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Quick question. A local scout group have there annual camp nearby. Its adjacent to a wood (not theres btw). Every year they assault all the hazels trees with loppers and leave the results all over the place.
Does the Scout Association have a anti hazel policy ?
Just wondering.
As a scout leader, Id have a word with them- can u find an email address, at the very least they can tidy up
I might do that next time I see them. But the woods the are not mine, so they will tell me to jogon.
However, I do know the owner and I will see how they feel about the trees.
Sad really, all the mess, enviroment damage etc. Also, they dont give a dam about cutting fences to gain access.
I was wondering if they were being tsught some anti hazel doctrine from the dark ages.
I don't think there's anything on Hazel specifically, but there are basic backwoods rules about not taking an axe or saw into the woods, and not cutting live wood, but dragging any dead wood you want to use/burn to the edge for processing.
Hazel is a good bushcrafting wood. Take an adult or two with minimal skills but the need to entertain a group of young kids and mob of baying tooled up youth, and vandalism of anything growing is a pretty obvious outcome.
Are you sure they're not coppicing it? Obviously not on if they don't have the landowner's permission, and they should be tidying up the brash, but they might actually be teaching the kids about traditional woodland management, and maybe some green woodworking skills.
In any case, if you want to get rid of haxel, probably the worst thing you can do is lop it!
If they've been cutting hazel every year for a while then I'd guess that they know what they are doing. I would assume some sort of bushcraft rather than burning - especially if you're not seeing traces of unburnt wood in any firepits/clearing etc. and if it's been going on for a while then I'd have thought the owner of the woods would have been aware. As pointed out already, hazel just springs up again when cut. That's a traditional skill in its own right.
I was wondering if they were being tsught some anti hazel doctrine from the dark ages.
Of all the weird stuff I've seen people say about Scouts....
Scout leader here. We have a strict "no chopping of live wood" policy but they might be coppicing for bushcraft stuff. However, they might not.
Even if they are coppicing, they'd need the permission of the landowner.
Personally I'd be asking as if they're just cutting it to burn and/or they don't have permission then that's not on.
Also, they dont give a dam about cutting fences to gain access.
Rather unlikely that this would be the agreed method of access from the owner. Yeah, I'd definitely be cluing him in.
I'll talk to the woodland owners again. Just to confirm they dont want Scouts wrecking the woods and fences. In past they said did'nt want them, but policy may of changed.
I'm not the Woodlands cop or the land owners pet.
Its just a shame to see to so much damage.
They did leave two pairs of loppers in the woods though :-). Repurposed for my hedges now 🙂
Talk about coming equiped.
It does not seem like a normal Scout thing, but IME some Scout leaders can be 'unique'.
As someone who educates outdoors for a living, there is a respect for nature, places and people you engage with that has to be taught and repeated for future generations to develop a respect for nature, places and people.
To quote my Patron David:
"If children don't grow up knowing about nature and appreciating it, they will not understand it, and if they don't understand it, they won't protect it, and if they don't protect it who will?"
Such a typically STW thread...
Hazel loves being cut down, it'll just grow back stronger. There is no such thing as a 'mess' in nature, nature is invigorated by disturbance. The kids are having a great time in the woods and if they're doing it every year the landowner is obviously fine with that. And to top it all off your stealing from a charity - excellent work.
They are long gone now, they might get them back next year. Anyway they were dumped in the woods and they could'nt bothered to take them back to camp.
Hazel loves being cut down ? are you in dialogue with Hazel trees ?
Destroy your own property, so be it. Someone elses without permission is a definate no, no.
Note: I have spoken to land owner and they are a bit pissed of with them. I hope they dont ruin access for everyone. Who enjoy the woodland as it is.
And kids in woodlands doing natural stuff is great and should be embraced.
Every year they assault all the hazels trees with loppers and leave the results all over the place.
The thing is, many of those hazels probably started off as a crop - they would be planted, then after a time the long straight stems cut near the bottom and they’d be split down to make wattle fences for temporary sheep enclosures, fencing, all sorts of things, plus the crop of nuts in the autumn. If you walk around the valleys close to Ford, Castle Combe, North Wraxall, in fact all around North Wiltshire, which was sheep and wool country, you’ll see regular clumps of hazel growing from a single stool, where they’d have been planted originally. There’s no problem with them cutting the sticks, that’s why they are there, but they should tidy up afterwards, like, tidying it into piles as brash for invertebrates and other small animals to burrow into, that’s what field and woodcraft’s all about, there’s no excuse to be untidy, when tidying up brings many benefits. Those original hazel stools could be a century or more old, and in places still being harvested.
Note: I have spoken to land owner and they are a bit pissed of with them. I hope they dont ruin access for everyone. Who enjoy the woodland as it is.
But not so pissed off in any of the previous years to have investigated who they were and gone and had a chat?
Are they camping at a camp site? If so have a word with the site owners.
Gotta love the passive aggressiveness of this thread.
As a cubs leader... The mantra should be "leave no trace", and this doesn't sound that way. I'd find out the group leader (as in, overall bot just the scouts) and send a polite factual email including the fact you have their loppers, should they want them back.
New owners. They will most likely fence tgd whole wood
that’s a lot of expense compared to talking to the scouts! Although of course the scouts might be a handy excuse for trying to keep everyone out. I’m not condoning any wrongdoing by the scouts but if this is an annual event and they’ve always done this perhaps they had consent from previous owners or at least tacit belief that the owner didn’t mind.
the scout groups I know wouldn’t have done it in the first place, but if they were doing something which was upsetting the locals they would be keen to mitigate the harm to reputations.
Scouts leader here. Don't take living wood.
Coppicing hazel for backwoods activities is different to taking live wood for burning.
Scouts leader here. Don't take living wood.
Coppicing hazel for backwoods activities is different to taking live wood for burning.
And that of course is with landowners permission, and done with consideration for the environment to take only what you need.
Seems that the OP's scouts are legging it over a fence into land they have no permission to be on and leaving somewhat of chaos behind..
Hazel loves being cut down, it'll just grow back stronger.
There is a big difference between actual coppicing (taking right down at ground level, doing so in autumn and winter and doing it on a 5 yearly cycle) and the midsummer slash and grab of young teens visiting the same bit of land every year.
Legality and permissions aside, to many of us hazel is a bloody weed and removal is wonderful. Doubt that this applies in the situation being discussed.
