Maes y Pant Latest News

by Chair Ian Happs

I’ve just come home from Maes y Pant, where I watched the last of the giant forestry machines leave the woodland. All the felling has been done now and the logs have been collected on the hard standing near the car park. Much of the timber has already left the site but, as I write this, about eight lorry loads remain and will be dispatched in the next couple of weeks. The car park has had to be closed for safety while the enormous wagons have been coming in and out, and we are grateful to everyone, especially our neighbours and visitors, for their support and patience.

The felling operation has been sophisticated, and very neat and efficient. The harvester has an on-board computer, and it strips and cuts the trunks into logs according to the intended market. The best of our current crop of timber is going to be made into children’s outdoor play equipment, fence panels and fence posts, and the remainder will be processed into chipboard. The logs were sorted as they were gathered in and they are being dispatched by lorry to several different wood yards across North Wales.

The woodland looks much brighter following the thinning, and we’ve been delighted to see the number and variety of saplings which are already growing amongst the conifers and in the clear fell area. We have oak, holly, blackthorn and hawthorn, as well as ash and silver birch.

The contractors have kept the main paths clear, and our amazing volunteers cleared the ‘brash’ (branches) from the informal paths during a freezing Saturday morning session last week. We plan to leave the brash under the trees to help to protect and fertilise the emerging saplings and to suppress the bramble.

As well as the natural regeneration, we have had a donation of over 100 saplings which we will be planting in the next few weeks. We’re really looking forward to spring and seeing the woodland burst into life again.

April Volunteer Saturday

This month, the volunteer session will be on the third Saturday, 15th April, as the usual second Saturday is Easter weekend. The times will stay the same, 10:00am until 12:30pm. There will be the usual variety of tasks and good company, with a wellearned hot drink and cake afterwards.

For information and to join Friends of Maes-y-Pant visit: www.maes-y-pant.com