Japanese chestnut

For the locality in Oldham, see Coppice, Greater Manchester. Japanese chestnut to be confused with Corpse or Cops.

Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. The widespread and long-term practice of coppicing as a landscape-scale industry is something that remains of special importance in southern England. Typically a coppiced woodland is harvested in sections or coups on a rotation. In this way, a crop is available each year somewhere in the woodland. Trees being coppiced cannot die of old age as coppicing maintains the tree at a juvenile stage, allowing them to reach immense ages. Evidence suggests that coppicing has been continuously practised since pre-history. Coppiced stems are characteristically curved at the base.

This curve occurs as the competing stems grow out from the stool in the early stages of the cycle, then up toward the sky as the canopy closes. Originally, the silvicultural system now called coppicing was practiced solely for small wood production. In German this is called Niederwald, which translates as low forest. Later on in Mediaeval times, farmers encouraged pigs to feed from acorns, and so some trees were allowed to grow bigger. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the technology of charcoal iron production became widely established in England, continuing in some areas until the late 19th century Along with the growing need for oak bark for tanning, this required large amounts of coppice wood.

In the 18th century coppicing in Britain began a long decline. This was brought about by the erosion of its traditional markets. Firewood was no longer needed for domestic or industrial uses as coal and coke became easily obtained and transported, and wood as a construction material was gradually replaced by newer materials. Another, more complicated system is called compound coppice.

Here some of the standards would be left, some harvested. Some of the coppice would be allowed to grow into new standards and some regenerated coppice would be there. Thus there would be three age classes. Withies for wicker-work are grown in coppices of various willow species, principally osier. Some Eucalyptus species are coppiced in a number of countries, including Australia, North America, Uganda, and Sudan. The Sal tree is coppiced in India, and the Moringa oleifera tree is coppiced in many countries, including India.

Sometimes former coppice is converted to high-forest woodland by the practice of singling. The boundaries of coppice coups were sometimes marked by cutting certain trees as pollards or stubs. Old hornbeam coppice stools left uncut for at least 100 years. Coppices provided wood for many purposes, especially charcoal before coal was economically significant in metal smelting. In northwest England, coppice-with-standards has been the norm, the standards often of oak with relatively little simple coppice. After World War II, a great deal was planted up with conifers or became neglected.

Coppice-working almost died out, though a few men continued in the woods. Coppice management favours a range of wildlife, often of species adapted to open woodland. However, most British coppices have not been managed in this way for many decades. The open-woodland animals survive in small numbers along woodland rides or not at all, and many of these once-common species have become rare. Coppice and pollard growth is a response of the tree to damage, and can occur naturally.

Trees may be browsed or broken by large herbivorous animals, such as cattle or elephants, felled by beavers or blown over by the wind. Coppicing of willow, alder and poplar for energy wood has proven commercially successful. Species and cultivars vary in when they should be cut, regeneration times and other factors. However, full life cycle analysis has shown that poplars have a lower effect in greenhouse gas emissions for energy production than alternatives. How to Make Biomass Energy Sustainable Again”. Incredible 15th-Century Japanese Technique for Growing Ultra-Straight Cedar Trees”. Trees that tower over the past and present”.

The Effect of Man on the Landscape: The Lowland Zone. A Critique of Silviculture Managing for Complexity Chapter 1 Historical Context of Silviculture Puettmann, K. Forestry in the Weald, Forestry Commission Booklet 22, C. Silviculture Concepts and Applications, Ralph D.