Following on from David Cracknell’s observation that “Britain’s love of trees is real, but it needs to grow up”, we have the story of Nik Mitchell’s alarmist response to the routine pollarding of some local poplar trees near Sandwich in Kent.
Pollarding is a traditional method of renewable tree management, almost the same as coppicing, prolonging the tree’s life while harvesting wood.
By Charles01 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
Given that Nik’s current header image on his Get Wild facebook page is him standing in a bluebell covered old copse, it’s remarkable that he doesn’t know this.
The pollarded poplars in question were overhanging a road where a dropped branch could be fatal to drivers, and poplars have relatively weak wood that’s prone to snapping.
Poplars regrow like billy-o from a pollarding cut, but this basic fact of biology is not useful to Nik’s case, which depends on his less-than-educated feelings:
“It feels like a significant loss for the environment”
Bear in mind that no trees were removed – ed
You might say I am picking on Nik unfairly.
I disagree: I am picking on him fairly and squarely.
Nik went to a lot of effort to promote his environmental activism and his “feelings based woodland management” ideas.
Nik’s basic contention is that pollarding these trees is “decimation of the countryside for little gain”.
I leave it in your gentle hands, Dear Reader, to decide what you think of the idea that ancient, sustainable tree management practices are “decimation of the countryside”, and that keeping you and your family safe from branches falling on the road is “little gain”.
Do you think this is meaningful environmental activism, or a tiresome waste of everyone’s time?