Woodland Management

Forest Fuels provides a range of woodland management services including advice to woodfuel customers looking to manage their own woodland resource to produce timber, woodfuel and to enhance capital value.

Forest Fuels’ own dedicated contract team carries out a range of forest and woodland management activities including all aspects of harvesting.

Management

With recognised forestry professionals in the team, Forest Fuels are able to assist clients in the development and delivery of long term site management plans tailored to the owners’ objectives. As part of this process we can ensure legal compliance though a felling license and where appropriate secure grant funding through the Forestry Commissions English Woodland Grant Scheme. 

Visit http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-6DCCEN for further information.

Harvesting

Forest Fuels has it own in house harvesting team, which uses agricultural based equipment and motor manual approach. This allows us to specialise in small difficult sites and we have a particular interest in the restoration of plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS).

Ancient woodland is the UK’s richest wildlife habitat and the result of centuries of continuous woodland conditions and management. This continuity means that it has had time to develop complex ecological communities, characterised by species of plants, fungi and insects that are rarely found in younger woods. Ancient woodland is a scarce and finite resource which accounts for around 2% of woodland cover in the UK. Over 40% has been converted to plantations typically comprising commercial conifer species. To preserve this diminishing resource, restoring ancient woodlands is regarded as a priority and changes in forest policy are seeking to encourage the restoration of these important sites.

As part of our harvesting activities we supply in the main to local markets for sawlogs, fencing, firewood etc however as a woodfuel supplier we are able to offer an additional market for material that might otherwise be left on site and wasted during the harvesting process resulting in a “cleaner” site with consequent benefits to regeneration and arguably biodiversity. 

Creation

In addition to woodland management, Forest Fuels has been involved in a variety of woodland creation schemes in the South West Forest area including a scheme of approximately 50 hectares on our own farm in Shebbear, Devon.