Coppice Forestry
Can we feed humanity through widespread plantings of nut and fruit trees?
Coppicing is the practice of cutting down a tree so that it can sprout from the stump (called a stool once it is in a coppice system). Pollarding is essentially the same practice done several feet from the ground to prevent animals from grazing on the young shoots. Both of these methods of harvesting timber provide for a prolific supply of wood for various products and even more interestingly cause the trees to have much longer lives than they would otherwise.
Older than pre-history, the practice of coppicing has been used in forestry management to provide for the livelihood of rural communities. Most commonly used as a source of firewood, the coppiced trees lend themselves to a plethora of purposes. Less commonly done, even conifers can be coppiced.
The usefulness of coppice and pollard systems cannot be overstated in their ability to maintain healthy trees and provide the unique service of limiting the size of trees that might otherwise be too large for a growing area.
Many mast (nut and fruit) producing trees can be easily coppiced making it possible to have nuts and fruits available almost everywhere.
Each type of tree has a unique timeline for how long they must be grown before they are…
