Forestry Commission Wales has announced measures it has put in place to try to keep timber from Assembly Government woodlands on the move as the Arctic conditions tighten their grip.
The Commission’s front-line forestry unit, Wales Harvesting and Marketing (WHaM), has written to customers to inform them how it is supporting the industry through another hostile winter.
Many forest roads become impassable as snow descends on our woodlands, and the frost concealed beneath this white blanket can keep hauliers out of the woods for weeks to prevent long-term damage to the roads.
WHaM has issued a new poster to all customers advising them of its winter strategy with the aim of ensuring 40% availability for roadside contractors during this difficult period.
The poster offers advice on sensible steps to take as winter approaches, such as preparing contingency “winter work” coupes in easily accessible locations and identifying stockpile areas at strategic points.
It also provides a checklist of actions in the event of disruption, such as prioritising strategic timber routes and ensuring priority uplift sites are targeted, as well as carrying out thorough risk assessments on all sites.
WHaM head of harvesting, Jerry Pritchard, said the main concern was the safety of staff, contractors, stakeholders and members of the public.
He has written to both standing sales and roadside customers advising them of the measures WHaM has put in place with the aim of keeping timber moving now and ensuring that normality can be restored as soon as possible.
Restrictions on some roads may be as long as a month, he said, depending on the depth of frost and the structure of the road, and he urged standing sales customers to consider bringing some stock to public road entrances in blocks that they were working in.
“By taking this pre-emptive action, it will allow haulage to continue whilst our roads are carrying the haulage restrictions that will be dictated and controlled by our forest civil engineers,” his letter says.
“This can be achieved by using forwarders for the shorter hauls, lorries running on rubber, or lorries fitted with traction aids where access is restricted due to snow or ice.”
In an effort to maintain some supplies to roadside customers, WHaM will endeavour to keep strategic stock points near forest entrances open wherever possible during the harsh weather and the subsequent thaw.
Other measures WHaM has put in place include:
- moving harvesting teams to lower altitude coupes that are close to council roads
- identifying further coupes that could be moved into
- categorising sites for access with regular reviewing to keep the data up to date
- prioritising snow clearing activities to sites that contain significant customer stocks
- identifying sites where material can be forwarded to a pick-up point with either forwarders or timber lorries carrying out the stock.
Jerry said, “This action partly pre-empts the fact that forest roads will be subject to lengthy haulage restrictions or closures when the frost starts to thaw.
“We feel it’s important to highlight this in advance to our customers to allow them as much time as possible to make necessary arrangements.
“It’s vital that we all do what we can to keep timber moving in to the processing mills and by taking action now could result in reducing shortages in the weeks to come.”
