Cairn Wood early history.
The area of Cairn Wood was literally bought off a man in a pub in 2007. I had been looking for a small wood to own for a long time. There are very few woods in the Trent Valley as it is mostly arable or pasture. I decided I would plant my own. The field had been planted with Basket willow, which had been neglected. The 8 acers were covered in a tangle of Willow much of which was 12 ' high and on 6" trunks.
 |
| Willow Scrub |
I had no clear vision of what I was going to do. Clearing the site was a first step and would provide time for me to decide what to plant.
I have been a climate change pessimist since the 1980's, and started with two ideas. The first was that just because a tree has grown well somewhere for the previous 2,000 years did not mean it would grow well there in 200 years time. At the time this was not the accepted wisdom. The clamour was for native trees from local sources. The Second idea was that most trees will grow in most places if given a start, whether they thrive is a different issue.
 |
| Willow for Biomass |
 |
| Miscanthus. (Elephant grass) |
Growing Biomass was, in my opinion the sensible thing to do. The government provided grants for Willow coppice and Miscanthus, a fast growing large grass. Both of these required specialist harvesting equipment. Contractors were not going to prioritise a mere 8 acers. The heavy clay soil would mean tractors might not be able to get on the land. The willow was full of canker, so short rotation forestry was chosen. Tree would be grown for a few years and could be cut down and dragged out by me, for cutting up for logs. Eucalyptus were the obvious species of tree. Potentially giving twice the calorific value per acre of willow. Initially several species were planted to see which did best.
No comments:
Post a Comment