Description:
William will assist us in understanding what coppicing and pollarding are, why this arboricultural practice is so important to the preservation of trees, and how it differs from the much discouraged practice of “topping.” Once people around the globe did not simply live beside or under trees, they lived with them, taking from them and giving to them. People cut them back and they sprouted again. Whole woodlands were cut near the ground (coppiced), or cut at about six feet tall (pollarded). Surprisingly, this was not an exploitative but a cooperative relationship. Proper human care for the woodlands increased their diversity and promoted the numbers and kinds of insects, birds, and other
creatures who lived among the trees and the open understory vegetation. The trees themselves lived longer. In return, the trees gave people wood, fodder, medicines, foods, rope, clothes, and ships, as well as beauty, fresh air, and cooling shade. Whole cultures were built around such woods. This talk evokes that ancient world, not as an idyll of the past, but as a model for a future, active relationship with our trees.
This course carries 6.5 CEUs for ISA certified arborists. (S=3, P=2.5, M=1).