Ecological Woodland Management of Dronley Wood

We manage Dronley Wood according to ecological processes. The woodland management aims to develop Dronley Community Woodland towards a multipurpose woodland where biodiversity, recreation, and timber production are equal priorities.

Your support will allow us to develop and protect Dronley Community Woodland for future generations. 

Every £ 1500 will enable us to develop 1 ha of Dronley Community Woodland towards a diverse, resilient, stable, site- adapted and especially mixed woodland. Dronley Community Woodland has a size of 50 ha. In total, we want to under-plant an area of 30 ha.

Dronley Community Woodland:

Dronley Wood is near Dundee. The woodland has become Community Woodland in 2019. Dronley Wood is very popular with over 20000 woodland visits per year. Our vision is to develop Dronley Wood towards a multipurpose woodland that will create a long-lasting legacy for future generations. We offer volunteering opportunities, courses, and school involvement. We want to establish a strong connection with the local community by building on tradition and natural heritage to promote social and environmental change as well as health and well-being. Dronley Community Woodland is committed to offering training, research, cooperation, education, and local employment opportunities. 

What we have done so far:

In 2020, Dronley Community Woodland upgraded an existing path to an all-abilities path. Notice boards and Interpretation boards inform the woodland visitor about the woodland ecology, woodland history, and the woodland management of Dronley Community Woodland. The project also allowed us to build a shelter at the end of the all-abilities path. Our woodland visitors, school groups and volunteer groups use the shelter frequently. The all-abilities path has increased the popularity of Dronley Community Woodland further.

In summer 2021, Dronley Community Woodland set up a little tree nursery next to the all-abilities path. The tree nursery will allow us to grow seedlings ourselves and transplant and temporarily store seedlings. It also enables us to increase our educational offer to volunteers and local schools.

Since autumn 2021, we are planting an area along the northern boundary of the woodland. We are planting a mixture of Oak, Hazel, Lime, Alder, and Birch (almost 7000 trees). This area of the woodland forms the woodland edge. This part of Dronley Wood is planted as a so-called Coppice-with-Standards that represents the oldest form of community woodland. 

The local community is developing their woodland:

Dronley Community Woodland has fantastic volunteer support. Since 2019, volunteers have spent more than 2500 hours developing Dronley Wood towards a site- adapted and mixed woodland for future generations. 

The volunteer days included activities such as green- wood working, fence building, removing competing vegetation, setting up the tree- nursery and tree-planting.

The local volunteers are very much involved in woodland management. This is a fantastic example that shows how the local community can develop their community woodland for future generations. 

Involving volunteers and the local school will establish a strong woodland culture.

Volunteer Days at Dronley Community Woodland

Ecological Woodland Management:

Dronley Wood is managed according to ecological processes. This kind of woodland management is called Continuous Cover Forestry. The woodland management is carried out as low-impact woodland management. That management approach protects the soil, forest microclimate, flora and fauna, and the trees themselves. 

Continuous Cover Forestry avoids clear-felling and regenerates woodlands by natural regeneration or under-planting. 

We also produce sustainably-grown timber for the local community. We aim to develop a woodland that produces timber by maintaining, enhancing and safeguarding a functioning woodland ecosystem. 

Individual trees are felled during thinnings. These thinnings aim at improving the quality of the remaining stand. Clear-felling is avoided altogether since it destroys the forest conditions. 

Dronley Community Woodland will be regenerated by under-planting and by encouraging natural regeneration. Protecting the soil for future generations is one of our woodland management priorities. All woodland management operations are carried out as low-impact management.

Dronley Wood is managed as multipurpose woodland where biodiversity, recreation value, and timber production are equal priorities. Drawing of a multifunctional, mixed woodland

The environmental benefits of Dronley Community Woodland:

Dronley Wood produces oxygen, fixes carbon dioxide, produces and filters drinking water, filters dust and soot from the atmosphere. 

Woodlands which are managed according to Continuous Cover Forestry principles are very important for mitigating the effects of climate change.

The environmental benefits of Dronley Wood are very impressive. 

Dronley Community Woodland, which has a size of 50 ha: 

• produces 1478 tons of oxygen per year
• filters 2500 tons of soot and dust from the atmosphere per year
• stores 530 tons of CO2 per year
• stores 5850 tons of Carbon in the soil 
• filters 5 Mio m3 of groundwater per year
• produces 12 m3 of sustainably grown timber per ha per year 
• protects 370 m3 of standing dead wood, 500 Biotope Trees and 20 older broadleaved trees
• does currently offer part-time employment for 2 people (which we would like to increase)
• offers ~ 8.80 km of woodland paths

All of these environmental benefits are only protected by managing Dronley Wood according to continuous cover forestry principles. 

Woodlands and Climate Change:

The consequences of climate change will provide ecological challenges for forest ecosystems. Weather extremes such as storms and droughts start to affect our woodlands. Monocultures are very prone to outbreaks of pests and diseases. Mass outbreaks of bark beetles for example are often consequences of drought conditions. This phenomenon affects woodlands all across Europe since years and has also started to affect our woodlands in Scotland. 

Mixed woodlands are much more resilient. Especially the so-called site- adaptation of the tree species is essential. Tree species which are well adapted to specific soil conditions are much more stable and resilient. 

The recent storms caused a lot of damage to woodlands across Scotland. Dronley Wood was also affected by storm Arwen, Malik, and Corrie. We have lost a total area of approximately 1.80 ha of woodland.

Because of that, it is essential to develop Dronley Community Wood towards a site-adapted, diverse, stable, resilient and mixed woodland. We aim to develop an ecologically and economically sustainable woodland for future generations.

Drawing Ecological Woodland Restructuring and successfully restructured mixed woodland, previously dominated by Scots Pine (Sauen Forest, August Bier Foundation)

Developing Dronley Wood towards a diverse, stable, site- adapted and mixed woodland for future generations:

How do you get the mixture of trees into woodlands? 

Currently, Dronley Wood has only 3 % broadleaves and 97 % conifers. Our priority is to increase the percentage of broadleaved trees at Dronley Wood.

One of the methods used at Dronley Wood is to create some small gaps in the existing canopy (2 gaps per ha). These small areas need to have a diameter of approximately 30 m (about 1 tree length). The gaps can be created by tree felling or by extending small open areas which already exist.

These gaps offer a fantastic opportunity for introducing another tree species. The new generation of trees is established by planting or by direct seeding.

Some of the gaps can also be regenerated by encouraging natural regeneration.

The stands of Scots Pine will be under-planted with Oak. Norway Spruce will be under-planted with Beech. This is an old woodland management strategy that is used since the 19th century.

Drawing of under-planting gaps in stands of Scots

How the funding will help us:

The funding will enable us to develop Dronley Community Woodland towards a mixed woodland that will create a long-lasting legacy for future generations. The amount of £ 1500 will allow us to develop 2 gaps per ha towards a site-adapted, diverse, stable, resilient, and mixed woodland. The aim is to under-plant an area of 30 ha (= 60 gaps) using this method.

This kind of project could be very important for other woodland owners. After the recent storms, a lot of local woodland owners are facing the challenge of replanting woodland areas which are affected by windblow. A lot of woodland owners realize the importance of restructuring and regenerating existing woodlands. Dronley Community Woodland will also offer workshops and courses for local woodland owners covering these topics.   

Thank you very much for your support. 

If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback, please get in touch with us: 

[email protected]