Impact to Forest Floor.

In most cases the extraction routes will not take a great volume of timber so the damage to the forest floor is minimal and sometimes even beneficial. The action of the trees on the ground can result in scarification (slight disruption to the top soil) which will in fact invigorate the growth of dormant bulbs and plants.

Occasionally when a single route has to be used for a large volume of timber a single rut will occur but this will turn into a feature of the wood in a few years unlike the multiple ruts caused by mechanical methods the damage from which is irreversible.

This photograph shows a typical extraction route in a small woodland. Note also the width of the track which means that no final crop trees are removed prematurely, this is a big bonus to small woodland owners because due to the smaller volume of standing timber involved it becomes more important to make sure that the maximum number of trees reach maturity.

Photograph courtesy of P.R.Morgan BSc. MICFor.

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