocking on doors, taking Engaging contractors who have been out local adverts and cold calling people assessed by a competent body, who who have made Tree Preservation Order have signed up to a customer charter applications to their Local Authority. They and against whom there is an established often give misinformed and damaging complaints procedure (like those of Tree advice, winning your confidence Care Approved who are the TrustMark with much teeth sucking and an ‘old Scheme Operator for Arboriculture), gives countryman’ accent. you the comfort of knowing that it is in These are not necessarily bad people. their vested interest not to do anything Made redundant from other trades they that might generate a valid complaint from are only trying to make a living, but they you and jeopardise their approved status. are frequently unskilled, unqualified, You then, in effect, have the clout of the uninsured and a serious danger to approval body behind you rather than themselves, the trees and to you. They simply your own lone voice. may seem an attractive proposition.

All TrustMark Scheme Operators are Because they might not even be paying required to maintain an independent for insurance or training, charging VAT board to investigate complaints against or, in some cases, even declaring their approved operators. This was a earnings for income tax, they are cheap.

Government requirement of the scheme But the cost to you of using them could included to avoid the potentially unsafe be an awful lot more than you bargained situation that can be created when for! organisations do their own investigations Trees are complicated organisms into their own subscribing members. and poor tree work practices store up We are a practice of Arboricultural problems for the future that can involve Consultants who do not carry out you in significant on-going costs. Felling How do I fin d.

Somno e Se rvicesinterest vested and pruning trees in a confined space istMark tree.. work and have A Trus covered by TrustMark Tr ee Care Appr Tree Care Appr inovgiving biased advice regarding a highly skilled operation that, if not done oved registered firm ed s registered firm ! how you might select a Tree Surgery properly, can result in serious damage to persons and property. Particular risks 1. Log on to our website involve trees adjacent to buildings, public www.TreeCa reApproved.or Contractor ser g vices Consu highways and overhead cables. If you ltancy servic es Tree planting.

2. View list of Tree reports in Pruning. support of engage an uninsured contractor the cost from our appserrovvicedes offered planning applica contractors Dismantling. tions.

Tree Preservat Bracing. of any damage they cause to you, third ion Order (TPO) assess Stump remova ment. l.

Tre e Inspections. parties or even themselves can fall back3. Enter your Postcod Hedge cutting . e Homebuyers Wood recycling tree surveys.

Trees and bou on you. That is because in employing Chipping, log ndaries. gin g 4. You then see Expert witness and Bio mass . the following: them without checking their insurance you Woodland ma nagement.

Your local con tor have failed in your duty of care to third Their services trac & contract det Location Map ails parties. The quick £100 cash to have the 5. If you do not have internet access, you can tree felled could lose you your house! hel contact our pline on: 0845 409 4552 These people are also generally

a World of Trees Issue 24

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Enjoy your garden and keep your house!

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35

Protecting the Trees:

Surviving evidence of how coppice woods were safeguarded Melvyn Jones

Edited by Professor Ian Rotherham, Sheffield Hallam University

Massive woodbank with pollards and external ditch, Bradfield Woods, Suffolk

The need to protect coppice woods Ancient coppice woodland shapes tend to be zig-zagged with well marked peninsulas and bays like a rocky coast as if giant bites had been taken from them. This unevenness is the result of the unplanned, piecemeal clearing process, which in the medieval period was known as assarting and resulted in the creation of small irregular fields. Despite their peculiar shapes it was of the utmost importance to carefully protect coppice woods in their early years of growth after felling to keep out trespassers (who may be poachers, thieves, berry-gatherers or nutters) and grazing animals. For this reason they were looked after by a woodward who had a general responsibility for safeguarding the coppice growth across an estate, aided by individual coppice keepers who all kept a vigilant eye open for trespassers, thieves and unsupervised livestock from

36

neighbouring farmland.

Trespassers will be prosecuted The proceedings of local manorial courts and woodwards’ accounts are full of instances of waiting for and catching offenders (human and animal), of accusations of trespass and theft, of appearances in court, of fines, and of payment to woodwards’ helpers for tracking down suspects and repossessing stolen timber, wood and bark The illegal felling and carrying away of timber were the most widely reported offences.

From time to time there were eruptions of widespread theft and these led to concerted action. Towards the end of the second decade of the eighteenth century (1718) the level of thefts from the Duke of Norfolk’s woods in South Yorkshire was such that the Duke’s woodward was granted a warrant by the justices of

the peace instructing local constables to ‘make diligent search …in the most suspitious houses’ and to bring suspects before the magistrates. The inclusion of such strong instructions to the constables as ‘All Excuses & Delays Sett apart’ and ‘Faile not at your perills’ reflect the seriousness of the situation.

Whether or not falls had taken place in particular woods, there were very sensitive times of the year in the woods.

In late summer and autumn when berries and nuts were ripe, and in winter when firewood and food supplies were low, thefts and trespass by poachers were particularly common. The practice of collecting hazel nuts in local woods caused widespread damage to wood boundaries and to the underwood and often prompted the posting of warning notices around estate and woodland boundaries. In hard winters, particularly in upland areas, when fodder was often in short supply, specially managed holly woods, called holly hags or hollins, in which the holly was cut for winter fodder, were likely to need extra protection. In 1710, for example the woodward on the Duke of Norfolk’s South Yorkshire estate paid Henry Bromhead ‘for him and horse going 2 days in ye great snow to see if any one croped Holling’. The impression given is that Bromhead had a blunderbuss over his saddle!

When the coppice was well grown tenants’ animals were allowed access to the coppice woods to graze on payment of a fee. The practice was known as herbage or agistment. If animals got into the woods during the early stages of coppice growth they were rounded up, put in the village pound and the owners

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‘Nutters’ poster, Beauchief estate, Sheffield

Woodbank separating Boyd Royd Wood from Wath Wood (which was a wooded common with grazing animals), South Yorkshire

fined. Sometimes it was too late and a visiting wood agent to the Marquis of Rockingham’s Irish coppice woods in 1728 found one wood not properly fenced and observed that it had been ‘Eaten as Bare as a Bowling Green’!

Woodbanks and wood walls Good fences were absolutely essential around coppice woods. Indeed the verb ‘to encoppice’ means to protect the underwood prior to rotational felling in a fenced wood. Boundary features may not only surround old coppice woods but in the case of large woods that were compartmented and leased to different individuals at different times there will be internal boundary features. One 300-acre continuous stretch of woodland in South Yorkshire, for example, was divided into twenty separate woods, each with its own woodland name and with the coppice growth in the various compartments in the mid-seventeenth century varying from two years to sixteen years. To eliminate boundary disputes and to prevent animals that were being agisted in the well-grown coppice compartments from straying into newly cut ones, strong fences, which appear from surviving fragments to have consisted of banks and walls, would have been essential.

Woodbanks have ditches on the outside. The higher and broader the bank and the deeper the ditch, the older the bank is likely to be. Thick hedges or wooden post and rail fences surmounted these banks and where trees grew on them they were often pollarded so that animals grazing along the woodland edge could not feed on the new shoots. These

a World of Trees Issue 24

woodbank pollards, if they still survive, are usually by far the oldest trees still growing in a former ancient coppice wood. On some banks there may sometimes be double hedges and the hedges were often laid. The ditches were often scoured and remade at the beginning of new coppice cycles.

Walls took the place of banks and ditches where good wall stone outcropped.

What is interesting is that in Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape, the most widely read of modern works on the history and archaeology of woods

by Oliver Rackham, (first published in 1976) which was very largely based on research in eastern and southern England,

wood-banks are dealt with at length but walls are dismissed in a sentence. But the truth is that in the north and west of Britain, in ‘stone wall country’, both walls and banks were used to protect coppice woods. And the walls protecting woods in these regions come in a variety of forms: a wall on its own, a wall on a bank, a wall revetted into a bank and even a wall on the outside of a wood-bank and external ditch. Walls are not uniform features. The oldest walls were made from orthostats, boulders removed from the land as clearances were made. Whole walls or the lower parts of walls made with orthostats may still be found surrounding woodlands and these are likely to be of medieval

Bank, ditch and stone wall protecting Greno Wood, South Yorkshire

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Protecting the Trees:

Surviving evidence of how coppice woods were safeguarded date at the very latest. After the Middle Ages double-skinned dry-stone walls with rows of topping stones became general.

During the Parliamentary Enclosure period (1750-1830), very professional dry-stone walling techniques were employed, walls of this period being typified by double-skins filled with small waste stone fragments, the generous use of strengthening through stones, tapering cross-sections and mortared-in rows of top stones. One word of warning must be given about trying to date stone walls. Through human and animal interference and through demolition to remove wood and timber, an enormous amount of patching (called ‘gapping’ in some areas) has taken place over the centuries, and so many walls are made of a combination of the work of the original waller and patches made at various times since their erection. Geology also has a marked effect on the character of woodland boundary walls – granite walls are quite different from those made out of thinly bedded sandstone, for example.

One curious ecological note can be

An ancient woodland boundary wall of Millstone Grit boulders

38

added. The grass, wood melick (Melica uniflora) has a ‘circumboscal’ distribution, i.e. it tends to occur along woodland boundaries, often occurring on medieval woodbanks, and indeed Oliver Rackham refers to it as the woodbank grass.

Conclusion Two important concluding points need to be made. The first is that boundary banks and walls are some of the longest surviving archaeological features of former coppice woods. But they are often missed. A recent consultants’ report on the archaeology of a former 240-acre coppice wood illustrates this point very clearly. Hundreds of archaeological features within the wood were mapped and described stretching from the Neolithic to the Second World War. But the consultants completely missed the bank with revetted stone wall that runs for almost 600 metres along the northern boundary of the wood.

The wall is a metre high and the bank three metres wide in places. It was not only the boundary of the wood but also a medieval

parish boundary. The moral of this story is that the first thing that anyone with a first-time interest in an old wood ought to do is to carefully walk its boundaries. And if there is no bank or wall on the modern boundary look inside and outside the wood for surviving boundary features – in case the wood has been enlarged or reduced in size. The second point is that surviving walls and banks, around and within ancient coppice woods, need to be carefully preserved. This is particularly important during woodland operations when continuous traffic with wheeled vehicles could cause irreparable damage to these important yet fragile archaeological features.

Melvyn Jones is Visiting Professor in Landscape History at Sheffield Hallam University.

His best-selling book, Sheffield’s Woodland Heritage, which was used as the basis of a successful £1.6m Heritage Lottery Fund bid to restore thirty-five South Yorkshire woodlands is now in its fourth edition (Wildtrack Publishing, 2009).

External ditch with bank with revetted wall, Canklow Wood, Rotherham

a World of Trees Issue 24

Ivy trees Ivy, ivy everywhere Ivy, ivy what despair!

In the darkness ever creeping, Evil Ivy never ceasing.

Round and round grow deathly coils, Lovely trees it truly spoils.

Rip it and strip it though do beware that nasty dust, it fills the air.

Coughing, wheezing, lots of sneezing Soon you think of ‘up and leaving’ Bleeding arms and itchy eyes, a better way you soon devise!

When the next tree stands before you, bristling Ivy apt to gore you, sever the stems around the base, and let the elements fight your case. written by Jamie Saunders, Trojan Tree Care

a World of Trees Issue 24

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