Before human activity changed the face of the countryside, most of
Britain was covered in dense woodland (‘climax community’). As the
climate warmed following the last ice age, people began to move into
Britain. They required resources, such as wood for making fires and
later for building houses and producing tools. As the population grew
the pressure for land for agriculture and building increased and
gradually woodland was cleared. Today only about 10% of Britain is
blanketed by forest, and of that only a tiny fraction is ancient
woodland. Epping Forest is part of this ancient woodland, the 6,000
acres of it is the largest public open space in the London area. Two
thirds of the forest is wooded, and the other third designated a Site
of Special Scientific Interest. Epping Forest is now a very valuable
ecosystem, which requires careful management and conservation.
The ideal long-term management objectives concerning the forest are:
1. To preserve and protect the physical and biological integrity of
the forest as a unique public open space.
2. To ensure the sustainable use of the forest for the recreation
and enjoyment of the public.
3. To protect and to prolong the life of all the veteran trees and
pollards of the forest and to ensure new generations of trees are
promoted to provide successors of equivalent wildlife value.
4. To maintain the ancient, semi-natural woodland in a favourable
condition.
5. To restore and thereafter maintain the forest plains, meadows and
other grasslands and heaths in favourable conditions.
6. To enhance and thereafter maintain the network of forest ponds,
bogs, streams, ditches and their banks in a favourable condition.
7. To protect and maintain the conditions of sites of historic and
landscape importance.
8. To enhance wildlife value, increase the structural diversity and
thereafter maintain in a favourable condition the forests
secondary woodland and scrub, scrub-grass mosaics, glades, Green
Lanes and road verges.
9. To encourage the educational use of Epping Forest by the widest
possible range of people.
10. To promote scientific monitoring and research with the aim of
establishing the forest as a nationally recognized centre for
ecological/nature conservation research.
These objectives seem fairly logical and rational, but as the
management and conservation of Epping progresses with time, the
question must be posed “is this a successful idea and aiding towards
helping maintain the forest and its biodiversity/ecosystems as much as
possible, or should the forest be left to let nature take its
course?”. This is a key point of controversy concerning the future of
Epping Forest today.
There are many methods of management that have been adopted; the first
to be considered is physical management. Cattle have been reintroduced
onto the forest, grazing is a method of management in order to keep
down/control invasive vegetation. This is of importance, as if left
unattended; this type of vegetation will spread so greatly that it
will in turn prevent other things from growing. This method of
management will have a beneficial impact on the composition of flowers
in the grassland allowing competition with vigorous grasses like
tufted hair grass. It will also benefit the invertebrate community
which will aid many species, birds in particular. The stress/pressure
from grazing leads to plants such as thistles, to adapt and in turn
change their morphology so that they will grow horizontally rather
than vertically. This is not to say that grazing does not have its
downfalls, the pressure will also lead to capping of the soil surface,
which will in turn push the soil closer together, and compact and
compress it, consequently leading to problems such as water logging.
Eventually, this will result in impermeability of the soil surface due
to cohesion forces, so that no new seedlings can sprout. This ‘smeared
soil’ will also lead to a perched water level, which could become
stagnant and boggy. An alternative to the use of cattle is to use a
systematic herbicide; this was attempted however it had its problems.
It was not only very expensive but also required much manpower. It is
likely that the answer is to use cows, but to use them sparingly –
using half the amount of cows will mean that the erosion pressure will
decrease significantly, but would the reduced number of cows be
sufficient enough to prevent invasive vegetation? The use of animals
such as cattle and deer to keep some areas of the forest free of
trees, and to leave open areas, or Plains covered with grass has
preserved habitats and communities which would not be present if the
land was completely blanketed by woodland, this in turn increases the
variety and diversity of organisms that live within the forest.
There are also methods of management and conservation concerning the
tree population; tree materials are often required for every day
usage, such as timber etc. There are methods of management that allow
tree material to be obtained for this use, whilst also ensuring that
the tree does not perish completely. These methods include pollarding,
coppicing and copparding. Pollarding is cutting a tree fairly high, at
approximately 2.5 – 3 metres high in order to obtain the material, but
also to prevent tree damage from organisms. The main problem is deer,
if the tree is cut any lower then deer will graze the top shoots which
is likely to kill the tree. It is for this reason that pollarding is
often carried out in areas of high deer population. Coppicing is based
on the same principle, but the trees are cut lower – either below knee
level or at ground level. This leads to the tree growing outwards (due
to growth of the cambium layer) and produces small, young growth.
Finally, copparding is a compromise of the two. Copparding is when a
tree would be cut higher than the knee. The principle for cutting
trees in this way is that if the branches were not cut, they would
only grow one way, over a period of time this would lead to the tree
growing slanted and eventually, due to the weight balance the tree
will fall over and die. Furthermore, if you remove the apical
dominance of a tree in this way then dormant sites of growth are
stimulated; there is a renewed apical dominance in the side of the
tree. Although the trees are being cut down, in a sense this is the
best of both needs – it provides humans with the materials that they
require and in turn helps tree growth in a sense (prevents the trees
from toppling over). Finally, this cutting of trees means that
different areas become attractive to different animals, according to
their ecological requirements. For example, places where trees have
been recently pollarded will be colonised by reptiles that require
open areas for basking in the sunlight. This will in turn increase the
biodiversity in such areas.
Coppiced Tree.
Pollarded Trees.
[IMAGE][IMAGE]
Another method of forest conservation is the culling of organisms that
damage tree and plant life. The main example is deer, this creature
will chew around the cambium layer of trees and plants, once the
cambium layer has been chewed away the tree can no longer survive.
Therefore, the culling of the deer will in turn promote the growth and
species diversity of much woodland life. This is also applicable to
squirrels and other such organisms that feed on trees. This is
possibly the largest type of interference with nature in the
management of the forest – actually killing off some of the organisms,
but is this a sacrifice that will have to be made in order to save
tree life, or should nature just be left to take its course?
The final method of woodland management is ploughing and burning,
although this may sound extreme it does enhance crop growth
significantly. Although this has perhaps the most problems out of all
the methods mentioned. The key argument here is that this type of
action is greatly disadvantageous to the environment, leading to much
pollution. It will also damage the habitat of a large number of
organisms, particularly plant and invertebrate populations.
In the 1870s, the Corporation of London had been concerned that free
access to open countryside was being threatened by landowners wanting
to enclose common landing by building development. As a result, two
acts of parliament were passed – the Epping Forest Act, which made the
corporation of London the conservators of the forest, (this act also
made pollarding illegal), and the Open Spaces Act, which enabled the
corporation to acquire and safeguard land within 25 miles of London
for the “recreation and enjoyment” of the public.
There is much controversy surrounding the issues of management of
Epping Forest, as is mentioned towards the beginning of this essay,
but it seems that the only way forward is to use such techniques,
although it means interfering with nature. Following on from
information above concerning how grazing and open areas of the forest
lead to a greater diversity, in the past 100 years the amount of
grazing has decreased substantially. This is for several reasons; the
first reason was the introduction of a disease in 1956 that infected
the rabbit population and in turn led to a sharp fall in their
numbers. Secondly, the increasing number of visitors to the forest led
to the fallow deer being gathered into an enclosure to prevent their
disturbance, and finally, fewer commoners turned their cattle out onto
forestland to graze. In the areas that were once open heath covered in
grass and heather, bushes and trees began to invade, as the level of
grazing was insufficient to keep them clear. Left to its own devices,
Epping Forest would gradually develop into climax woodland with a
consequent reduction in the variety of communities and hence its
diversity.
This provides evidence that the grazing technique of management should
be continued, and this is just one example. Many of such techniques
actually help the forest to stay as it is, being a favourable habitat,
and increasing biodiversity. After all, if nature was left to simply
take its course, it would lose its productivity and much of its
wildlife. Furthermore, the forest would not be as successful and
appealing both visually and scientifically as it is today for the
public.
If the variety of different communities and ecosystems in Epping
Forest is to be maintained or increased a programme of planned
management must be implemented. This management plan has been devised
by the Conservators of Epping Forest in conjunction with English
Nature. Recommendations include the reintroduction of a pollarding
cycle in selected areas of the forest, the removal of scrub growth,
which has invaded open grassland areas, and the clearance of rank
vegetation and silt from overgrown ponds. Each area is carefully
monitored to record the effects of the management strategies on the
diversity of each habitat. Management will ensure conditions are kept
as advantageous as possible, and hopefully lead to a brighter future
for Epping Forest.
