Responsible hazel coppicing tips?

[Lee Wright]

Hi all, looking to coppice some hazel staffs to make a geodesic dome with my explorer group and was wondering if anyone has an idiots guide so as not to damage the tree or prevent regrowth. Also what are the laws on taking wood from a public place?

Cheers, Lee.

 

[spandit]

Taking wood from a public place without permission is illegal. It's theft, plain and simple.

 

[TallMikeM]

not getting into legalities (I'll leave that for others). We have a fair amount of hazel on our place, which is in various states of coppice (tho not intentially, I think the previous owners just had it all cut down and it's coppieced itself). I tend to take poles out in much the same way as I might prune a shrub or fruit tree (one of the perils of being a trained gardener I guess). So I try to take out crossing wood, stuff that's growing away from where I want it, any of the 3 D's, that kind of thing. Most woody plants are pretty forgiving to being pruned, and hazel seems to be more forgiving than most.

 

[greensurfingbear]

Tis true coppicing and removing wood from public park/ nature reserve could land you in trouble. I'd recommend talking to your local Rangers and asking. Hazel its pretty forgiving when it comes to regrowing. Good luck with it and lets see some pics when you are done.

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

 

[treelore]

Contact your local foresty commission office and they would be more than glad to help.
It'll be a case of them having tp do it for you or one of there contractors as you need to have public liability
insurance and be on the contractors list.... Pain I know.

But if you find a private wood that will give you access etc then you only need a few tools to do it your self.
Axe/billhooks and a hand saw.

Don't bother selecting what to take from a stool, just cut it all down and sift through what you want then place the unwanted brash back on top of the stool, this helps prevent deer etc from brousing the re-growth. You want to leave all the cuts clean and at an angle so rain water will run off. The easyest way to discribe this is to look at your hand and think of it with no fingers... Cut off lol, clean, angled little stumps to help regrowth. Hard to put into words

If you need to know anything else give me a shout.

Google and see if there is a local coppicer working around you and really all coppice work is carried out from October to march..

Alll the best

Treelore

 

[treelore]

Contact your local foresty commission office and they would be more than glad to help.
It'll be a case of them having tp do it for you or one of there contractors as you need to have public liability
insurance and be on the contractors list.... Pain I know.

But if you find a private wood that will give you access etc then you only need a few tools to do it your self.
Axe/billhooks and a hand saw.

Don't bother selecting what to take from a stool, just cut it all down and sift through what you want then place the unwanted brash back on top of the stool, this helps prevent deer etc from brousing the re-growth. You want to leave all the cuts clean and at an angle so rain water will run off. The easyest way to discribe this is to look at your hand and think of it with no fingers... Cut off lol, clean, angled little stumps to help regrowth. Hard to put into words

If you need to know anything else give me a shout.

Google and see if there is a local coppicer working around you and really all coppice work is carried out from October to march..

Alll the best

Treelore

 

[Melonfish]

Legality aside i will assume you have permission to coppice.
i can only really recommend that you do so in the winter months, coppicing this time of year will deprive animals their valuable hazel harvest and you'll get a load of hazel full of sap which will be heavier and take longer to dry.

as Treelore has stated, cut whole stumps rather then pick at them, cut the stools down so they stick perhaps 2-3" above the ground and make sure the cuts are clean and sloped away from the centre of the tree to allow water to run off. don't worry about the hazel stool it will happily grow new shoots come next season! this clean cut is called a "heel" usually its gotten with an axe but a saw can do it.
again Treelore has the knowledge here, check for a local coppicer he'll most likely has stuff cut from last winter.
pete

 

[Elines]

Of no immediate use but may be for the future or for others. In Leicestershire, the County Council uses volunteers to help maintain the country parks. This is likely to increase/spread given the cutbacks in local government.

My first volunteer day was coppicing hazel, earlier this year. Loads of stuff was removed and it was virtually all burnt.

So if you can get into this you will get training (ie a demo on what to do) in how to coppice hazel and you may be able to take away as much as you can transport. As you live in Nottingham it may be worth your while registering with Leicestershire County Council - even if you only turn up for the coppicing next year (?at Beacon Hill Lower Car Park)

Contact is:

[FONT=Trebuchet MS, sans-serif]Rhian Short[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, sans-serif]Business Support Officer (Country Parks)[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, sans-serif]Leicestershire County Council[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, sans-serif] [/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, sans-serif]County Hall, Glenfield, Leicester, LE3 8RA[/FONT]
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, sans-serif]Tel: 0116 305 6714 | Mob: 07944 471062 [/FONT]

 

[Kepis]

Per treelore, cut the stool as low as possible so you dont make a trip hazard and angle the cut on the wood so it slopes away from the middle of the tree, this helps any rain water to run off in a direction away from the centre of the tree where it could promote rot, also as above, take what you want and leave the brash over the stump to protect the new shoots from Deer, all the poles should be leant up as vertical as possible against a tree or building to again help rain water run off.

That's the way i was taught to do it by a gent in his 80's who had coppiced all his life

 

[Lee Wright]

Thanks for the replies folks, will reply with more detail tomorrow when the red stripe has let go

Cheers, Lee.

 

[robin wood]

Nottingham Wildlife Trust have one of the best Hazel coppices in the North of England at Treswell Woods, they will be able to supply all you need. Think of coppice hazel as being like growing wheat on and 15 year cycle, if you think it's OK to wander into your neigbouring farmers wheat field and take a bunch without permission of take apples from your neigbours fruit trees then your hazel in a public place is just the same. There are no public places that allow harvesting of this sort of stuff or they would soon be stripped bare of everything.
It should be winter cut or it will not last long. Another possibility is willow grown for biomass or as pollards on riversides, they produce fantastic rods. Often planted as living willow sculptures in schools etc and need cutting every year, find out who's job it is and you have as many rods as you are likely to want.