THE Future Trees Trust has announced the publication of the Birch Woodland Management Handbook (second edition).
Written by Richard Worrell and commissioned by Scottish Forestry, Forestry England and the Future Trees Trust, the aim of the book is to present best-practice guidance on managing birch woodland, updating the first edition published in 1999.
Birch is the most common type of broadleaved woodland in the UK by area, and is a popular tree to plant. Recent years have seen interest in birch as a timber tree continuing to increase as across the UK managers find a ready market for birch firewood, enabling better management of formerly neglected birch woodland.
Birch timber has good properties of strength, density and appearance, and is an excellent turning and peeling timber. It was an important timber in previous centuries and, with proper management, could resume its place as a valuable timber resource. Planting stock of good form is now available thanks to decades of tree improvement work.
What is now needed is an era when foresters grow birch for sawlogs at a scale that enables birch to become established in hardwood timber markets.
A copy can be ordered for £20 with free UK postage and packaging from www.futuretrees.org.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here