Site Description
Kyloe Wood, Northumberland
The 2nd field campaign took place in Kyloe Wood, Northumberland (NU 040 380) about a 1.5 hour drive from Edinburgh. The experiment site was located in the south-west corner of the woods. The stand has a irregular structure and the overstorey consists of European Larch (Larix decidua P. Mill) about 23 m tall. There is also a second canopy layer of Larch and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr), which is about 11 m tall. 50 m eastwards form this location is the same Larch crop without an understorey at all. The simultaneous measurements of the wind and tree interactio in the two locations give us the opportunity for a direct comparison of two different silviculture systems.
The forest has a long tradition of alternative silvicultural management. The following paragraph is taken from a Forestry Commission publication.
- Nine miles south of Berwick-on Tweed, Kyloe Wood (391 ha) is owned by the Fleming family. It includes many fine conifer stands of diverse structure, consisting largely of maturing and mature overwood with an understorey of natural regeneration. The top canopy of conifers (chiefly Douglas fir, grand fir, Scots pine, western red cedar and western hemlock) were mainly planted in 1915 but some trees are older. Prolific western hemlock natural regeneration appeared following thinnings during the early 1970s and even more abundantly later in that decade. These thinnings and others made during the 1980s did some damage to the understorey but it was quickly made good by new regeneration.
- There is a lack of 20 to 40-year-old trees. Some of the stands are now two-storied and irregular in appearance. Earlier attempts at group selection and the single tree selection systems were not successful. Almost all the mixed, two storied or multi-canopied stands are dominated by western hemlock which is sometimes so aggressive as to prevent the survival of other species. For the past 20 years it has covered much of the forest floor in a dense mat often of about 2000 seedlings per square metre. Kyloe Wood could consist of western hemlock and Noble fir since the other species regenerating - notably Douglas fir, Scots pine, larch and western red cedar - provide only sporadic cover. The regeneration overall has been successful on the soils derived from sandstone and less frequent on the heavier clay soils.
- The objectives of management are to maintain uneven-aged stands of mixed conifer species as well as notable specimen trees and to achieve sustained yield. The dominance of western hemlock poses problems in species diversity which will require intervention. The diverse, mixed, uneven-aged stands supplement a wide range of fine large conifers, many high pruned and up to 90 years old. The whole forms a woodland of beauty and interest. Much credit is due to past foresters, notable Wilfred Fox.
Cyril Hart, 1995, p.42-43
Alternative Silvicultural Systems to Clear Cutting in Britain: A Review,
Bulletin 115, HMSO, London
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