How ‘green’ is your biomass?

The Chronicle Herald (Canada)
By LYNDA MALLETT
Thu. Jul 8 - 4:53 AM

I am a forester in Sherwood Forest, England. I also spend time on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. Our sweet chestnut woodland in England has been "coppiced" for hundreds of years. We grow timber for fencing, furniture, pole-lathe turning and for firewood.

To "coppice" means to regularly cut a hardwood tree to promote growth so it can be cut again. Trees can be cut in cycles from every two to three years, right up to every 21 to 30 years, depending on the tree and what the timber is needed for.

Coppicing is "cut and come again" — it does not kill the tree and can considerably lengthen a tree’s life.

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