euris – europeans using roundwood innovatively & sustainably roundwood fencing solutions

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Roundwood fencing solutions

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

• Poor landscape

• Durability ?

• High energy

• No local added value

• No benefit to forestry

Synthetic fencing

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Potential for roundwood fencing

• Natural landscape• Durable• Benefits local

forests• Local added value• Positive

environment

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Landscape

Natural material combined with traditional techniques

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

LandscapeSynthetic materials in the natural landscape

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Durability

20 year old concrete fence

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Durability

20 year old wooden fence

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Why is roundwood durable?

• Unbroken fibres do not allow water penetration

• Nilapuu!

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Split wood has the same properties

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Energy use

• Synthetics generally have high energy use

• + other negative environmental impacts:

• Air / water pollution

• Health

Production energy requirements(Kilowatt hours per tonne consumed)

Material Energy

Processed timber 580

Bricks 2,320

Cement 2,900

Plastics 3,480

Glass 8,120

Steel 13,920

Aluminium 73,080

Source: www.vasi.org

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Energy use

• Manually processed roundwood has very low energy use

• Positive environmental impacts:

• Habitat / biodiversity

• Carbon sequestration

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Local business development

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Chestnut palings

• Attractive

• Very durable 40years!

• Small businesses

• Multifunctional forest management / biodiversity

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Silviculture• Chestnut Pales are

harvested from coppices situated in Kent and Sussex.

• Coppicing is an ancient forest management system whereby the growing tree is cut back to ground level every 15 years, leaving what is known as a stool.

• The tree then puts out new shoots, up to as many as 12, which can be commercially harvested at the end of the 15 year growing cycle.

• Small coupes – multi-structured woodland

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Environment• Coppice woodlands provide excellent habitat, supporting often very

specific species• Some stools are up to 500 years old, making them some of the

oldest living plants in the UK. • Coppices flourish on poor ground and therefore are important to the

rural economy, both in terms of land usage and employment.• Integral feature of the local landscape

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Harvesting

• Motor manual harvesting• Small coupes (less than 1 hectare)• Low impact / low tech extraction• Pole length

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Processing

• Cut to length

• Peeled

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Pales split by hand

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Paling construction

• Pales are wired up into 9m rolls of paling fence

• Range of heights

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Completed / erected fence

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

UsesEither permanent or re-useable fencing situation such as:

• Around a building or civil engineering site.

• Tree and planted area protection.• Hazardous areas. • Parks, gardens and Country

Estates.• Crowd control.• Temporary car parks and access

ways.• Erosion control of beaches.• Snow drift control.

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Other round / split wood fencing

Split oak pole - UK

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Robinea roundwood post - Hungary

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

S. chestnut round pole fence - Italy

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Split hazel - Slovakia

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Scot’s pine roundwood pole fence - Finland

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Larch roundwood pole fence - UK

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Woven hazel - UK

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Birch sand fencing - Ireland

EURIS – Europeans Using Roundwood Innovatively & Sustainably

Further study / class discussion

• Research & discuss the durability, functionality and implications to forest resource management, for these fence types

• Research & discuss the development potential for roundwood fencing with regard to the forest resources in your country