The Future.
There is one thing that is permanent in life, and that’s change.
To predict the future you have to take a look back at past. That is understandable, after looking back at the past and seeing the amount of destruction and mismanagement of the woodland many people feared for the future of our woods. Will we continue to abandon them like we have done for over a century? Will we continue to let the old skills die out? Will there come a day when none of us will know of an old character who works in the woodland? Could there be a day when a society no longer remembers what the woodlands were for and how important they were to our survival?
It is my personal believe that the future of our woodlands is now firmly secured and there is now a chance of making changes for the better. There is plenty to be optimistic about. We should be aware though, that there are still plenty of challenges to overcome. We have the threat of climate change, even though, we are still not taking our foot of the gas, together with the pressures of increasing populations.
People’s attitudes have change dramatically towards the countryside and the woods within it. You only have to look at the membership numbers of the various conservation groups. The National Trust, Woodland Trust and the Wildlife trusts and many others have seen their membership explode over the last 10 years and expect it to continue year on year, with a combined figure of about 7 million members.
People are starting to see the that woodlands are important. You only have to see how many community woodlands there are around the country and the people who are caring and using them.
We will see more planting trees and areas of woodlands as agriculture is on the retreat. You can see corners of fields being planted up all ready. There is work being done at the moment to see if it is possible to ‘contact’ woods back up again as they have been fragmented by agriculture.
Are plenty of trees a good thing? Yes, without a doubt, but let’s not forget about the woodlands that have been here for a thousand years, otherwise the new woodlands will go the same way in the future. We also need quality, not quantity. It must be taken into account that, with all the technology man has at his finger tips he will under no circumstances be capable of ever reproducing our ancient woods. One example being that the soil of our ancient woodlands aren’t sodden with agricultural fertiliser and that our ancient woodlands are still full of archaeology saved from the plough.
The Governments of the world are starting to look at renewable energy sources. Trees are the definitive renewable energy, trees can be cropped for their wood for thousands of years, once they are harvested they just grow back. I would say that’s pretty renewable, wouldn’t you? There are plans for wood chip power stations around the country and we have thousands upon thousands of acres of abandoned woodlands growing millions of tonnes of wood each year. It is rather perverse then that we import 95% of BBQ charcoal when we should be using the local woodland for this.
Tourism will play an important role in the viability of the woods and the woodland business’. After the devastation that Foot and Mouth caused, it soon became apparent that the tourist trade was worth more to the rural economy than agriculture. Since then we have seen, and will continue to see, a maintained promotional drive for the tourist industry. Here in Dorset alone we have over 4.1 million visitors to the Purbeck Isle and this is a very small part of Dorset. There are many local initiatives going on throughout the country and the potential for woodland business’ to exploit this market is vast.
The woodsmen of this country have every reason to be proud of themselves. If it wasn’t for their self believe in what they do and for their wisdom, our woods may have been well beyond rescue. Their ability to be innovative in the products that they create and their passion to keep the woods working and having the courage to keep a exceptional way of life a live should be commended.
We, as woodsmen should at any given opportunity take it upon our selves to make sure that the woodlands we work in today are being looked after for the future. We should be creating new pollards, paying good attention to the ancient trees, increasing biodiversity and in a lot of case’s record the composition of each and every woodland we work in and then donate them to our County Record Office who will be more than appreciative of our work and vision. It would become a very significant document for centuries to come.
We mustn’t be afraid to share our skills and knowledge. In fact, it is our duty to do so. It is imperative to teach the young, as it is they who will be the custodians of the woodlands that we so adore.
As I am sure that our ghost’s will one day be walking the ancient rides of our old woods we should make sure that we are managing the woods for the young man who walks into the woodlands in a hundred years time and starts to learn the art of hurdle making and the skills of woodmanship, he will look around and see his children playing in a wonderful and safe environment thank us for thinking of him and looking after his beautiful and magnificent woodlands.
Lucky, is the child of a hurdle maker.
There is one thing that is permanent in life, and that’s change.
To predict the future you have to take a look back at past. That is understandable, after looking back at the past and seeing the amount of destruction and mismanagement of the woodland many people feared for the future of our woods. Will we continue to abandon them like we have done for over a century? Will we continue to let the old skills die out? Will there come a day when none of us will know of an old character who works in the woodland? Could there be a day when a society no longer remembers what the woodlands were for and how important they were to our survival?
It is my personal believe that the future of our woodlands is now firmly secured and there is now a chance of making changes for the better. There is plenty to be optimistic about. We should be aware though, that there are still plenty of challenges to overcome. We have the threat of climate change, even though, we are still not taking our foot of the gas, together with the pressures of increasing populations.
People’s attitudes have change dramatically towards the countryside and the woods within it. You only have to look at the membership numbers of the various conservation groups. The National Trust, Woodland Trust and the Wildlife trusts and many others have seen their membership explode over the last 10 years and expect it to continue year on year, with a combined figure of about 7 million members.
People are starting to see the that woodlands are important. You only have to see how many community woodlands there are around the country and the people who are caring and using them.
We will see more planting trees and areas of woodlands as agriculture is on the retreat. You can see corners of fields being planted up all ready. There is work being done at the moment to see if it is possible to ‘contact’ woods back up again as they have been fragmented by agriculture.
Are plenty of trees a good thing? Yes, without a doubt, but let’s not forget about the woodlands that have been here for a thousand years, otherwise the new woodlands will go the same way in the future. We also need quality, not quantity. It must be taken into account that, with all the technology man has at his finger tips he will under no circumstances be capable of ever reproducing our ancient woods. One example being that the soil of our ancient woodlands aren’t sodden with agricultural fertiliser and that our ancient woodlands are still full of archaeology saved from the plough.
The Governments of the world are starting to look at renewable energy sources. Trees are the definitive renewable energy, trees can be cropped for their wood for thousands of years, once they are harvested they just grow back. I would say that’s pretty renewable, wouldn’t you? There are plans for wood chip power stations around the country and we have thousands upon thousands of acres of abandoned woodlands growing millions of tonnes of wood each year. It is rather perverse then that we import 95% of BBQ charcoal when we should be using the local woodland for this.
Tourism will play an important role in the viability of the woods and the woodland business’. After the devastation that Foot and Mouth caused, it soon became apparent that the tourist trade was worth more to the rural economy than agriculture. Since then we have seen, and will continue to see, a maintained promotional drive for the tourist industry. Here in Dorset alone we have over 4.1 million visitors to the Purbeck Isle and this is a very small part of Dorset. There are many local initiatives going on throughout the country and the potential for woodland business’ to exploit this market is vast.
The woodsmen of this country have every reason to be proud of themselves. If it wasn’t for their self believe in what they do and for their wisdom, our woods may have been well beyond rescue. Their ability to be innovative in the products that they create and their passion to keep the woods working and having the courage to keep a exceptional way of life a live should be commended.
We, as woodsmen should at any given opportunity take it upon our selves to make sure that the woodlands we work in today are being looked after for the future. We should be creating new pollards, paying good attention to the ancient trees, increasing biodiversity and in a lot of case’s record the composition of each and every woodland we work in and then donate them to our County Record Office who will be more than appreciative of our work and vision. It would become a very significant document for centuries to come.
We mustn’t be afraid to share our skills and knowledge. In fact, it is our duty to do so. It is imperative to teach the young, as it is they who will be the custodians of the woodlands that we so adore.
As I am sure that our ghost’s will one day be walking the ancient rides of our old woods we should make sure that we are managing the woods for the young man who walks into the woodlands in a hundred years time and starts to learn the art of hurdle making and the skills of woodmanship, he will look around and see his children playing in a wonderful and safe environment thank us for thinking of him and looking after his beautiful and magnificent woodlands.
Lucky, is the child of a hurdle maker.
