Day 073 - 13 Jan 95 - Page 06
1
2 Q. I want to ask you about the woodlands that you are involved
3 in the management of yourself; could you just say something
4 about that?
5 A. Yes; in fact, I own two woodlands or I own one woodland
6 which is referred to in this first sheet. I also own a
7 coniferous plantation, or part own a coniferous plantation
8 in Somerset near Yeovil. The woodland I own in Devon is a
9 semi-natural ancient woodland oak coppice. It is in fairly
10 good condition as far as the environment is concerned --
11 not all of it but most of it is.
12
13 The other woodland I own or the forest I own near Yeovil,
14 which is called "Tinkers Bubble", is a second rotation
15 Douglas fir forest. There are a group of us. We are
16 trying to manage it on a very long term and environmentally
17 friendly basis as a commercial forest, but using low impact
18 methods. We hope eventually to get a good price for our
19 timber out of it, though part of it we want to go on for
20 merely 400 years until it becomes, what you might call, a
21 cathedral forest; those not typical of English forests. We
22 actually want to still see what happens after 400 years, or
23 we hope somebody else will see what happens after 400
24 years.
25
26 Q. Your children's children's children?
27 A. My children's children's children.
28
29 Q. When you took over that second forest near Yeovil, when was
30 that you took over that forest, you and others together?
31 A. We took it over -- I think, in fact, we had our first
32 anniversary just on January 1st this year.
33
34 Q. So January 1st, last year, you took it over?
35 A. We took it over January 1st last year, yes.
36
37 Q. At that time was it being managed in the way that you now
38 intend to manage it?
39 A. No. In fact, to a certain extent it had been
40 mis-managed. It needed a lot of work on it. It had not
41 been too well-managed with regards to thinning. The
42 persons who owned it had not put any investment into it.
43 In terms of the biodiversity of the forest, I mean, what is
44 happening is, it is a pretty sort of sorry state, in fact,
45 from the environmental point of view. It is merely a stand
46 of quite good Douglas fir, but -----
47
48 Q. So is that plantation forest?
49 A. This is a plantation forest, second rotation. I think
50 the most significant thing probably here is, in fact, there
51 is absolutely no ground flora of any sort in that piece of
52 forest. If you take an average square metre, a quadrant,
53 it is good. Normally if you lay a square metre down on the
54 ground, you would find nothing except pine needles and
55 earth.
56
57 Q. In terms of flora?
58 A. In terms of flora, and also in terms of the fauna, the
59 animals that use it. Some animals pass through, deer,
60 badgers, and foxes; they do not stop because there is
