Forestry & British Timber articles from October 2003

Forestry & British Timber archives from October 2003

AFTER ARBRE - HOPE LIVES ON.
October 8, 2003... A year ago (FBT October 2002) we published the shattering news of the demise of the forward-looking #30m Arbre bio-energy plant at Eggborough, near Selby, N Yorkshire - a reportedly mere eight days after it began producing electricity. No...

#23m boost for 'damaged' land.
October 8, 2003... 'Newlands' is an ambitious new #23m scheme billed as 'land regeneration for the 21st Century' which is set to economically and socially rejuvenate 435 hectares of derelict land across England's Northwest - an area over three times the size of...

Bio-energy boost courtesy web.(www.forestry.gov.uk/src)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... With biomass energy news hitting the headlines, the Forestry Commission's new website on short-rotation coppice (SRC) should find a ready readership. The www.forestry.gov.uk/src site brings together the latest information on techniques and...

Doubled in a century.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Britain's woodlands have increased in size by a quarter since the 1980 census, the Forestry Commission reports in its latest record of tree cover. They now represent 11.6% of the country's land mass, totalling over 2.6m hectares, a figure which...

TAGGING FOR SURVIVAL.
October 8, 2003... The modern practice of flailing hedges every year means that saplings get trimmed back, along with the hedges, giving them no chance to grow into trees. With this in mind, the Tree Council*, in partnership with National Grid Transco (NGT), has...

Sheffield shows how.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... `When is the use of timber most appropriate?' Delegates at a Sheffield conference on October 22 will only have to look around them to see the answer dramatically answered. Setting for the second `Time for timber' national forum will see that...

Westonbirt went with a swing.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... `An event like this really captures the public's interest in regard to what arboriculture is really about'. Caroline of Proclimber Arborist Supplies was speaking after the summer bank holiday 2003 `Festival of wood' weekend at the National...

UK waste woes wrapped up.
October 8, 2003... Animal bedding, soil conditioners and mulches and surfacing products are among the 20 topical and emerging end-markets included in a new WRAP report on raw-material recycling specifications* (raising feedstock specifications is a priority for...

Myerscough on-line for arb.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... In last month's Forestry and British Timber, Myerscough College launched a new on-line foundation degree in arboriculture*. Based at Preston, Lancs, it described it as `exciting... making it a first in the UK and the college a true world-leader...

Turning over a new leaf.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... `While much attention has quite rightly been placed on the disappearing Amazon rainforest, here in our own district we are in danger of failing to manage and replace our valuable trees and woodlands'. Tom Handley, manager of Wakefield's New...

H&W to Emak.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Efco brushcutter and chainsaw distributors Hemming & Wood Ltd (H&W) changed its trading name to Emak UK Ltd* in September to match that of its northern Italian manufacturing parent company. Last year, Emak SPA sales rose to #125m with...

Fund finance for fuel firm.
October 8, 2003... `The loan has come at just the right time; we have been trading for over four years now but needed to buy some equipment to enable us to expand further and develop the woodchip side of the business'. This was how George Cripps of Blyth,...

Chicksands yields its secret.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Restoring Bedfordshire's Chicksands Wood to how it would have been in the 1600s - later during which John Bunyan was languishing a few miles north in Bedford gaol writing `The Pilgrim's Progress' - is the aim of a Forestry Commission exercise....

Second Welsh dialogue brings hope.
October 8, 2003... Industry concern about the direction that forestry policy in Wales appeared to be heading prompted a meeting with Welsh Assembly environment and forestry minister Carwyn Jones in late summer. (It followed on from the spring Llandrindod Wells...

FTA Nursery Group.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... At a recent meeting attended by a group of Forestry and Timber Association members from the nursery sector it was agreed to set up an FTA Nursery Producers Group*. Its stated objectives are to: * facilitate a more co-ordinated, targeted and...

Scottish spotlight.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... With an end-April 2004 completion date, the future role of the Forestry Commission Scotland estate is currently being examined in a joint review with the Scottish Executive and SNH and an official external forest industries assessor coupled...

Worried about nutrient deficiency?
October 8, 2003... Now is the time - to borrow a saying - for all good foresters to start thinking about nutrient analysis and fertilisation. It has prompted Bill Rayner of FC Forest Research Agency NRS, Roslin to remind them that they could also start to think...

Babtie consultant to SNH.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Leading technical and management consultancy Babtie Group has been appointed framework consultant to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) for the provision of specialist engineering advice. As part of the agreement Babtie will provide advice and...

Bigger flow from US fountain.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... `Hardwood forests are increasingly recognised as an asset class providing diversity from more volatile markets elsewhere'. Bruce Jacobs, president of Fountain Forestry Inc (FFI), of Pittsfield, New Hampshire - a subsidiary of UK company...

Top of the tree.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... A major new conservation award has been won by the Forestry Commission in Northumberland for its efforts to save internationally important bogs and mires and secure the future of the red squirrel. Kielder Forest District has won first place in...

Random harvest could save a million.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... 'Productive woodland in Perthshire and Kinross (has) the potential to produce around 100,000 tonnes of wood-fuel every year as part of normal timber harvesting operations'. This assertion was made by Raymond Henderson of Perth-based property...

Levelling the playing field.
October 8, 2003... Once again, Llandrindod Wells, will be the venue for a major forestry debate. Last April, it hosted a meeting of the Principality's industry forum (`Future uncertain for Wales', FBT, May `03 p3) but this month - at the Metropole Hotel on...

Bats in the belfry.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Up above and down below, Dumfries foresters are involved in a love affair with that high-profile endangered species, the bat. Not only are Forestry Commission Scotland office staff playing host to over 700 of them in the roof space of their...

Expert timber group.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... To take forward much of the work previously carried out by the Supply and Demand sub-committee of the Forestry Commission's Advisory Panel, the FC has set up a new Expert Group on Timber and Trade Statistics. It will continue to work on...

Alive and fluttering.
October 8, 2003... Flourishing dog violets in Wark Forest, Northumberland have led to a renaissance of the rare and magnificent Boloria selene butterfly - or small pearl-bordered fritillary - the Forestry Commission reveals. Vanished from many parts of England,...

Yorks diary date.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Now one of the UK's largest regional forestry events, the six-year-old Yorkshire Woodfair* moves to a new, more spacious home this year - the Great Yorkshire Showground near Harrogate. Now extended to a two-day affair - the weekend of October...

Great chainsaw skills on show.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... The Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate was venue for the 2003 UK National Tree Felling Competition. Sponsored by Husqvarna, Countax, Workwear and the Great Yorkshire Show, it was organised by the UK Competition Loggers Association, who were...

George Reynolds UK court summons.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... George Reynolds himself and fellow director Richard Tennick were summoned by the official receiver under the Insolvency Act to appear at Darlington County Court in September. They were due to be asked about the company, which went under owing...

Lord Rooker's Rectory recce.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Latest step in the Forest of Marston Vale's (FoMV) march forward was the #450,000* it received last spring to enable it to acquire 70- hectare Rectory Farm at Cranfield, Bedfordshire which it will plant with 125,000 native trees and shrubs as a...

Two-way split.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... `Reflecting the importance of forestry in both northern and southern regions', Forest Enterprise Scotland's (FES) headquarters operations are now shared between its existing offices in Inverness and Dumfries, the Scottish Executive has...

Geoff's golden memories.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... `When I first saw Eastridge it was just a mess of scrub and undergrowth. Apart from the oaks we saved, all the good trees had gone'. Geoff Newsum was speaking in August during a return visit to the Shropshire woodland he had created in...

No market - so mulch `em!(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... `Hundreds of thousands' of trees have been mulched to clear a forest (Crystal Rig) site near the village of Cranshaws to the north-east of Duns to make way for a wind farm. That was the estimate quoted by Bernard Walker of Northwest Woodland...

To lead Merrist Wood.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Following its merger with Guildford College, Surrey on August 1, the nearby arboricultural skills specialist Merrist Wood College (MWC) has a new principal, Lynne Sedgmore. For the past five years, she has combined this role with that of CE at...

Great Yorks!(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... This year the new look Forestry & Woodlands Competition, organised by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society with the Forestry Commission and the Royal Forestry Society (Yorks) covered woodlands in Yorkshire and Northumberland. Sir Marcus...

Letter: Restructuring advice.(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2003... From Tim Rollinson `Sir, Martin Pearce presented a dismal forecast of the consequences of changes we have made to the Forestry Commission's advisory structures ("When different worlds collide," FBT August 2003), in particular the old...

Letter: CCF - yes, but not yet.(Letter to the Editor)
October 8, 2003... From Richard Coke `Sir, I manage woodland here, which has been run under the `Continuous Cover' (CCF) system for a little over 100 years, so I feel that I am in a position to add to the debate. Mike Seville's leading article (FBT July)...

Bills hits back.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Forestry Commission DG David Bills hit back at claims from fountains that the way it operated helps to 'skew' the UK timber market. Barry Gamble, chairman of forest management specialist fountains, told the 'Timber Trades Journal' that having a...

WoodWISE: The view from the sharp end.
October 8, 2003... In which the wanderer - our monthly (sometimes) contracting contributor Nick Hilton of Woodwise Forestry* - returns, suitably refreshed from his hols, full of vim, vigour and vinegar! Don't panic, I'm back. Yes, I know my usual ramblings...

APF Diary 2004.
October 8, 2003... Reprising his regular monthly feature of 2001/2002, APF Exhibition secretary Ian Millward counts down to forestry's show of shows - APF 2004. Just when you thought it was safe to read this magazine again without my whingeing about some...

Seasonal cheer for hard-pressed growers.
October 8, 2003... At a time when many tree growers are suffering from poor prices and are unable to make any money from conifers, there remains one small group who can do quite well in today's markets, reports Roger Hay* - UK Christmas tree sales now total...

The king of spades.
October 8, 2003... Moving trees has opened up a whole new area of work for arboricultural service companies: for instance, changing their location when, although they are very much loved as a neighbourhood feature, they are threatened by housing development. The...

BASE instinct.
October 8, 2003... Excavator conversions for forestry work may be on the decline but there are still - as Eoghan Daly reports - those who appreciate their benefits. Take, for instance, Irish contractor Peter Van Den Hof who remains loyal to tracked bases. ...

VIVA VOLVO!
October 8, 2003... Volvo recently introduced their first large off-roader and already it has a 12-month waiting list. Eamonn Wall sat in the hot seat of the new XC90 to see what all the fuss is about. Volvo's new SUV or 'sport utility vehicle' to be precise,...

Chainsaws and bars for carving.
October 8, 2003... With timber markets shrinking it's only natural that chainsaw men and women are looking at other ways of making a bob or two with their existing equipment. 'Chainsaw carving has many of the attributes required by the individual when thinking...

From Snowdon's peaks to Bermuda's shores.
October 8, 2003... Tackling the aftermath of storms is nothing new for Treevolution's hardened team of arborists. Although based in the beautiful mountains of Snowdonia national park, its horizons spread far beyond Wales - right across the Atlantic to the British...

A RIGHT CARVE-UP!(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Wood carvers once again turned Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire into an exhibition of art created from fallen trees and raised `well over #20000' at this year's Sculptree 2003, according to a delighted Kate Rowland, Appeals Officer, Tree...

Stihl on the winning side.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Stihl* chainsaws were chosen by more medal winners than any other brand at last year's World Logging Championships, with both the winning Austrian team and individual junior champion all using their saws. Stihl also topped the medals table with...

Saws for all reasons.(Echo chain saws)(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... There are three models in the professional Echo range - distributed in the UK through Countax Ltd* - the CS8001 and CS6702 heavy duty saws and the CS3700ES designed for arb work. With an 80.7cc engine and the increased work rate that this...

Versatile and stylish.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... With 14 models to choose from ranging from a 32cc top-handed climbing saw to 99cc pro saw, Efco - from Emak UK* (formerly Hemming & Wood Ltd) - has one of the most comprehensive ranges of chainsaws on offer. 'This versatile range has been...

Small but formed perfectly.(Brief Article)
October 8, 2003... Although the outside of the chainsaw may look similar to its predecessor, the inside of Husqvarna's* brand new top-handled model 338XPT is quite different. The result of some five years' experience and development of the previous model, the...