Full notes do not exist for this meeting, this is based on the pre-meeting informaton
Our second visit of 2021 takes us to Maiden Bradley Estate where we will examine how the principles of community ecology form the basis for silvicultural decision-making that allows more ‘space for nature’ in a productive forest.
The first and most important decision in silviculture is whether or not to intervene: “My stand is developing in a certain way – is it achieving its objectives, or do I need to act?” The outcome of this essentially financial question is also crucial for ecological diversity. It may generate or save a cost and it may enhance or reduce biodiversity. Turn that around and you have a potential means of increasing biodiversity: management with a higher intervention threshold may benefit wildlife. In the 700 hectares of mixed woodland at Maiden Bradley we will study this question in a day of two halves: one, maximising biodiversity in highly productive commercial stands; the other, increasing the commerciality of inherently diverse semi natural woodland.
On-hand will be a specialist in lower plants: ferns, mosses, liverworts and lichens to allow us to debate and examine a supposition that, although native conifer forest in the Pacific North West is not diverse in the herbaceous tradition of European broadleaved woodland, shade-tolerant lower plants are the exception. Perhaps this is also true in our own conifer stands?
Wessex Silvicultural Group: Notes from previous meetings can be found here.