Woodland Management to Maximise Tree Quality

Nicholsons Forestry division are currently managing thinning operations in two areas of mixed conifer and broadleaved woodland for a client in Oxfordshire. The work will remove the majority of the conifers (larch and Corsican pine) from the woods to leave a mainly broadleaved woodland. Conifers are often planted as a 'nurse crop' with the intention that they will be removed part-way through the life of the wood once the broadleaved trees are well established. A few larch and pine are being left where these will add to the quality of the landscape as viewed from the nearby village.
The operations are being carried out using a Timberjack harvester, though the row spacing in the wood is only just sufficient to allow the machine through and in places we are also having to fell a few small broadleaved trees.