Coppice in Brief

Coppice in Brief Rob Jarman and Pieter D. Kofman INTRODUCT I ON Coppice (noun): An area of [wood]land and hazel (Corylus avellana) for poles and split- (on forest or agricultural land) that has been wood products. Coppice woodlands supplied regenerated from shoots and/or root suckers the needs of rural and urban communities for formed at the stumps of previously felled trees millennia, in a relatively sustainable way, until or shrubs. the Industrial Revolution, at which time the [Adapted from IUFRO Silva Term Database 1995] growing population and the demand for fuels and materials exceeded the capacities of the Coppice is a word that is used to cover many coppices to supply, requiring the importation things, including: a type of woodland consisting of fossil fuels and wood products. ‘Traditional’ of trees that are periodically cut; the multi- coppice management declined during the past stemmed trees that occur in such woodlands; century and many coppices were abandoned or the process of felling (i.e. coppicing) the trees; converted to high forest, plantations or other and the production of new shoots by recently- land uses. cut stools. The principle of coppicing is simple: There is currently a resurgence of interest in it is the ability of many woody plants (trees and coppicing for intensive production of wood for shrubs) to regrow from cut or damaged stems energy or manufactured products, as well as or roots. At its simplest, a single-stemmed tree for ecological and cultural objectives. Newly that has grown from a seed or a sucker is cut planted short rotation coppices (SRCs) typically down and allowed to regrow: several shoots will rely on species such as Eucalyptus or Robinia, then sprout. Repeated felling at multi-annual or vigorous hybrids of poplar, willow or alder; intervals will produce a multi-stemmed tree, they may be classed as an agricultural land use growing from a base called a stool. A group of rather than as forestry. such multi-stemmed stools in one site are what Restoration of former coppice woodlands may then form a coppice, i.e. ‘coppice woodland’, or attempt to replicate a traditional system, or ‘coppice forest’. adapt management to meet modern require- In some regions/countries, elaborate forms of ments for wood production and other societal coppice management have evolved over centu- and environmental benefits. Food production ries, designed to produce specific resources from coppices can be locally important (e.g. from coppice systems of selected species cut fungi, nuts, berries, honey) and artisanal on strict rotational cycles. Sweet chestnut products can also be of local economic interest (Castanea sativa) has been managed in single (e.g. hazel thatching spars, chestnut fencing, species coppices for poles; likewise sessile oak limewood turnery, willow basketry). (Quercus petraea) for tanbark and charcoal; Corresponding Author: Rob Jarman, [email protected] 22 Overview Coppice Forests in Europe SI LV I CULTURE AND TREE MANAGE M ENT SY S TE ms Two basic systems of coppice woodland management are recognised: simple coppice; and coppice with standards. A third, rarer system is selection coppice. In addition, there are two management systems that apply coppicing principles of vegetative regrowth to individual trees, rather than to woods: these are termed pollarding and shredding. Finally, there is a new system of coppice that is often considered a type of agriculture: short rotation coppice. Figure 1 illustrates five applications of coppicing (excluding selection coppice) and the typical landscapes that result from them; each application is described in the following sections. Simple coppice standards is adjusted. Over time, some of the oldest trees may be retained for veteran tree This is woodland managed as an even-aged, interests, whilst younger generations of stand- single-storey structure, typically producing ards need to be recruited, but at a density that small/medium-sized roundwood for poles avoids over-shading that would degrade the or fuelwood. The coppice is cut on a regular coppice. rotation, the length of which depends on the product required and also on species, location, Selection coppice rate of growth and environmental/societal inter- Two or three age classes of stems are rotated ests (though usually between 15 and 30 years). on the same coppice stool, to provide specific Theoretically, the coppice is managed by sizes or shapes of poles for particular purposes. sequential cutting of ‘coupes’ (= compartments) They can be found, for example, in some of throughout the woodland, with the woodland the mountain beechwoods and holm oaks of divided into the number of ‘coupes’ equal to the Europe. Hazel coppice is sometimes cut in this number of years in the planned rotation: one way, to provide thin straight rods for thatching coupe is then cut each year. Coppice woodlands spars and, later, larger poles for fence hurdles managed in this way, are described as ‘in-cycle’, or building. or ‘in-rotation’. Pollarding Coppice with standards A pollard is a tree that is cut like a coppice stool, In this method, the woodland is multi-storied, but at a height above the ground intended to with an understorey of coppice underwood cut be out of reach of browsing animals (typically regularly to produce small material, as well as more than one to two metres). New shoots a partial overstorey of standard trees that can grow from the decapitated trunk and can be be grown from seed or from selected stems harvested periodically in just the same way as on stools and allowed to grow to a sufficient from a coppice stool, whilst grazing animals can size for timber or tree products. Coppice with use the land beneath the tree – multi-purpose standards is more difficult to manage than land use. Willow and poplar pollards are also simple coppice as it is necessary to manage the widely used to stabilise banks of water courses. species, number, age and location of the large overstorey trees, as they will affect the growth Pollards can grow for centuries whilst being of the understorey crop. The underwood is repeatedly cropped for shoots, used for live- managed as simple coppice: after cutting each stock fodder, for poles, firewood or even for coupe, the number and distribution of the small timber. Some of the most ancient trees in Coppice Forests in Europe Overview 23 Simple coppice Coppice with standards Pollarding Shredding Short rotation coppice Coppice in forest landscapes Coppice in agricultural landscapes Figure 1. Types of coppice management and typical landscapes that result from them (Illustrations: Ruta Kazaka) 24 Overview Coppice Forests in Europe Europe are pollards. In many regions, pollarding single stem tree, ultimately able to provide large for production purposes has died out, but may dimension timber. Shredded trees are typically be continued for ancient tree management found alongside tracks or field boundaries and objectives or for landscaping reasons. In some also in some pasture-woodland systems. regions, pollarding for firewood and fodder Short rotation coppice (SRC) is still practised e.g. on Ash (Fraxinus), Lime (Tilia) and Elm (Ulmus). This is a special example of ‘simple coppice’ that is mainly on agricultural land. The lifespan Shredding of any shoots is short compared with those This is the practice of cutting side branches of traditional coppice woodlands (typically from the main trunk of a tree while retaining between 1 and 3 years): the stools may need the crown, typically to provide wood and fodder to be replanted after only 5 to 7 rotations to for livestock. Unlike pollarding, the tree is not maintain site productivity. decapitated and continues to grow upwards as a BI OLOGY OF COPP I CE SHOOT S The ability of woody plants to re-sprout is a Regeneration of coppice shoots and natural adaptation that enables survival after longevity of stools damage to the tree/shrub from animals, fire, The probable number of shoots that will be storm or pathogens. Not all tree species can produced from any one species of tree when produce coppice shoots – most conifers (gymno- coppiced depends on many factors, including sperms) cannot, whilst most broadleaved trees stump size, age, condition, site parameters, (angiosperms) can. Some species regenerate competition from other plants. It is certainly more readily from stumps, some from root possible for coppice stools several hundred years suckers; over centuries, some individual plants old to continue to produce abundant shoots when can spread to a considerable area in their above routinely coppiced, even though the centre of ground stool or underground root structures, the stool may have completely died out leaving creating clonal structures covering hundreds of a ring of productive stems several metres in square metres. circumference. Origins of coppice shoots It is quite possible that some stools of long-lived Tilia Castanea There are three ways in which coppice shoots species such as and are more form (see box on following page for details): than a thousand years old. These species are particularly successful at vegetative reproduc- • ‘Stump shoots’ that originate from dormant tion through layering, which is the rooting of buds suppressed in the bark; branches that are in direct contact with the • ‘Stool shoots’ that originate from adventi- soil. Layering to produce genetically identical tious buds in callus tissue following cutting clonal offspring may take place either naturally or wounding; following collapse of a tree’s stem, or as part of • ‘Suckers’ that originate from adventitious a deliberate management procedure to generate buds along a tree’s roots. new stools within a coppice. Coppice Forests in Europe Overview 25 ‘Stump shoots’ are the usual response of a broadleaved tree to cutting, when dormant buds buried in the bark are stimulated to break dormancy and sprout. Dormant buds are the primary source of most coppice (and pollard) shoots and they should be favoured after cutting, as they will form the strongest shoots.

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