On Fri, 7 Feb 2014 23:46:23 +0000, Mad Cow
wrote:

In article , jloomis
writes
Looks like very difficult work.

The bushes have to be harvested every few years for poles and firing -
it's a traditional practice that's given rise to its own ecosystem.
Doing it in a foot of water was interesting but not especially
difficult.

Now here in Calif. we would have to leave the course as it goes.....
Letting nature decide.

The River Pang's normally a quarter of a mile from our work site. This
year thanks to some wet weather it was everywhere! The Pang's perched
above the valley of the much larger River Thames so official policy is
to prevent it changing its course, but for that we only need to keep the
banks planted with willows so that they can't wash away.

We have some trails that you cannot use chain saws and or power tools in
order for the
bird or wildlife population nesting time, and mating......

Most birds nest in thicker cover than old coppice provides, and anyway
we have to finish before the bushes leaf out. Nothing nests in the
newly-cut area, they'll go to one that was cut 3-5 years ago, where the
cover's thickest.

Very good explanation. You might add that traditional practices in
woodlands are, in many places, hundreds of years old going back to the
time when self-sufficiency was essential for survival. You could also
add that your own self-suffiency depended on proper management of
these resources by previous generations - exactly what you are still
doing.

Guy Gorton