Supporting the woodland owners
While damage to trees on the public forest estate was considerable, it was only 25% of the total damage. Three quarters of the impact directly hit other woodland owners, from farmers and private estates, to larger organisations like the National Trust, and local authorities. Within a few days of the Storm the Forestry Commission established a Forest Windblow Action Committee, which brought together Timber Growers UK, the British Timber Merchants Association, the UK Wood Processors Association. The Committee developed an action plan to deal with the effects of the storm on woodlands. A Task Force was also set up at the Forest Research station at Alice Holt to provide a comprehensive information and advisory service to woodland owners and the timber trade. In the months following the storm, the Task Force dealt with over one thousand enquiries from woodland owners and managers, covering subjects from advice on safe harvesting of damaged trees to contacts for timber merchants and specialists to replanting advice. An advice booklet was also produced, and seminars were held on the clearance and marketing of the timber in early 1988. The major task of clearing up the windblown timber lay with the private sector, with some 2.7 million cubic metres of timber. The usual amount of timber harvested in this area was just 400,000 cubic metres of conifers and 250,000 cubic metres of broadleaves. Without an increase in resources, it would take five years to clear the conifer timber, and eight years to clear the hardwood - by which time most of the wood would be unmarketable. The input of resources co-ordinated by the Task Force enabled the harvesting of 1.25 million cubic metres a year. By the end of 1989, clearance of conifer trees was largely complete, although clearance of broadleaves continued into the winter of 1990-91. Indeed it is estimated that about 20-30% of the wood from broadleaf trees was not cleared The House of Commons Agriculture Committee that investigated the Government response to the Storm, praised the Forestry Commission for its advisory service and the quality of technical assistance it had made available to woodland owners and farmers. It also praised the handling of the Commission's own timber supplies, which helped keep the market buoyant. In June 1988, the Government announced that the Forestry Commission would pay special supplements of £400 per hectare for the replanting of broadleaves and £150 per hectare for conifers, on top of the normal planting grants to restock woodlands in the South East of England affected in the storm. In total over 10,000 hectares of woodland were covered by the scheme, out of a total of 12,000 hectares affected by the Storm. Tax relief options were also announced for those clearing windblown trees. By the end of 1989, prices for timber were starting to return to normal, as the market had dealt with the glut of timber from the Storm. << Previous page | Next page >>
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