Been scoping some local forestry in the back of beyond of late and there’s masses of potential for (more) cheeky trails, however, I noticed they’re recently graded the fireroad (although they tend to do this annually as the WRC Car testing tends to leave some pretty significant ruts!!) and since some of the plantation is looking mature it got me to thinking I’d prefer not to put all the time, effort and love into building new trails if they’re only gonna be there for a few months…

Is there any surefire way to know if a patch of trees is going to be felled in the near future?

Contact FLS. They’ll have a schedule of planned felling.

https://forestryandland.gov.scot/contact

It doesn’t do any harm to find out and keep in touch with your local office.

Yep contact the landowner.

If it’s just thinning or a very small patch of trees then I’d suggest looking out for orange spray dots on the trees to be removed

If it is Forestry and Land Scotland, they should have published a management plan for the area. So that should give you an idea of what work is planned. Though it won’t tell you exactly when/where its going happen.
https://forestryandland.gov.scot/what-we-do/planning/active

Thanks for that, a very handy resource!!

Is there something similar for folk building trails in other parts of the UK?

There is quite a bit of flexibility built into land management plans for fell years. There is no sure fire way to know when felling is planned unless you seek permission. Coupes that are up for harvesting can be pulled/substituted at the last moment.

Your best bet is the LMPs, observing the maturity of timber, observing the increase in blown timber as terminal height is reached, or engaging a local forester in casual chat in the area. Paint marks on trees appear at mensuration, but that happens several times a rotation, so isn’t a good guide for felling. Coupes going to market and therefore very likely to soon be felled have their boundaries marked in white tape with long tails.

Remember there are multiple activities in a productive coupe – planting, beat up, thinning, harvesting, roadbuilding, deer control – all of which shall ignore cheeky trails.

When tree fellers turn up. It’s the way I tell ’em.

If your not sure, don’t put too much effort into it, just try and ride line, see if it works, if it does then rake it in a bit, try pick up some natural kickers instead of building doubles etc.

Tbh it’s how I always build now – Mark out – ride – if it works rake it out – keep riding. If it’s a really dense plantation, and away from prying eyes, I’ll tape it out, it’s amazing how a trail can disappear under pine needles after a strong wind.

I’ve seen too many folk spend ages digging and building tracks that just don’t work.

Do they still yell TIMBER!?

I tend to only do as much work as necessary to make a particular line rideable – clearing brash, lopping off a few low branches, maybe a couple of decking planks across a gulley (I’m fond of those 8” wide bridges…). I like to keep it all low-profile and un-manicured because, especially in winter around here, too much use and it all ends up like a quagmire anyway.
That way I haven’t invested too much time and energy, only to have it all rendered unusable by forestry ops.a few weeks later.

Thanks for all the tips folks… as regards Waderider’s points about Coupes, I’ve noticed some areas have signs with the Coupe numbers on; would this be an indication that they’re being put to market?

(there’s also extensive windfall in the areas near the signs, which would fit with what you’ve mentioned)

Is there a colour coding system for flagging tape?

I’ve noticed multiple long fronds of yellow tape in one area and wonder what that might signify?

I’ve also found forestry mapping for the whole of the UK which might come in handy:

http://data-forestry.opendata.arcgis.com/

If some trees have a diagonal slant sprayed in a fluorescent paint, that usually means felling starts soon.

Most trees are vertical. If they are horizontal its a sure sign they have been felled.

The subcompartment database in the above link will have planned felling year but as above this can change for various reasons. If there’s a lot of windblow they might be clearing it and trying to rescue the rest before it goes too

Well sure enough, even amongst the storms, they started felling last week… the good news is it’s in a coupe where there’s no trails (though we had scoped the area a few months back, then held off after seeing some of the trees were marked and taped)

Thanks for the hints and keep your eyes out for tape folks