Mechanised Ash Dieback removal for a Local Authority

Objective

Thinning and removal of dangerous Ash trees from an amenity woodland, whilst retaining all other trees, allowing for habitat restoration within a designated Ancient Woodland.

Context

The woodland we were operating in was under TPO due to its status as an Ancient Woodland. There was a mixture of Ash and Oak with a small percentage of native broadleaves. Whilst our primary objective was to remove diseased Ash trees, equally important to us was minimising ecological damage to both the woodland and its paths.

Delivery

• Completed several ecological inspections and site meetings with the TPO officer to agree on trees to be removed.
• Created a method statement grounded in a mechanised methodology, to reduce risk to our operators and minimise damage to the woodland.
• After closing the woodland to members of the public and protecting the tarmac pathways and desire paths with aluminium roadway, we carefully proceeded to remove the Ash Dieback infected trees.
• Our Long Reach Excavator with grapple saw was used for removing all trees from within its approved lift plan parameters. All cut branches were cut and lowered to the ground from the safety of a ROPS and FOPS guarded cab. Our retrofitted RCI system ensured our operator worked safely within their machine’s lifting capability.
• Where trees were too large, we elected to use a tracked access platform to remove the upper canopy of the trees, bringing the trees down to a suitable height and weight that could be removed in sections with our excavator and grapple saw.
• All brash was forwarded to roadside to be dealt with by our dedicated biomass and haulage team.
• All firewood produced from the operation was marketed to local firewood merchants registered with BSL. We delivered all timber to the end user in-house with our own FORS accredited timber haulage lorry.
• We chipped all the brash onsite, with our lorry mounted, crane fed whole tree chipper directly into our walking floor lorry. All woodchip was sold directly into a BSL accredited end user for use in the manufacture of heat.
• All debris was removed from site, any ruts reinstated, and trackway removed. The site was then handed over to our client.

Outcome

1. Successful removal of Ash Dieback infected trees whilst ensuring and protecting the future of the woodland.
2. Removal of diseased Ash supported habitat restoration by allowing for the regeneration of natural seedstock and encouraging the growth of native species, such as Oak and Bluebell.