Coppicing for the supply of sustainable materials from ancient and new woodlands

Coppicing as a woodland management technique

Coppicing has been practiced for centuries as an important woodland management technique. In the UK, evidence of coppicing dates back as much as six thousand years. Although coppicing "the art of cutting of trees and shrubs to ground level" may appear counter intuitive to the supply of sustainable timber, coppicing nonetheless provides sustainable material at the sizes that we require. Why grow oversized timber and then cut it to size when nature can "do it in the round" without human effort?

The practice of coppicing in woodland management allow vigorous regrowth of the cut tree (this is known as th stool)and trees and shrubs that are cut in this way can produce shoots that grow over 30cm in a week. Coppiced trees are also unusual in that they will live many times longer than if the the tree had not been cut down at all.

The practice of coppicing in woodland management is equally important as a management technique in new woodlands as well as those of ancient woodland. Young broadleaved trees that may have become stunted in early growth can become invigorated simply by cutting to ground level. Thus a young tree that may have been growing at perhaps 20 cm a year is transformed into a vigorous stool with annual growth in the early years exceeding 1.5 metres.

The coppicing web site details the benefits of coppicing and looks at the fascinating case of an ancient woodland that is managed through the technique. Adjoining new woodland is also illustrated in the case study as the long term management of the wood is directed towards the creation of a larger block of coppiced woodland.