BTW Apodemus, for those who don't know (i.e, me!), do you know why the FC are committed to year-round felling? Does it cost too much to suspend operations between April-August, say? Can harvesting not be increased in the winter, and surplus stock set aside for when demand dictates?
OK, I'll have a go!
To some extent that does happen. Stock-piling isn't very practical for a few reasons, however. Firstly, timber dries out and degrades quite soon after it has been felled. If it has been left lying around it reduces its value as sawlogs (which is the valuable part of the tree) and often makes it unsaleable.
Secondly, its a question of storage. Sawmills, fibreboard mills, pulp mills etc do have huge yards full of timber, but the amounts that they go through are mind-bogglingly enormous. It would be physically impossible to store four months worth of supply, even without the problem of degrade.
Thirdly, there is the question of harvesting capacity. It's already often hard to find contractors to fell coupes at the ideal time of year. Losing one third of the year would not only concentrate all your production into too short a timescale, but it would leave the contractors (who often have hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in machinery) out of work for 4 months, with no income. They couldn't and wouldn't survive that. The same is true of haulage contractors - they couldn't do the work in two thirds of a year, and would go out of business.
Fourth - some sites are too wet to work in the winter months. Felling at this time could cause big problems with soil loss, habitat destruction and siltation of watercourses so these have to done when the ground conditions allow. It's not true of all sites, but its another factor to take into consideration.
So - yes, it does partly come down to economics, but not in the sense of "making a fast buck" or even maximising returns. The wood-using industries, which we all rely on, do need a year round supply of timber, which sometimes makes for complicated management decisions on the part of the conservation forester and his/her harvesting colleagues. It's important to remember in all this, of course, that timber grown in countries like Britain is produced in a vastly more sustainable way than timber being ripped out of virgin tropical forests.
Long answer, I know, but I hope it helps. Just to restate, in case anyone hasn't read the thread fully, I can't comment specifically on the Wendover woods because I don't know them - I am only trying to shed light on the general point about how the FC carries out its work.
Mike
