Ultimate bushcraft sin!!!!
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And following on that I'll get to the number one bushcraft sin; human waste (as in taking a dump) too close to the trail or even worse, fresh water. I know space may be more limited over there but here the Boy Scouts and most National and or State forestes and parks require yo be at least 100 feet from any trail and 200 feet from fresh water.
Dreadhead
Bushcrafter through and through
does lodgepole pine suffer from red band needle blight? if so it will no doubt be clear felled to stop growth if spotted? tis pretty scary when the RBNB starts affecting the scots pine
Santaman, you're lucky your Park Rangers are carrying firearms, I swear it'd be the only way to get through to some of the idiots here. Speaking to the rangers at Loch earn near me they have to deal with anglers gutting green trees with chainsaws regularly, despite them selling cheap firewood at the boatyard and from the back of their vans. Loch Lomond woods in the summer frm a distance look like theres flowers everywhere, in reality its toilet paper. There is a school of thought (not popular on the forum) about leaving these areas to the fools and so saving elsewhere.
Must admit the best reading I'd recomend for folk on human waste disposal for outdoors folks is Kathleen Meyer's "How To **** In The Woods". Very informative and realistic.
I was taught in the cubs and then the scouts about waste management too, don't know if they still teach it? Maybe we should ask their famous Chief Scout? (No jokes about him only pooing in hotels please
).Space shouldn't be an issue if we're carefull there are ways of minamising impact. In fact one thing I'd do if I was going to be spending a day in a high seat after deer I'd modify my diet or take Immodium to reduce the need for number twos. But good toilet practice should be enough.
I guess that there are a proportion of people who, when allowed access to someone elses land, will, because they are unsupervised and extremely unlikely to be caught, indulge their criminal tendencies.
I do not believe they "haven't got a clue". I believe they know full well what they are doing is wrong. People litter that area too, you can bet they know that's wrong.
They have got a clue and they simply don't care that they are committing criminal damage as they know they are unlikely to be caught.
Thats why I am glad we do not have "right to roam" here. Its a good idea for the law abiding, sadly there is no way to only grant access to the law abiding.
Yup Lodgepole, Corsican and Scots pine can all be heavily affected. And cases are growing quite quickly which is not good.
Dreadhead
Bushcrafter through and through
yeah i know corsican is bad for it certainly, wasnt sure about lodgepole though. it is certainly devastsating
Dreadhead
Bushcrafter through and through
Havent a clue im from Aberdeen
only lived down here 7 months and the majority of that has been on the boat laid up. But when i was up north we done a fair bit of work through the central highlands and encountered it a fair number of times
Oops, that’s twice I wrote “log pole” instead of lodgepole, I’m going to have to pay more attention to my spell checker in the future ,but thanks for trolling through my post and pointing that out.
The “Caley pines” Pinus sylvestris you are talking about are at Slattadale on the south bank of Loch Maree, their generations date back some 8000 years.
By the way if you ever decide to camp there the trees are very impressive, but take plenty of midge repellent its hell.
I’m nether a Forester nor a Geologist (unless you count gold panning ) so the only thing I know about the north bank of Loch Maree is around Letterewe and Furnace where the oaks were largely clear felled 350 years ago at a rate of 8 hectares a day for charcoal to smelt bog Iron at the Ironworks. Coincidental this was one of the areas where the reintroduction of wolves was proposed and with forest regeneration cited as one of the reasons.
But that’s another story.
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Dreadhead
Bushcrafter through and through
They are beautiful there, have worked on and around loch maree, mostly on the south side. done some camping over the north side too. Really is a special place. glad i never came across any RBNB
You're both so right, Loch Maree is beautiful, midge ridden but beautiful. There is some concern that as wind patterns change (with possible gulf stream movement) that pollen from the US east coast could make it over to Loch Maree so affecting it's comparative genetic isolation.
Have you seen the money tree there? Nice wee website LINK
Have you seen the money tree there? Nice wee website LINK
ultimate sin, leaving litter. does not matter where you are, nobody has any excuse for leaving any kind of litter.
Quite often folk don't realise what's rubbish though.
Fire and the resultant charcoal can change the soil structure and be persistant in the environment for millenia. Similarly exotic vegatitive and other organic matter can destroy certain fragile soil structures/localised ecosystems. High alpine soils like in the Cairngorms can be badly degraded by something as simple as a banana skin due to the potasium content.
some might say as we're animals it doesn't matter, and that without traces like these archeologists wouldn't know about our forebares. But there's a heck of a lot more of us alive at the moment putting more concentrated pressure on the landscape.
Here the landscape, as it has been in the last 1000 years has allready changed to the unrecognizable in a space of 20 years. What used to be treless heather land is now growing over with mountain birch. In the lowlands what used to be open fields of a cultured landscape is also growing over with birch, as the land is no longer farmed. There are no goats, shep and cattle grasing in the hills so the woods are taking over. You wanna see Norway? Come now because soon there won't be a view. The birch forst will close the view.
Hence I do not feel any rmerse at all when I cut a green sapling to use as a spit to barbecue a hot dog in the forest.
Anyway, the landscape will always change. Either naturally or by human use...
There is an extensive forest regrowth in open cultural landscapes in Norway. This will affect a number of value fields, including cultural heritage, landscape experiences and biodiversity. Nearly 16% of Norway will be affected by forest regrowth if the development continues.
http://www.skogoglandskap.no/publikasjon/kulturlandskapet_gror_igjen
Here is an example.
These pictures where taken in the same location: 1963 and 2003
Interesting photos.
Once the ice retreated the forests took over; it is only because of human activity that we de-forested again. I prefer the new landscape, how about you?
Once the ice retreated the forests took over; it is only because of human activity that we de-forested again. I prefer the new landscape, how about you?
The new landscape gives me more landscape to roam around in as it is now rckoned as uncultivated land. But I prefer the open lanscape that I grew up in that actually had a view.
It had been like that since at least the Bronze age.
But again...it has it's advantages. me taking a sapling or five for barbecuing some hot togs over the fire will have little impact on the landscape. And my even help the tree next to it.
Also the trees here are just left to rot. There is no management at all. Some landwoners may go in and take some birch for fire wood now and then. Thats it.
The other change. Where before I put my skis on to go in the winter...I'll probably make to change to snow shoes next year. Skis are to unwieldy in dense undergrowth we have now.
Well, the skis can still come on the pulk...
Bumbler I heartily agree on some points. Though the Norway we'll see in 10-20 years time will be akin to what was there before man started clearing the way for his animals and crops all those eons ago. There would have been wild birch, alder, willow etc (with Norwegian Blue parrots sitting in the branches) before the pressure especially in your steep sided fjords for land called for their clearing. And the goats and sheep have kept it that way. Same thing happens over here remove the TGB's (Sheep) and the woodland comes back really quickly. Only a tiny fraction of the UK is not modified by man. Seed can lie dormant for a very long time. Not all bits were forested, the cairngorm tops I was talking about are an alpine environment, trees would never take hold on the very tops, or those that do in little sheltered microclimates are true wild bonsai.
I think from reading your posts that any sapplings you do split will be done responsibly, you know what your doing, and I do the same myself. You go to some areas though and there are numerious fire rings side by side because the idiots don't realise the impact it has. In an established camp one fire ring should be all thats needed and indeed often shouldn't be cleared to encourage others to use the same area. Wild camping or in sensative areas hide/clear it.
Would love to see Norway, where my folks supposidly come from, health and money are keeping me away for now, I'm sure you'll look after it for me.
I think from reading your posts that any sapplings you do split will be done responsibly, you know what your doing, and I do the same myself. You go to some areas though and there are numerious fire rings side by side because the idiots don't realise the impact it has. In an established camp one fire ring should be all thats needed and indeed often shouldn't be cleared to encourage others to use the same area. Wild camping or in sensative areas hide/clear it.
Would love to see Norway, where my folks supposidly come from, health and money are keeping me away for now, I'm sure you'll look after it for me.
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