Each year, some eight million ‘natural’ Christmas Trees [which may be Norway Spruce or Silver Fir or Nordmann Fir  or Scots Pine] are bought in the U.K; it is estimated that several million of these end up in landfill.   When a tree ends up in landfill, it costs the local authority as they have to pay for every tonne of waste sent to landfill. Whilst consigning them to landfill is better than them being discarded in local streets or left on pavements etc, the needles and wood of the trees take time to decompose [think of the soft cushion underfoot when walking through a pine woodland]. Also, the process of decomposition releases significant quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  Sometimes the councils have schemes so that the trees are shredded / chipped to create material that can be used as mulch / weed suppressant / soil conditioner. Read more...

The loss of woodlands and forest across the world is but another example of human interference with natural ecosystems.    Tropical forests are raided for their exotic hardwoods or subject to wholesale clearing for ‘cash crops’ e.g. oil palms.  However, it would seem that this destruction is nothing new.     Professors Kaplan and Kolen have analysed soils for ash and suggested that the early (hunter-gatherer) settlers in Europe lit fires to clear the ‘wildwood’ so that grassland or more open woodland / steppe-like areas would develop.    Read more...

Timber prices last year went up 28%.  This is according to the report that John Clegg and Tilhill forestry put together for the year ending September 2018.  The increase was driven by exchange rate changes and increases in demand for traditional wood-using industries such as sawmilling, board production and biomass for renewable energy.  "Virgin wood burnt as biomass accounts for four million tonnes a year now," according to Tilhill's Peter Whitfield. The industry has also been helped by the improvement in timber processing plants such as Norbord in Inverness, James Jones in Lockerbie and British Soft Woods (BSW) at Fort William.  A single investment of £95 million by Norbord in 2017 was equivalent to twice the usual annual investment in timber processing plant. The Tilhill/Clegg report also shows how demand has driven up land prices so that even for large woodlands (over 50 acres) in Wales the average selling price is almost £5,000 per acre.  Looking at the mixed woodlands market more generally on average these sell for 10% above the guide price and the big factors which push up values are Read more...

Tim Britton is the owner of a small woodland where he tries to promote species diversity through what he calls "low key management".  He's created a wildflower meadow, manages several small ponds and keeps a handful of Jacobs sheep.  Tim pursues a lifestyle which is as low-carbon as possible and he heats his house with a wood-burner, using wood from his woodland.  He also minimises his carbon footprint, like many people, by never flying, growing a lot of his own vegetables and travelling by bike and public transport.  He's also been keeping bees for 35 years. "We're the only creature on earth that's evolved to sniff out the Carbon deposits, dig them out and convert them at high speed into Carbon Dioxide - so bringing our own distinct geological era"  points out Tim Britton.  His film is a response to behaviour which releases carbon and is creating the emerging environmental catastrophe:  "I'm hoping my film, 'Carbon Weevils', will get people to think of themselves in a different light - by taking a step sideways we can laugh and be slightly embarrassed at the same time.  I think serious stuff wrapped up in humour is a good way to get people thinking - and I hope it's just a small nudge towards changing minds." Read more...

Sweden has a lot of forest and woodland.   In fact, roughly half of the country is covered by trees.  Travelling back some two thousand years, the trees were mainly broadleaved but then oaks and alders began to decline.  However, by the mid twentieth century Spruces and Pines were dominant.  This was mainly due to the process of forestry management, producing wood for fuel, charcoal [used in iron smelting], potash, tar and timber for building. However, the recent record breaking temperatures and drought across many parts of Europe have put large areas of Swedish forest at risk.   Rainfall in Sweden this year has been dramatically down - approximately a seventh of the normal amount. One has to look back to the C19th century to find similarly low figures.  Read more...

The recent hot spell has seen a number of fires, not only in the UK but across the world (Arizona , Victoria Australia, Indonesia).  Spells of extreme heat (and drought) have been known throughout history but it would seem that with climate change / global warming extreme events have become more common.   Data show that the years of the 21st century are among the warmest on record - global air temperatures have risen by 1oC since the industrial revolution. Extreme temperatures have been recorded in many places across the globe.   Ouargla in Algeria soared to 124.3o F (51.3oC), Denver recorded at temperature of 105o F, Montreal recorded 97.9o F, Glasgow hit 89.4o F, Shannon in Ireland reached 89.6o F, Tbilisi (Georgia) soared to 104.9o F and parts of Pakistan are reported to have reached 50oC.   No record by itself can be ascribed to global warming but these and many other records across the globe are consistent with the extremes that can now be expected (more often) in a world that is warming - as atmospheric greenhouse gas levels increase due to human activity (we have entered the anthropocene). Hot and dry conditions mean that plant material can dry out quickly, so that a thicker layer of plant material / litter is formed - which provides significant fuel for fires.   Studies of some areas suggest that the increased Winter and Spring rainfall (again associated with climate change) encourages plant growth, creating more material for fires (when dry conditions obtain later in the year). Read more...

When I first moved to Sweden, friends from the UK sent me countless books and magazine articles on the culture and tradition of the log stack. How I would become fanatical about length, order and symmetry of my log shed and how by the end of spring I would be  fitter than at any time of the year. Each year the first job of spring time as winter crawls back is to sort out your log store for the following winter. Living in the Northern part of Sweden, winter is a big thing.  Logs are like currency and timing seems to be everything. You need to cut your timber, and as silver birch makes the best logs for us, its in the depths of winter when the tree isn’t drawing water. Read more...

Pine trees are found across the world, there are over one hundred different species.  Many are native to the coniferous forests  (Taiga) of the Northern Hemisphere.  Their evergreen needles (leaves) offer shade in summer, and the trees may offer a degree of shelter from the winds of autumn and winter.  Gardeners and foresters 'like' Pines as they generally tolerate nutrient poor and somewhat dry soils.   In the period after WW2,  considerable areas of ‘low grade’ land were pressed into service (in the U.K.).   Areas around Thetford and Kielder were used, as were some sandy coastal sites (for example,  Holkham in Norfolk) and many large tracts of land in Scotland.  Pines are central to the business of agroforestry in places like the U.K,  New Zealand and Brazil, providing a source of lumber.    Read more...