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Village Web Site Forum
Tim Armsby
glusburn
Tuesday, April 8, 2014 17:13 |
Meeting Re: Regeneration Lyndhurst Wood
A Meeting is to be held at Sutton Park Pavilion
on Monday 14th April 2014
at 6.30pm
To discuss the regeneration of Lyndhurst Wood
Local residents interested in preserving this woodland
are welcome to attend.
organised by Sutton PC. |
Clerk
Sutton-in-Craven Parish Council
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 12:21 |
The Regeneration of Lyndhurst Wood - discussed at the meeting held on Monday 14th April 2014.
Due to increasing public usage Lyndhurst Wood is suffering badly from trampling and erosion which is preventing the regeneration of trees, shrubs and ground flora.
The main issue and tackling the development of new paths throughout the wood, and from the public footpath needs to be undertaken in a number of phases - Initially ensuring there is a secure boundary between the public footpath and the woodland, with access points at 3 or 4 locations - the eastern end close to the bridge, two in the centre area and then one at the far western point - these would initially start to direct access and prevent the development of new paths. The boundary fence would be post and wire, with squeeze point access to minimise the number of bikes etc. getting into the wood (easily). Three rail wooden fencing will be used at the entrance of the wood to guide visitors. This will meet up with the boundary fencing on the public footpath.
The erection of fenced enclosures would be the best way forward to protect the existing ground flora and encourage the development of the regenerating tree species, to encourage as many as possible to grow and survive, as to ensure the future development of a woodland canopy. The existing mature trees are under a barrage of pests and disease, from Dutch elm which has all but wiped out elm from the wood - there are a few straggly specimens left hanging on, beech disease, horse chestnut bleeding canker, horse chestnut leaf miner all present and having an impact, with the potential for the bleeding cankers to affect the limes, alder as well as the chestnut - as can be seen at the moment with the weakened snapped trees on the ground following the storms. This could well in the coming years be added to with ash dieback, and the greatest need to have as much tree regeneration as possible in the wood. (The closest ash dieback, infection is at Ilkley and Leeds, on newly planted woodlands).
Having discussed the options on site, there is scope to erect at least one fenced enclosure at the western end of the woodland, where it has least visual impact, and can then over the coming months start to show the difference between protected and unprotected areas. If successful and agreeable, The Woodland Trust would then add further fenced areas, at the same time looking to possibly improve sections of footpath, which will also help to guide access and lessen the effects of trampling.
Resilient Woodlands - which is what we want Lyndhurst to be - resilient.
The Woodland Trust
For more than 40 years the Woodland Trust has worked to protect the UK's woodland and wildlife. It does this through managing more than 1,000 woodland sites, supporting and advising their landowners to restore and create native woodland and tree cover on their land, and campaigning and lobbying for policy changes to favour the UK's native woods trees and wildlife.
While woods and trees are the central focus of the Trust's work, they do not exist in isolation, but are part of wider ecosystems that operate across a variety of habitats, and across whole landscapes. The Trust therefore believes that, to enable wildlife to cope with the many challenges and threats it currently faces, action for conservation is needed at a landscape scale.
We need to make our landscapes more resilient, so that natural ecosystems can continue to function effectively in the face of major threats such as climate change, pollution, and increasing numbers of pests and diseases. This will help wildlife to survive, but it will also help people. We depend on healthy ecosystems for essentials such as clean air and water, but attractive, wildlife-rich landscapes also improve our quality of life, and can underpin economic development too, making our communities more resilient to economically and socially.
What are resilient woodlands?
Resilience is the capacity to bounce back or adapt in the face of change. In ecological terms, we define it as the ability of a place to sustain ecological function and maintain a diverse array species. Both these attributes are necessary to ensure that landscapes work - for us and for wildlife.
Many landscapes in the UK lack resilience, largely because natural habitats, like ancient and native woodland, have become so fragmented and degraded. Over hundreds of years land has been cleared and modified for farming, or for development. Remaining paths of habitat have become smaller and smaller, and more isolated from one another, and land use between has become more intensive so these areas are less wildlife friendly.
Smaller areas of habitat support fewer species, and are more vulnerable to pollution, unsympathetic land management practices and other impacts from neighbouring land, and to wider environmental change. The populations of species they contain are smaller and can therefore lack genetic diversity. Distance from other areas of habitat, and the hostile nature of the land between, means species are less able to move between patches of habitat, to move to more favourable areas, or to replace lost populations or mix with surviving ones. This means less mixing of genetic material, and less potential for adaptation and evolution in response to change. In a fragmented landscape, where the areas rich in wildlife are small and isolated in a "sea" of less wildlife friendly land, species are therefore less likely to be able to move or adapt in the face of change, and overall diversity will diminish.
Increasing ecological resilience means increasing the opportunities for a wide variety of plants and animals, and the genes they carry, to survive, adapt around the landscape.
A schedule of works will follow shortly.
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David Laycock
Saturday, April 26, 2014 03:50 |
This is good news to see positive action starting to show.One point in the report from the meeting which I can't see, is the mention of erection of information boards.
This might be taken to be an obvious step in the process of preservation, but it still needs to be in the notes, as to what, how and why the fencing etc is to be erected. Not every one would check the web and attend the above meeting. |
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