Woodland Management Session Dates
A Vision for the Heart of the National Forest
The New Season is upon us
After months of planning and pre-work the new season is now upon us. There are only a few changes since last season, and these will be briefed in the usual way at the sessions. As per last season the largest site at Foxley takes the most organisation. Due to the numerous work areas, the size of the site and the distance to the loading area we are always up against it with transit times. Part of the funding we received from the FedEx grant has been used to purchase a bespoke timber trailer, which we are expecting will improve extraction, but the change will need to be introduced over several sessions so please bear with us.
Site size and multiple work areas also means we need far more ground protection mats and the warning signs are getting further away. Your help in putting out and clearing away mats and signs will be a great help to the lead, so please offer to help on the sessions.
It’s always an exciting time (well it is for me) when we start a new season, so do enjoy yourselves, offer to help where you can as the management of sessions gets more complex, but most of all be safe and get those wood stores topped-up.
There is a final prep session at Foxley this coming Thursday the 3rd. Please book onto the event if you can help.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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New Landowner come online
We are pleased to confirm that both the national Trust and Forestry England are now working with us. Forestry England at Hick’s Lodge, where we have been asked to quote for the felling of dead Ash along the cycle route. If successful we will be carrying out the work using the new “works” team, as this will be paid work for Heartwood. If you would like to join the works team, drop me a line and I’ll add you to the WhatsApp group. The National Trust at Calke Abbey also manage the woodlands at Foremark Reservoir. The rangers have asked us to work with them to carry out felling of the overstood Hazel Coppice, taking the large material for firewood and leaving the smaller poles for the NT volunteers to use for projects on site. The first session at Foremark is now on the system and is on the 25th October.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Ash Die Back
There has been a noticeable increase in the number of trees affected by ADB in some of the woodlands we work in. Within Heartwood we aim to stay ahead of recommendations for management/felling of diseased trees, so have carried out am in-depth risk review over the closed season. As a result, there will be changes for the coming season which will be briefed and managed by the session leaders as each woodland has a different planting mix.
By keeping ahead of industry recommendations, we not only ensure the safety of everyone, but also demonstrate our determination to be leaders in the voluntary sector. Here are some of the headlines for early sight, the specifics will be managed by the leads at each woodland.
The risks we are mitigating against include - Falling dead branches from an ash being felled, Felled tree (any species) knocks an adjacent affected ash over or knocks branches off, Loss of control of the ash during felling due to hinge breakage, falling branches dislodged by a hung tree during takedown.
A chainsaw offers the option of more sophisticated cuts and a quicker felling time.
A thick hinge with a long felling bar is used to reduce the risk of hinge breakage.
Suspect branches shall be removed (wherever possible) before felling using pole saw
Assisted fell and / or winch takedown of hung tree shall be used wherever there is a doubt about safe felling.
All chainsaw operators have been trained in felling diseased trees
Skill level of handsaw operators is variable and is not formally assessed.
In light of these factors
- Ash and trees immediately adjacent (within 1 tree length) to ash must only be felled using a chainsaw
- Any hand saw felling must be agreed with the Session Lead.
- Hand felling shall be limited to non-ash trees less than 20cm diameter.
If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch, but the focus on detail will be managed at the sessions.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Woodland Management Session Dates
Woodland Management session dates are released a month at a time for members to book on to, this does not apply to non wood fuel sessions. Woodland Management sessions will be released on the following schedule:
Multi-skilled members get early access to ensure the sessions are viable. Multi-skilled members are those members who have multiple skills that are required to run a session, i.e. First Aid and ATV Driver, Session Lead and First Aid, Clearing saw and First Aid, etc. When the sessions are available to multi-skilled members there will be no waiting list available. When the required multi-skilled spaces have been filled other multi-skilled members will need to wait until the sessions have been released to all members. The waiting list will then be available. If the session you want is full please book on to the waiting list, as this allows the team to assess the demand for places and add sessions as required (if possible).
October Woodland Management sessions
- Sat 5th
- Tue 8th
- Sat 12th
- Tue 15th
- Thu 17th
- Sat 19th
- Tue 22nd
- Thu 24th
- Mon 28th
November Woodland Management sessions
- Available from 6pm on the 1st October to all members, increased spaces and a waiting list.
- Sat 2nd
- Tue 5th
- Sat 9th
- Tue 12th
- Thu 14th
- Sat 16th
- Thu 21st
- Mon 25th
December Woodland Management sessions
- Available from 6pm on the 15th October to multi-skilled members, limited spaces, no waiting list.
- Available from 6pm on the 1st November to all members, increased spaces and a waiting list.
- Mon 2nd
- Tue 3rd
- Sat 7th
- Tue 10th
- Sat 14th
- Tue 17th
- Thu 19th
- Sat 21st
David Gravett | Membership Co-ordinator
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Biochar Project
As you will be aware Sophia Williams has been working on an intern project with us over the last few months on our Biochar project. Sophia has kindly offered to present her findings to us on a Zoom call.
This has been a very interesting new area for the group and with the help of Sophia we have gained an insight into the product and how it fits with what Heartwood does.
Please take the time to join the call on the following details
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/3954234910?pwd=ZG81dmtNZit0akhNUERmdXlHbmVuZz09&omn=96271
946369
Meeting ID: 395 423 4910
Passcode: 486186
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Chainsaw Skills
We will be running a chainsaw skills session for members on Sunday 20th October at the Hub. This will cover chainsaw use at home and advice about tool maintenance, PPE, and safety. This session is aimed at members who don't have a chainsaw certificate.
Please note: only members with a valid chainsaw certificate are permitted to use a chainsaw on Heartwood sessions, but anyone can attend this skill session.
If you would like more details before booking onto this session please get in touch.
David Gravett | Membership Co-ordinator
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A Vision for the Heart of the National Forest
We were invited along to the launch event of the National Forest’s vision for the Heart of the Forest. This includes the area around Conkers, Moira Furnace, Hicks Lodge, Albert Village Lake and Feanedock.
John Everitt and Louise Driver took us through the background and the plans, which also incorporates the support of the local authorities. A very motivational video by Sir Tim Smit, of Eden Project concluded the presentation which, for the likes of us at Heartwood, is a very exciting prospect. The vision document provided to the attendees can be found at the following link…
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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FedEx Event
The final event forming part of the award Steve Miller received from FedEx took place at the Hub on 12th September. A very enthusiastic team from FedEx, skilfully guided by our team, created much of the extraction route in the part of Edwards Wood we will be working in this coming season. After a formal opening ceremony of the new track, now called “Millers Way” the team split into three teams and set about felling and clearing the routes. It was a long day for the volunteers, fortunately not too warm, but even so they worked very hard with no complaints.
The completion of the project has now triggered the final grant money. We should all thank Steve again for working within FedEx to make this happen, providing a track that will make the Hub accessible in all weathers and funding the new trailer for the coming season.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Awards
It’s turning out to be a rewarding summer for us with a number of award nominations in the pipeline. First, we received a community business recognition certificate from the Oakthorpe, Donisthorpe and Acresford Parish Council for the work we carry out in Donisthorpe Woodland Park. David Gravett and I went along to the presentation evening.
We have also made the final at two other awards. The Rural Communities Council (RCC) paid us a visit some weeks ago at the Hub. The two judges made copious note about many aspects of what we do together with why and how we do it. We have had confirmation that we have made the final with the presentation evening on the 3rd of October in Leicester.
We are also finalists in the Leicestershire Community Champions awards in the “Environmental Project of the Year Award”. We had to submit a “showcase” article explaining why we should be considered after being nominated anonymously. The finals for this award are on the 7th November.
We’ll report back on all of these awards as we hear results, but even making the finals is great recognition for the effort everyone puts into making the group a success.
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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Easyfunding
Many thanks to everyone who registered with “Easyfunding” after the last newsletter. We have already raised over £18 for the group.
If you didn’t register and would like to help out, here are the links. It’s free and very little hassle to join and receive donations from many of the main shopping brands and suppliers.
We have created a “cause” in our group’s name, so if you register you are able to choose Heartwood as your cause. https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/cause/heartwood-community-woodland-group-cic/
Here is a link to show you how it works https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/how-it-works/#hiwfaq
Kevin Banton | Heartwood Chair
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The Hub Update
We are still very active at The Hub, even if the charcoal sales are slowly reducing due to end of season for barbecues.
We talked in the last newsletter about the composting toilet and a group at TOITW put the base together, a separate day will be held to build the rest.
The Autumn and Christmas craft season is getting closer, we have been continuing with the preparation of the reindeer and snowmen parts for our Christmas craft days. The order of mini besoms has been delivered to Rosliston Forestry Centre, a start for Halloween. We’ve had some lovely late Autumn/Winter sessions at the Hub creating the Christmas stock over the past few years. There’s no experience necessary and the more the merrier.
The latest session on Saturday 28th September saw us working on our craft products, but also running a charcoal retort for a photo-shoot at the Hub by a national photojournalist. This was arranged by Carolyn of the National Forest Company who also attended the shoot. We understand that some shots have already been used by the Yorkshire post. The NFC may also use some of the images and have promised to share them with Heartwood. Our second visit on the day was from a lady who attended the FedEx event mentioned above. She presented Heartwood with a painting she has produced by way of thanks for the day, painted on a piece of wood we provided. We now need to decide where to hang this lovely piece of woodland art-work.
Finally, we still have quite a bit of timber in the woods at The Hub which we need to retrieve for adding to our charcoal wood stores and we need another log store – can you believe that? Is this something you would like to do then please don’t hesitate to join us at The Hub.
Chris Adams, Kevin Banton, Dave Barker | Hub Team
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