Criticism for the harsh strategy of tree felling

Around 900 larch trees on the site have been killed following a government Statutory Plant Health Notice following an outbreak of Phytophthora ramorum, a fungus-like disease of larch trees that spreads quite easily through rain and watercourses.

The Forestry Commission made the order after flying over the site and testing half a dozen trees, which they found were infected with the disease. To prevent spread, the order decreed that all the larch must be killed in a large area of Wyming Brook around the infected trees.

Site managers Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust have now carried out this work, with around two thirds of these larch trees either ring-barked or felled and left on site (which will provide homes and food for wildlife like birds, beetles and fungi) or taken away to be sold as timber.

There has been criticism of the government's harsh strategy: local walker Bo Khan, who helped set up the Save Wyming Brook Trees campaign, argued that since the disease’s effects are still unclear in the UK, surely it would be better to take a more cautious approach to a much loved area of local countryside. He said the Forestry Commission’s line was: “Shoot first, ask questions later.” And his message to them was: “So stop shooting. It’s better to ask some questions.”

The larch trees around the area were planted in the twentieth century as schemes to test the growth of conifer species and to protect the Rivelin dam below, while also providing a tree-lined ’drive’ for visiting families from Sheffield.

Paul Jarman, site manager for Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust, said although the trust had covered some of the work’s costs by selling timber, SRWT had to fund much of an operation they legally had to carry out.

“We get the government order, but we don’t get government money,” he said, while walking around the site this spring.

The car park has been improved, with new bike racks, easier steps, and rails to protect erosion of the bank down to the brook, along with a height restrictor to deter fly tipping on the site.

SRWT have carried out several desktop and field archaeology surveys to try and preserve the history of the site during felling, and only trees near the Wyming Brook Drive track were felled and taken away with heavy machinery to try and preserve the land and archaeology as much as possible.

But several hundred yards down the track, a plantation of close planted Sitka Spruce has been clear-felled, as part of the SRWT long term management plan. The work happened at the same time as the larch removal to save on costs, but this area currently looks much more open and empty.

Sitka is non-native and when close planted has poor value for wildlife, Paul explained, so the site will now be planted with native broad leaf trees next winter. The felling at Wyming Brook is “a short term scar, for long term benefit,” he said.

The woodland between the track and the brook still has many other trees growing, like Scots Pine, and the gaps left by the larch trees taken away or felled and left on site makes the brook much more open and lighter than it was before. Over the next few years, native scrub woodland will develop here, with bushes and trees like bilberry, rowan and holly appearing, and wildflowers, which will all bring in insects, more songbirds and rarer birds like flycatchers.

The old larch trees tended to shade out ground flora and the lighter site should actually be better for wildlife in the longer term, Paul explained, adding that he has mixed feelings just now, as he realises the changes may look extreme to some, even though the site’s wildlife value should improve. He said he hopes that visitors will enjoy watching how the new Wyming Brook will evolve over the years to come.