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Hi Nancy & All, Feb 7, 2014
No harm to try it. The stump shoots (coppice shoots) will either grow
well, grow poorly or die. Circumstances, especially grazing animals and site
quality but also competition from trees left will have a major impact.
Grazing animals, wild or domesticated, are death to coppice shoots. In
Britain, coppicing in settled areas was not possible on common land until
Edward IV enacted a law in 1483 that made it legal to enclose commonable
woods for seven years after cutting (Trees, woods & man, Edlin, 1956).
It does not take a dense deer population (or of any animals with a taste
for greens) to graze succulent suckers to death when trees are selectively
cut as opposed to clearcut. Over a 32 year period I have selectively cut
about 30 cord of Wire and White Birch in North Alton and few if any of the
suckers have survived; those that survived deer, were snuffed out by
competition. Deer seem to avoid Red Maple suckers but seek out Ash and Wire
Birch suckers.
So I think a coppice area would have to be fairly large (1-2 acres) and
clearcut except for scattered standards and on a site not subject to
invasion by spruce or fir. This used to be standard practice here, even when
the choppings had a cow per 10-20 acres, and enough survived to cut barrel
hoops and then firewood 30-40 years later.
Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
----- Original Message -----
From: "nancy dowd" <nancypdowd@gmail.com>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2014 8:36 AM
Subject: [NatureNS] coppicing for firewood
> In the Winter 2013 edition of Northern Woodlands magazine there was an
> article about the use of coppicing to produce firewood (Coppicing Firewood
> by
> Brett R. McLeod p71). This short piece is not available online yet (your
> public library may get this publication however) but the general method
> discussed by the author is outlined on this UK site where coppicing seems
> to be more common:
> http://www.stovesonline.co.uk/coppicing-firewood.html
>
> The author says he produces 3-4" diameter firewood on his New England
> woodlot on an 8-12yr cycle using birch, maple, oak etc this way. He
> suggests the permanently immature coppiced trees make good wildlife
> habitat as well.
>
> It sounds like like a sustainable method of firewood production to me and
> I wonder if it is practiced much in NA? Could it be used on a large scale?
> I might try this out on a few trees when cutting firewood this fall.
>
> Nancy
>
>
>
>
> -----
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