Coppicing

At a glance..

This article explores the somewhat-less-ancient, somewhat-more-sophisticated technique of coppicing with standards, by which you let some trees grow to maturity and thus add sawlogs to your product.

The details..

'Coppicing-with-standards' by Philip Stewart explores an ancient silvicultural system that has virtues which have been unwisely forgotten. The practice involves letting some trees grow to maturity and thus adding sawlogs to your product while frequently recutting other trees or shrubs for firewood.

The fully developed coppice-with-standards system allows for diversity in species and ages, making it aesthetically more attractive than simple coppice or even-aged high-forest. This rich animal and bird population makes all types of woodland habitats represented in close proximity.

This book explains how this technique was practiced everywhere else but America centuries ago until quite recently when it was abandoned due to lack of demand for small logs and poles either for rustic construction or fuel. However, if there's a dense enough human population to make silviculture possible and desirable along with a demand for these products then Coppicing-with-standards deserves revival.

Although few places still operate on this method today, forest historians have shown interest in its subject matter; however, modern work on developing methods adapting from it remains scarce.