Learning from Basque ancient pollards - Forestry Journal

Over the last five years Helen Read, from the City of London, has been
building relationships with tree workers in the Basque Country following
a Europe wide study tour. In this article she explains how we can learn
from the traditional techniques still practiced in Spain and looks at the
sustainable management of their pollard trees.
Beech pollards at Artikutza, area
not grazed for many years and now
the secondary woodland is shading
out the trees and the traditional
management cycles have lapsed
completely.
The trip to Spain initiated some
experimental pollarding where
neighbouring trees were cut
differently. The tree on the left of
this photo was cut in the traditional
Spanish way using an axe, while the
tree on the right was pollarded by
English arborists using a chainsaw.
These trees will be re-inspected in
2009 to work out whether there is
any difference in the trees reaction
to the different pruning techniques.
Some trees were also pruned with
both axe and chainsaw.
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The art of restoring lapsed pollards
is a new one, necessitated by many
decades or even centuries since
the trees were last ‘working trees’
that were cut for their wood. Sadly
this long lapse, for beech trees in
particular, has meant that we cannot
find people in Britain who pollarded
trees for a living and there is little
information about how to start new
pollards or how they were managed
in a regular cutting cycle.
In 2003 I undertook a study tour
across northern Europe in order
to try and find out more about
the technique of pollarding and
especially to try and discover more
about beech pollards. The last area
I visited was the Basque Country,
which straddles the south west of
France and northern Spain, and this
proved to be the most interesting
and relevant. I was also fortunate to
meet people who have subsequently
become good friends and who
have enabled us to discover more
about their culture and past tree
management practices.
In the Basque Country there are
tremendous numbers of beech
pollards. In some communities they
were located on common pastures
belonging to the village or town and
were essential for domestic fuel. In
other places, close to the coasts,
there were extensive areas of land
with pollarded trees, the wood from
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Feature: Learning from ancient pollards in the Basque Country
Feature: Article Title
These beech pollards at Oieleku
were cut in the past to make
charcoal for use in iron foundries.
Today the land underneath is still
grazed by sheep and ponies.
Pollard cut at Leitza to a charcoal
makers specification in Feb 2007,
with the photograph taken in June
2008.
which was converted to charcoal
and then used to fuel iron smelting
works. Many other special trees also
co-existed with the ‘traditional’ type
of pollards. These were trees cut and
shaped for particular pieces of wood,
such as curves and forks, for use in
ship building. The iron and wood
were essential raw materials for the
economically important Basque ship
building industry along the coast.
In contrast to the beech trees at
Burnham Beeches, last cut for their
wood around 200 years ago, some
of these Basque trees have barely
lapsed. There are also elderly people
who were charcoal makers in their
youth and are still very much alive
and able to describe how the tree
cutting was carried out.
Since my initial visit there has been a
great deal of exchange between the
Basques and various different ‘tree
people’ from Britain. Members of the
Ancient Tree Forum in particular have
explored the area and found much
of interest, not only regarding beech
pollards but some huge and ancient
oak trees, ash pollards cut for fodder
and some landscapes rich in veteran
trees.
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A key feature of all the visits has
been the opportunity to talk to
local people, nature conservation
professionals, arboriculturalists
and historians. The benefit of
this has been to raise awareness
of the value of these trees and to
promote appropriate management.
Pollarded trees are so common in
the landscape that most people were
unaware of their importance and
value and therefore did not realise
the European significance of what
they have on their door step.
Coupled with these site based visits,
Ted Green, Neville Fay and myself
have led workshops and given
presentations on the value and
management of ancient trees and
many of these have been directly
to arboriculturalists. We have built
good relationships with Trepalariak
– the Basque Arboricultural
Association— and have worked
closely with several of their members.
In the summer of 2006 a couple
of Basques came to England and
worked for a few days at Epping
Forest and Burnham Beeches.
Pollards in the Basque Country were
traditionally cut with axes and there
is still a very strong axe culture there.
We invited an axe worker so he could
show us more about how he worked.
During the visit we held an ‘open
afternoon’ so that anyone who was
interested could come and have a
look.
Then in February 2007 a group
from the City of London, including
five arboriculturalists, spent a week
in the Basque Country. They took
their chainsaws with them and
participated in an experiment that
was also intended to highlight the
importance of these trees to local
people. Working alongside Basque
arboriculturalists from Trepalariak
and local people wielding axes, 40
trees were cut in two main locations.
In one area (Oieleku) the aim was to
compare cutting to the specification
of the charcoal makers with that
of the more gradual restoration
techniques we use in England (all
trees being cut with chainsaws)
and some 25km south in the other
area (Leitza) the charcoal makers’
specification was used but some trees
were cut with axes and some with
chainsaws (and a small number half
and half). The traditional method of
cutting requires that almost all the
branches of the pollard are removed
leaving generally quite short stubs.
Small branches were retained but
generally only very thin ones. This
technique is not something we would
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Feature: Learning from ancient pollards in the Basque Country
Trees at Leitza cut to the charcoal
makers specification in Feb 2007,
photograph taken at time of cutting.
Tree cut with chainsaw
One year after pollarding this tree
had a few new shoots growing
low down on the branches so it
was scored with an axe to try and
stimulate more growth
consider attempting on old pollards
in Britain but a small number of trees
cut like this in the years immediately
prior to our work in the Basque
Country showed good initial growth.
It is interesting that the charcoal
makers were convinced that trees
that we cut as a gentle reduction
would die and most of the British
were convinced that trees cut in the
manner of the charcoal makers
would die! The cutting cycle of
pollards in the Basque Country seems
to vary. In some places it is similar to
that in Britain but in others a length
of up to 50 years is reported. At least
some of the trees that were worked
on were last cut approximately 50
years ago and so were barely out of
cycle.
In June 2008, midway through
the second growing season after
cutting, a small group of British
people returned to the trees as part
of a longer visit. The following
comments are based on a quick
visual assessment of the trees. At the
location where the cutting with axes
and chainsaws had been compared
the trees all showed new growth,
much of which was good and strong,
and largely in the form of new shoots
from the cut branches (something
that is relatively rare in southern
England). Some branches had not
faired so well and there appeared
to be a degree of variation between
trees that did not seem to be related
to the cutting tool used. In contrast,
the trees in the more northerly area
that had been cut hard, were not
growing so well and those cut in a
more gentle way appeared stronger
and healthier. The difference in
response may be related to location
and climate or perhaps the age/
condition of the trees at the time of
cutting. It is planned to return in
2009 to carry out a more detailed
evaluation of the responses of the
trees and hopefully this will be
reported on when we return.
The sheer numbers of pollarded
beech trees in this area enables us to
learn from actions and experiments
that we would be unable or unwilling
to undertake in Britain because of the
vulnerability of our remaining tree
populations. In exchange we hope
that our experiences with ancient
trees have enabled the local people
to view their trees in a different light
and to learn about new techniques
that they have not encountered
previously.
Lapsed Beech pollards in the mist
Gorbeia Natural Park
All pictures by Helen Read
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