Sitka Thinning and Ride Improvement

This small area of Sitka required first thinning. The area is relatively small and prone to strong winds. The ride had become overgrown and little light was entering it and thus reducing the biodiversity value of the ride. We removed a sufficient amount of timber to open up the ride. We left the ends narrower to allow for a reduction of wind velocity once through the wind hardened edge trees. The brash was matted across the ride to allow for minimal ground compaction once the area was dry enough for extraction. This allowed the main work to be done outside the nesting season, and the timber was left for a couple of months until it was dry enough to extract by tractor/trailer combination.