Answer: This is not the case. The Trust will be managing less than 5% of the overall woodland, on 12 small plots, as can be seen on the map below. The trees selected for felling or coppicing will regenerate. This process will mean new shoots will develop, growing into trees of different heights and ages, creating a stronger woodland with trees of different lifespans. This ensures the woodland is still around for future generations of people and wildlife.

The woodland will contain trees of different heights, which in turn will support a wider variety of wildlife. The types of trees selected for felling will not be those that are identified as potential future veteran trees or those with good habitat features.

We need to ensure the long-term life of the wood and this means thinking beyond our own lifetimes. The woodland has been here for centuries and we need to think on the scale of a woodland’s life in centuries, not in the timescale of our own lives - which is tiny in comparison.

Answer: We have seen and heard comments about a car park and visitor centre being built on Piles Coppice. We have tried to be as clear as we can about this on numerous occasions, but there are still some untruths about this in the public domain. To be clear and to set the record straight, this is just not true and does not feature on any of our plans. We will not be building a visitor centre or car park at Piles Coppice. We have an excellent visitor centre and a car park at Brandon Marsh already, a short walk away from Brandon Reach and Piles Coppice.

Answer: The essential woodland management work being carried out at Piles Coppice will be done using hand tools. Therefore the impact to the woodland, other than a small vehicle for emergency use, is not going to create the disturbance that woodland management on a larger scale can do. 

Answer: To provide any form of useful carbon storage, woodlands need to exist and be protected in the long term, not just in the present. We recognise this and so sustainable management that protects and enhances our woodlands is the basis of our long-term vision in our woodland strategy.

What this means is that the rate at which carbon is removed through our woodland management plans is less than the rate at which it is stored in the trees, soils and other organic matter throughout the woodland. Woodland management can increase carbon storage in a woodland by reducing competition between large trees and allowing them to grow even larger. It also works by increasing organic activity in the soil and aiding the establishment of new trees.

Effective woodland management and tree felling work, that adds strength to a woodland and benefits the wildlife within the woodland, does not result in deforestation. Using these techniques the woodland will continue to tackle climate change and will be around for centuries to come.

Answer: The woodland management plan will boost and protect the woodland structure, meaning there will be a greater variety of wildlife habitats for the future. 

Managing less than 5% of the woodland means there is more than enough space for existing wildlife. We know that over the last five decades woodland birds and butterflies have been in steep decline. This is due to loss of woodland but also lack of management.

If we don’t manage Piles Coppice we will be failing the future of the wildlife around us – we don’t have time to wait to see what happens and to let the woodland be. We need to manage it to increase the variety of habitats, which will in turn increase the variety of species who call the woodland home. Wildlife needs our help and it needs it now – and this is how we can help.

Answer: This is not the answer for long term resilience of the woodland. 

The condition of the woodland has been declared as poor after a survey was carried out which assessed various aspects of the woodland, from tree age to species present. We are potentially losing the rare and fragile species that once lived in the woodland. Past management has left a woodland structure containing trees of the same age and height, which does not bode well for the future resilience of the trees, nor the wildlife who live in it.

As part of our sympathetic woodland management plan, with wildlife at its heart, we want to replicate a natural woodland. In the absence of the large herbivores who would historically have done this job for us, we need to do management work now so the structure, growth levels, ages of trees and shafts of sunlight all work together to create a varied habitat structure which will encourage and support a huge variety of animals and plants. This is the way to ensure that this woodland will remain for future generations to enjoy as much as we do today.

We need to think of it in terms of the lifespan of the woodland and not our own lifespan. We need to think about our children’s children and ensuring this woodland is here for them. This is what our woodland management plan is all about. The future.

Answer: This is not the case. In Piles Coppice the majority of felled trees will be left for deadwood, creating important habitats for a huge variety of woodland creatures.

This woodland management plan will actually cost the Trust money, but this project is not about money or income generation, it is about ensuring the woodland is there for hundreds more years to come and encouraging as many different species of wildlife as we possibly can to call the woodland it’s home – therefore, creating a more sustainable woodland for future generations.

Wildlife needs our help. Wild creatures need places to live and protection from the dangers of the modern world. Our woodland management plan will do just that.

Answer: This is not true. We will not be creating ‘rides’ or wide paths through the wood in Piles Coppice. What we will be doing is managing less than 5% of the woodland, using a mixture of traditional light thinning and coppicing across 12 small plots, to provide light, space and a range of branch heights. Where these plots meet track edges, we will manage the edges through cutting, which will encourage a mixture of wildflowers and plants to grow. This work will help to support and enrich the wildlife which currently lives in the woodland and encourage a greater variety of wildlife, too.

Answer: This is not true. We have identified 12 small plots, covering less than 5% of the total woodland, where our management will take place. We need to ensure the long-term health of the wood and this means thinking beyond our own lifetimes, which are much shorter in comparison. The work will enrich the wildlife, enrich the life of the wood and enrich the woodland for future generations.