Reviving Woodlands, Reconnecting Communities: Coppicing Returns to Wiston Estate
The Wiston Estate has teamed up with local woodland community Roots West Sussex CIC to kick off a project coppicing areas of the estate for biodiversity.
Volunteers from the local community will learn the traditional woodland management craft of coppicing and help restore currently unmanaged woodlands to benefit birds, butterflies, bats and pollinators. They will also be joined by local charity Making It Out, which equips people moving on from prison, addiction or homelessness with creative and woodworking skills.
Coppicing helps prolong the life of trees by several hundred years, prompting a burst of new growth and providing a mosaic of habitats within a woodland. Many species have evolved alongside coppicing and depend upon it for their survival. Rare and threatened species including nightingale, dormouse and bats all benefit from coppicing and the estate will be monitoring the impact on biodiversity as the woodlands are returned to a coppice rotation.
Roots West Sussex CIC operates a model known as social forestry, which harnesses communities to connect with and care for their local woodlands to benefit their physical and mental health whilst also restoring the health of the woodland itself and creating sustainable woodland product.
If you’re interested in joining in or for more information subscribe to https://rootswestsussex.substack.com/.
By Penny Green, Lead Ecologist, Wiston Estate
