I was walking in the woods and found this...

[tom.moran]

is public land not our own?

 

[Toddy]

No. You only have permission to use it for certain purposes, and those are decided by a those who manage public lands. Individuals have no rights to determine how those lands are used.

Please remember the guidelines and don't bring in politics or social activism.


cheers,
Toddy

 

[Ivan...]

All the areas of wood I am talking about are managed by the Forestry Commission or owned by the Woodland Trust, where walking, cycling etc etc are positively encouraged, they are predominantly mature softwood woods that have had their second or even third thinnings, so next step is in most cases uneconomical to clear fell as they have to replant, a very expensive game, these massive landowners and companys have had their return.

So the woods are left to these organisations to promote public access, and now i will sort of get to the point, after the extensive forestry operations, there is masses of brush/branches and tops all over the place, so instant material for kids and familys to den/shelter build, which i think in this day and age is to be positively encouraged.

Just my thoughts of course.

Ivan...

 

[rik_uk3]

It's funny how trends change, 10 years ago i would not have seen any! Now i could go out to some of my favourite waliking spots and within an hour i could photograph at least 6, all in woods with public access.

Some are really bad, children just having a go at a den i suppose, but some are very good indeed, people who obviously know what they are doing, i personally don't see anything wrong with any of them and it actually makes me smile when i see them.

I nearly always wander off the path to give them closer inspection, and i would never destroy anyones work, as a woodsman in recent years i have been positively encouraged to stack branches/brush and tops, to form a wildlife corridor, save work burning up etc, and provides a haven for allsorts, don't see that someones attempt at a shelter is any more than that really, also anything that gets kids out and may even encourage them to re visit a previously built shelter or den, is great in my view.

Imagine being 10 and with the help of dad/brother/other family members and friends, spending a couple of hours building one, then returning and somebody has destroyed it, how would you feel?

Anyway each to their own i suppose.

Ivan...

Spot on post chap.

Leave no trace? Great, build a shelter, take it down. Next people come along and scavenge more materials and build/take it down as do the next group and the groups after.

Leave no trace is great so long as you don't leave your common sense at home; Sadly some 'bushcrafters' seem to leave common sense behind them as they climb on their high horse or mount the pulpit to deliver their diatribe.

 

[Ivan...]

We also have a woods near us called The Great Plantation over 300 acres of mixed woods now owned by Teignbridge District Council, who encourage everything except camping and lighting fires!

Dartmoor National Park's headquarters are in the middle of a huge wood and estate left to The National Trust By Major Hole, and the kids from our local primary school go there once a month to practice Bushcraft, my partner goes with them, there is one main firepit where they practice fire by friction, and shelters of all shapes and sizes everywhere.

I think it's magic, i am so jealous of the chap who walks the kids a mile into the wood and gets the chance to do this.

Ivan...

 

[Goatboy]

Forests and trees are odd things. Folk complain when you plant them and complain again when you fell them. It's problem being it's such a long term crop that while our wishes for the land change with fashion, our planting and planning sins are left there for our kids. The way it was put to me as a seedling forester was it's like a farmer planting oats and the EEC changing the rules on him every day that crops in the ground.

It used to be you had a "clean" forest with no brash or dead trees, and all the lower branches removed by saws on poles, then it was bad and you needed dead material, fungus was allowed back in, and change after change. Now bodies like the Forestry Commission are park wardens, which is OK. We find it cheaper to buy timber back in from abroad and our target to be back to pre war/empire forest cover was pretty much achieved.

Letting folk play in them is good, though they should look after them, I also feel folk should remember that a huge majority aren't natures bounty but a standing crop- man made, manipulate by eons of folk fiddling about in them. You wouldn't have so many lovely woodlands in England bar for ownership as crops and playgrounds. They would've got the chop for charcoal like they did up here.

So we have to abide by a few rules, some legal and some moral, I think we're pretty lucky on this small island.

 

[rik_uk3]

Forests and trees are odd things. Folk complain when you plant them and complain again when you fell them. It's problem being it's such a long term crop that while our wishes for the land change with fashion, our planting and planning sins are left there for our kids. The way it was put to me as a seedling forester was it's like a farmer planting oats and the EEC changing the rules on him every day that crops in the ground.

It used to be you had a "clean" forest with no brash or dead trees, and all the lower branches removed by saws on poles, then it was bad and you needed dead material, fungus was allowed back in, and change after change. Now bodies like the Forestry Commission are park wardens, which is OK. We find it cheaper to buy timber back in from abroad and our target to be back to pre war/empire forest cover was pretty much achieved.

Letting folk play in them is good, though they should look after them, I also feel folk should remember that a huge majority aren't natures bounty but a standing crop- man made, manipulate by eons of folk fiddling about in them. You wouldn't have so many lovely woodlands in England bar for ownership as crops and playgrounds. They would've got the chop for charcoal like they did up here.

So we have to abide by a few rules, some legal and some moral, I think we're pretty lucky on this small island.

Superb reply, well written.