The Art of Natural Forest Practice		CROESO>>>

The Art of Natural Forests & Practice
Renewing our forest culture for the 21st century
by Iliff Simey
Our once great forests
My forest in Wales, Coed Nant Gain, I described in the Ecoforestry journal (Simey 2002) and addressed the question of just what is Ecoforestry.  Since then I have made significant progress in understanding the holistic nature of the forest and the role we humans play in forming a new harmonious relationship with the forest in this 21st century (see Glossary).

The triple problem of over population, material greed and loss of our connection with the land have brought things to a head and this degradation which is world-wide, is leading to the universal disappearance of the forest.  This is a matter of urgency, rethinking our whole attitude and relationship with the forest; that something so complex and beautiful yet apparently timeless can be wilfully and deliberately destroyed is a terrible indictment of our generation.  The forest has a major role to play in our society, if only we can recognise this and adjust before it is finally gone.  I endeavour here to introduce in practical terms what is involved in both restoring the forests and our culture for the salvation of our children and future generations.

Nature evolved on a broad scale, yet our woodlands in Britain are but small disparate fragments of the original wild forest.  Mostly in poor health, abandoned, they are derelict, suffering inappropriate and heavy-handed intervention that is tree focused yet which claims to foster conservation.  In restoring these fragmented woodlands we must therefore encourage diversity creating a mosaic in miniature of the original forest structure.  People are amazed by how much variety there is in my relatively small forest for it feels enormous (20 acres is a reasonable size for Britain), greatly encouraging me in what I am doing.  Interestingly they comment on its peace and tranquillity saying “I feel better already!” and I sense a refreshing peace of mind.  By comparison, most forests in Britain lack this spiritual quality.

I enjoy taking people on conducted tours as it’s a great educational opportunity to explain and experience the forest, rather than regard it simply as fresh air for dog exercise with no comprehension of what it is.  We’ve lost our forest culture (more so in Britain than America) yet people interact as if something is stirring in them.  One great success was a party of young people from a city allotment project who on arrival announced, ‘We know nothing about woodland’.  Inspiration struck and I responded “Great, you mind is not cluttered just observe and learn”.  They did, being well versed in genetics, seed origin, variety, etc, we thus explored for instance, the evidence of two sources of genetic stock in a single species of oak.  As a result their visit became a serious interchange of ideas and they departed feeling harmony with the forest.

The best part of visits (rain permitting) is sat round the campfire where I have used a historic feature to create a small woodland amphitheatre.  People bring sandwiches and discuss issues of their choice, the peace and tranquillity of the forest providing a new perspective on the world and for children an exciting opportunity to experience on their own.  Amazingly few children know how to kindle an open fire, the thrill of burning their fingers or smoke in their eyes!  I’m very careful to maintain the wild forest setting as if the bear or wolf is right there watching us, for it could all too easily become open, tidy and denuded like a public park.  I’m making a small bunk house so that people can stay over; experience the forest; the sounds in the night, rain on the roof, wind in the trees; animals hunting in the dark; the dawn chorus; smell the forest in the morning air; boil a kettle for breakfast.  Our imagination is the only limitation !  There are also special places, focal points where everything comes together, that I have placed flat topped rocks to make seats to sit and contemplate the peace and tranquillity enclosed by the forest, views, running water, a pond; with posts screening my silhouette from passing animals.  It feels, one visitor commented, as if Shakespeare was here the night before writing A Mid-Summer’s Night Dream.

A new relationship with the forest
I have long had reservations about being tree focused (and thus silviculturally imbued), for human needs have wrought such destruction that we have distanced ourselves from understanding the forest community.  I previously explained to visitors about growing trees (for timber), forest flowers, wildlife hotels, indeed whatever was visible.  Recently however I’ve discovered that people love my describing things that stimulate their imagination; large mammals roaming the forest- bear, beaver, wolf for example (no matter that many are long extinct), ancient trees and great birds, the sound of melt water from the retreating glaciers, gold in the stream, etc.  I use two aluminium dishes to let the bear know we are coming (recently a 15 foot python was seen roaming free in south Wales); I’ve snakes in my compost heap (some plastic) and trees obviously scratched by the bear (it couldn’t be anything else); footprints in the snow could be a wolf, etc.  One visitor capturing the spirit caught a distant view of the bear on camera.  The dumping of urban foxes and unwanted pets such as crocodiles in the countryside is becoming a problem.  By the time people come to leave, fact has become blurred with fiction for the forest is such an exciting place to explore.  This is Wales not British Columbia !

There is a serious side to all this, for it illustrates how the forest must have been 300 years or more ago and how what we see has changed.  I am increasingly aware that my intervention should be working towards compensating for the extinctions- of fauna, flora and place.  The beaver is one obvious example, making a significant contribution to the holistic health of the forest, old large trees with hollows and decay another.  Visitors are very happy to become beavers for a while damming the stream or making artificial hollow trees.  More and more I’m identifying where nature needs a helping hand to recover, a transition that is an exciting journey leading me towards a new relationship with the forest that is rewarding for us both.

I see the forest as existing past, present and future, all at the same time.  This becomes apparent as we learn to interpret what we see and sense around us, the past living in the present, carrying its genes forward to the next generation.  Oak for example (Sessile- Quercus petraea) grows from the stump and so conforms to the original genetic stock and some from seed that is hybridised.  This is important for the stump may date back to the original forest before being downgraded by indiscriminate felling and the importation of new seed.  Thus I’m trying to propagate cuttings so that it may be possible to reinstate the oak growing here in the ancient forest.  The oldest oak we estimate at about 400 years or more and, wow- the energy flowing in that tree is amazing (just try placing your hands on trees of differing age).  Once your senses awaken you may find yourself asking for example- why does this part of the forest feel different from that?  In North America there should be a corollary for instance with downgrading of Douglas Fir and after the arrival of the European settlers.

I talk about ‘we’ not ‘I’- because our intervention in the forest must work with nature rather than be impose upon (the classic community development logic).  ‘I’ implies I know best, whereas nature has millennia of experience to contribute and together we can restore the forest in a new working harmony.  Likewise we must think in terms of decades as years are too brief in the forest.  Furthermore I realise that my inherited silvicultural perspective prevents me from seeing the forest as an interactive whole.  Terms such as ‘thinning’, not a natural event and damaging to holistic health; ‘coppicing’ all things to all people; ‘biodiversity’ widely differing usage, ‘mature’ timber, wildlife, ‘carbon’ or what?, deludes me into believing that I alone know how know how to manage the forest.  I have found it an immensely refreshing to quit using such terms and stick to plain English in which I can think afresh and which everyone comprehends (there’s a campaign in Britain for Plain English!).  Thus we begin to appreciate that the forest consists of rather more than trees but is a self-sustaining and self-regulating community that includes ourselves.

All too often forest owners and managers lack a clear concept of where the forest is heading and try to impose misunderstood ideas.  Some decades ago, when I first began to question what I was doing, I did one thing only to undo it next year and didn’t progress.  Worse still, as I had no clear concept (there was no appropriate advice available at that time), I’d go forward two paces, in two or three years the forest closed over- and it went back four paces.  I didn’t know what to do next.  The forest was thus was actually worse off and I’d have been better not to do anything at all.  Now, with a clear strategy working hand-in-hand with nature, the forest is progressing in leaps and bounds, is vibrant and bouncing back.

Deep Ecology applied in the forest
When I first came across Deep Ecology I immediately sensed its relevance but could not find anyone who had applied its concept in the forest.  This kept on surfacing with me but was some time before I seriously gave it thought and began to question- ‘Why did I feel it important to conserve this ancient forest?; Why protect the native fauna that took the farmer’s sheep?; Should I cull the non-native species- plants, grey squirrels, etc?; Indeed, what was MY place in the forest?’  Deep Ecology poses difficult questions concerning these issues, challenging my thoughts and ideas.  It’s hard and questions raise more questions.  To some there is no clear answer, for example our attitude and response to non-native species, especially those which become invasive and cause damage to which there is no clear answer.  Each of us must decide for ourselves our response to such problems.  Thus my attitude is developing and even as I write this, my relationship with the forest is constantly maturing.

Deep Ecology was evolved by Arne Naess, a Norwegian environmental philosopher.  Briefly, this provides a guide to thinking through our action on environmental issues.  It does not provide a set of rules to which we must conform, rather a series of challenges which require us to think deeply about what we are doing and come-up with our own individual solutions.  It distinguishes ‘deep’ from ‘shallow’ thought and has 4 levels on which this functions, of which the Platform principles are a part (Devall 1990).  Although what follows here is my individual interpretation, it has universal application in all kinds of settings and situations, especially the forest, to which it applies with remarkable relevance.

Implied in the Platform principles is a hands-on practical approach of a scale that is harmonious with the functioning of the forest.  Thus intervention in scale with the forest decade on decade achieves considerable progress, whereas one major intervention then nothing for three or four decades is unnatural and actually harms the holistic health of the forest.  I’ve been working with this hands-on approach for some time and a truly sustainable forest is emerging of which I feel myself an integral part in the restoration process.  By comparison other woods and forests that I visit really cause me to appreciate what has been achieved.

Becoming involved hands-on in the forest generates great pleasure and joy; a sense of creativity, something beautiful to behold as the forest bounces back that is spatially on a par with the architecture of the great Gothic cathedrals.  I love my forest and it responds unfailingly providing great pleasure and refreshing me.  In this deeply stressful world I am discovering that many visitors appreciate this quality and I sense a growing need to make this peace and tranquillity more widely accessible.

A parallel history
Our countryside must have been very different in previous centuries, hugely richer and more diverse than anything we have today.  I sense that much of the experience I am now acquiring must have been known to our peasant ancestors; a great tragedy that it was lost for the forest will never again be required to be so diverse and productive.  I recall in Oregon, working with a friend on his first introduction of Ecoforestry, we went to see the tallest surviving Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menzii) in 80 acres of natural unlogged forest, significantly older we estimated than the plague indicated.  On return to his logged-over forest, we realised that the large mounds of decaying debris were indicators as to where the great trees had stood.  We were astonished, so many huge trees and suddenly our vision of his forest as a living entity over millennia became meaningful to us!

Looking back through history, the conflicting needs of silviculture promoted by estate owners and others and the needs of the peasants have gone largely unrecognised.  This divergence goes back through history; the profound influence of two world wars (grow more trees at home); John Evelyn’s Silva of 1642 (totally tree focused); the medieval land enclosures (self-sufficient rural economy); Spanish Armada (felling oaks on a vast scale); Forest Charter of 1217 (Magna Carta apparently made such a mess of forest management that a new charter had to be quickly introduced), and more.  The practical evidence in buildings and forests is even more tantalising; in Britain for example where did they get so much oak from to build the timber frame farm houses, church roofs, etc, the differing genetic origin within a single species of oak and so on.  America has its own examples, for instance why log-cabins and not cruck-houses with which the immigrants from Europe would be familiar?  I’ve seen conifers with the right curve so it’s possible.  I suggest that the probable reason was the absence of continuity one generation to the next, so that there were insufficient trees of the right shape.  In our own time Ecoforestry on one hand and government and multi-national corporations on the other illustrates how this divergence exists to this day, imposing a bureaucracy that shelters behind a silvicultural facade which is imposed on us- the new generation of forest peasants!

Amazingly Ecoforestry as practiced in the American Pacific Northwest was virtually unheard of here in Britain, for had I been aware I need not have reinvented it!  However, on seeing this for myself I had nagging doubts, too much talk about trees and board feet rather than the forest.  For instance, I heard an ecologist comment of an eminent ecoforest- ‘not nearly enough dead wood’; likewise an owner bemoaned the loss of insects controlling disease yet did nothing to accommodate them; another took for granted the great diversity of flora yet did not encourage the shrubs which harboured the insects.  I sought a parallel in organic farming thinking this might have some answers, but was disappointed.  It was a professional forester in Wales who put me right; to him the central issue was forest health- universally, in all types of forest.  Sudden clarity, we were talking about the same thing even though from very differing backgrounds!  Everything in the forest we agreed had a purpose; just because we did not necessarily understand was no reason for eliminating fauna or flora.

Learning from the natural forest
Walking in the Oregon forest, the old-growth trees clear cut three or four decades previously (I don’t use secondary!), dense, dark, hardly a sound, trees all the same age, I unexpectedly entered a natural glade.  From canopy to ground, wild flowers bloomed, creepers climbed, birds sang, insects danced in shafts of sunlight, seedling trees competed for light, the forest was alive and vigorous, renewing itself!  Without any intervention by us human’s nature was putting right the disaster of the clear cut and forest health was recovering.  Only on reflection did I realise the full significance of what I had seen; a true forest based lesson in nature’s ability, given centuries, to restore richness and diversity and a truly self-sustaining forest.

Here in Wales nature works in the same way.  Glades, each quite different and unique, neither too big nor too small, created as if a large tree had fallen in a gale, with wet snow, root decay, old age, or topped for a power line, allow shafts of sunlight to penetrate (rather than dappled which closes over) and fallen branches to decay.  To the untrained eye this looks untidy and chaotic, but to nature this complexity is essential to restoring forest health.  Nature left on it’s own would take centuries to achieve this, but by our working with nature giving a helping hand, we can accelerate natural processes of recovery the full effect of which may not be apparent for decades.  Creating glades is an ongoing process, nature’s way of continuously renewing the forest by selecting out the weaker trees and thereby improving the genetic stock.  By working thus with nature we reduce over time the need for our intervention and make the forest more productive with less effort on our part.

Glades should be small enough to maintain humidity and protect the soil from drying out, yet large enough for shafts of sunlight to penetrate.  A rich and diverse flora and fauna arises, there is an abundance of food and shelter; birds nests, insects abound, small mammals, stoat, weasel, etc, shelter in the ground cover, flowers bloom make scent, seeds ripen and young trees dormant start growing in competition for the light.  Fallen trees decay, insects and fungi recycle nutrients.  Most importantly the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil are alive.  Thus the forest is harmonious, at peace with its-self.  As with organic farming it takes time to convert to natural practice.  The change over, especially from silvicultural management, is not instantaneous but requires at least a decade to implement so great is the change required in our thinking.

Coed Nant Gain- demonstrating our helping hand
CNG has been here since the retreat of the glaciers 12,000 years ago and is thus exceptionally rich and diverse, which together with other similar forests in Britain should be recognised as on a par with the rainforests, coniferous forests, etc, worldwide.  I term these Old-Growth Ancient Forests, distinguishing them from the technical Ancient Woodlands defined as a mere 400 or more years old.  CNG was trashed twice (probably clear-cut in 1801 and in 1919 when the timber trees were felled and the forest abandoned as waste probably for the first time in its history).  In 1919 I’m told the woodland flowers were prodigious, then, as the canopy closed over, it became dark, quiet, still and cold.  Nature endeavoured single-handed for almost eight decades to turn this around.  It was then that I began to grasp how I could assist, indeed accelerate this natural process, working with and giving nature a helping hand, recognising the intrinsic value of the forest to realise its full potential.  Now its health is bouncing back, a mosaic in miniature reflecting the ancient wildwood of which it was once part, be it on a much larger scale.

Living in the forest has special value enabling me to experience intimately its moods and response to times of day, weather, seasons, etc, portraying its innermost workings.  Increasingly wildlife is beating a trail outside my window; owls, badgers, dragonflies, foxes, looking for scraps of food, it’s becoming something like an African safari park.  Their comings and going provide a constant source of interest reminding me that I am in their forest, not mine.  Our eyes have become so accustomed to neglect and abuse that we no longer know what a healthy forest is like.  Take time to walk in the forest to observe and learn, there is much to see and always something new when not distracted by our work.  I never cease to marvel how deeply rewarding it is to experience at first-hand how the forest is progressing. 

No trees survive in Coed Nant Gain large enough to have hollow-trunks, decaying cavities, major broken branches, etc, and few have nest sites, decaying bark to harbour insects and beetles, etc, and I am constantly seeking means to compensate for this.  I value ivy clad trees as wildlife hotels, providing shelter, food and nest sites; volunteers install nest boxes; I create beetle houses when felling a tree by leaving the stump 4” or 6” higher than normal and slotting the stump horizontally providing a home for spiders, slugs, worms, bugs, even baby lizards; and I replicate artificial hollow trees using clean 50 gallon drums filled with forest debris- sticks, woodchips, leaves, bark, even the odd dead squirrel.  Where nature selects a weak tree for removal I accelerate its decline by slotting the base vertically and leave it standing to encourage fungi to penetrate the heartwood and so increase the decaying wood.  These are all experimental and in a few years time we will open one of the artificial hollow trees to see who is living there.  I’d like to hear of other ideas to enrich the forest.

Nature and I together are learning where to make glades.  I choose a dark, retarded part of the forest that needs envigourating; nature selects a weak tree to take out.  We do this year on year avoiding sudden change, each is different and unique.  Recently, with the help of a couple of professional tree surgeons who offered freely of their skills, we cut the tops off trees rather than felling to create standing decaying trunks.  We slotted the base (in preference to ringing) so that the tree dies slowing over a decade or more replicating the natural forest.  In the process it makes dense stubby side growth providing great nest sites and shelter and in due course, as they decay, I hope will increase the number of woodpeckers.  My concern is that by leaving the top on a dying tree, it may be become unstable in strong wind and fall all too soon.  It is however an easy way to create a glade.  Larger trees are left as grandparent trees to provide seed, nest sites and decay for insects.  Thus the potential to create glades with minimal intervention is maturing and some of the early glades are now responding with seedling trees that will grow on for timber.

Long term Coed Nant Gain will again be productive, valued for quality not quantity, wildlife spilling over into the surrounding countryside, organic logs for the stove, spiritual refreshment and timber to off-set the running costs.  In Britain there is no provision for land trusts as in North America, separating land ownership from whatever stands on the land for this might well meet my needs.  I am concerned that whoever follows me in caring for this forest may not understand my approach and so it is essential that I leave a record of how I’ve been working so that hopefully they carry on where I leave off.  I plan to have my likeness carved in the trunk of a tree overlooking the valley so that anyone again felling the trees will court trouble.  That Coed Nant Gain survived is a miracle yet we are now faced with global changes that threaten its very existence and which may be beyond our capacity as forest workers to resist.

My learning process has been slow and tortuous.  Two things moved me forward and turned this forest round; one was the overall concept for which Deep Ecology provided the foundation; the other, the significance of the Oregon glade as a living demonstration of how nature, given a free hand, restores the natural forest.

Conclusion – From rhetoric to reality
Today I acquired three beautiful Tropical Rainforest beams, discarded from a conservatory, replaced with plastic and now on their way to the landfill; one brief use since the destruction of the ancient forest from which they came.  Have we the right to destroy the remaining ancient forest with all that this implies for our planet and humanity?  What of the peace and tranquillity, the refreshment we so need in our stress filled lives and of which nature has such abundance?  Without the forests humanity will indeed be impoverished, both globally and within ourselves.

Natural practice responds to this by restoring forest health holistically working with the forest community as a whole of which trees are just a part.  It thus addresses the essential needs of the injured forest and of our society and our need to restore our relationship with the land, learning once again how to live in harmony with the forest giving nature a helping hand.  Coed Nant Gain provides the working demonstration of what Natural Forest Practice has to offer and how it works in practice, namely:-
            § Truly self-sustaining, self-sufficient forest where all the parts are essential to the whole;
            § Demonstration of how natural systems work in practice and of experimenting how we can compensate for that which is missing;
            § Rediscovery and development of forest skills that are rewarding and fulfilling;
            § Forest that has a role in the local economy, providing regular employment, wide ranging produce and contributes to the well being of the global environment year on year;
            § Contributes to the relief our stress in this difficult world in which we live;
            § Empowers and is appropriate to the small-scale owner to be responsible for their forest land;
            § Application in all types of forest in all situations.

The next logical therefore step is the drafting of a Forest Bill of Rights.

Invitation
I’m setting out a range of Guides describing the principles and practice of Natural Forest Practice.  My next step is to establish a website that I will constantly add to and update as experience accumulates.  Please send relevant articles and observations of your experiences.  Visitors are most welcome to see what I’m doing at Coed Nant Gain. 

References:
Devall W, Simple in Means Rich in Ends; practicing Deep Ecology, Green Print, London 1990
Maloof J, Teaching the Trees; Lessons from the Forest, University of Georgia Press 2005
Simey I. Ecoforestry journals - Summer and Fall issues 2002

Glossary: my use of terms:
Forest and Woodland:  confusing, the meaning changing through history.  I use forest to refer to that which relates to the natural, and woodland, especially in Britain, indicating that which is the result of human intervention.
Ancient forest:  I use forest to differentiate from Ancient Woodland (actually ASNW) a technical term used in Britain referring to woodland that is 400 or more years old.
Old-growth forest: original forest with large old trees.
Wildwood:  the original natural forest in Britain.