Updating the landscape

This is a good example of the time and effort it can take to change a landscape for the better.

The Trennet Bank Project was initiated back in 2013 (although the wish to do something here had existed for much longer than that). We’ve now achieved the major part of the planned work with the removal of conifers and the start of the gradual restoration of the site to moorland and native woodland.

Trennet Bank is on the eastern edge of Bilsdale West Moor, just west of the village of Chop Gate. Set on the top of the bank was Trennet Plantation, a 20 hectare 20^th century conifer plantation (Sitka spruce and Lodgepole pine) planted on moorland in the late 70s/early 80s. Since then the plantation was identified as an inappropriate forestry development at this location in terms of landscape and environment. Because it was so high on the horizon it stood out on the skyline from a number of vantage points and because it was surrounded on three sides by important moorland (designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Area, Special Ara of Conservation) it was isolated from other woodland. In fact it stuck out like a sore thumb.

In addition, there was no future as a working plantation (plant-grow-fell) as it had become uneconomic to manage and harvest the timber, because of its location. So the trees would eventually start to be blown over leaving very little ground vegetation and therefore this would lead to erosion.

From a National Park Authority point of view Trennet Bank Plantation provided an ideal example of where to put into practice the North York Moors Management Plan policy – The removal of plantations from inappropriate sites will be supported where this will deliver landscape enhancement or other environmental benefits.

What happened…

The first requirement was the creation of a temporary access route from the plantation on the hillside down to the farm below and then onto the main road. This was a more achievable alternative to trying to take the trees up over the designated moorland. It meant building up the existing track including the provision of a new bridge so that the route could be used by timber lorries, and by machinery accessing the site to fell the trees. Subsequently once the conifer removal was completed the track was reinstated to ensure it was suitable for continued farm use. During and after the work, farm stock had to continue to be managed with fencing and gates, to allow the farm to function.

To remove the conifers a felling licence was required from the Forestry Commission. A felling licence requires a commitment to replant so there is no net loss of woodland. As the idea for Trennet Bank was to remove the existing woodland, the subsequent native woodland and wood pasture planned for the site wouldn’t amount to the required 20 hectares. Mark Antcliff, Woodland Officer, undertook the challenge to establish enough alternative planting sites in the wider area to ensure there was no let loss. In all, nearly 36 hectares of new compensatory woodland was established including on the plantation site and also in other appropriate locations such as bracken dominated moor edge, thanks to willing landowners and land managers.

With the access route improved and the felling licence in place the removal of timber started in the summer of 2015, and was completed by November 2016. The timber was of reasonable quality because the trees were over 30 years old and so could be sold on with some of the money made covering some of the costs entailed. The work also created large amounts of brash, some of which remains on the site to decay naturally and some of which was removed to be used as biomass.

In the winter of 2016/17 part of the felled site was replanted with oak and hazel, leaving the remainder (80% of the site) to naturally revert to heath and mire. The planted trees will need to be managed over the next three years to ensure they become established.

Lessons learnt for other potential large scale projects…

• This turned out to be a major project for one Woodland Officer, with occasional assistance. A project of this scale and complexity would be helped by having a project manager on the ground.
• Unavoidably the project relies on the good will and co-operation of landowners and tenants. It just couldn’t have happened otherwise.
• In all, because of the complexity of the project, seven different agreements were required to be brokered by the Authority.

In the end a lot of time and resource was spent over a number of years, and as a result the landscape and environment of this part of the North York Moors has been significantly enhanced.

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