Wye Valley North Forest Resource Plan - Approved 31 October 2014

Location and Setting

Wye Valley North Forest Resource Plan is made up of 14 woodlands in Monmouthshire covering 1,944 hectares. The majority of these woodlands are within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The setting for the woodlands is lowland agricultural grassland, hedgerows and native woodland, characteristic of the wider Wye Valley and Monmouthshire.

This Plan was approved in 2014.

Wye Valley North Objectives

Design unit 12, Wye Valley North, is one of 13 design units in Llanymddyfri District, and incorporates 1,947 hectares of the Welsh Government Woodland Estate (WGWE). Apart from the Hendre, all of the woods in this design unit lie within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). These woods make an important contribution to the character of the AONB, so one of the key objectives for this design unit is that their management should be in line with the AONB Management Plan 2014-2019 (Anon., 2014) and so maintain and enhance the aesthetic value of the landscape. Relevant points from the Management Plan are summarised in Appendix I of this brief, but the main measure of success will be the degree of active management and restoration of Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW) and Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS), and the sensitive choice of Lower Impact Silvicultural Systems (LISS) wherever possible.

PAWS restoration via LISS management is an important Natural Resources Wales (NRW) corporate objectives even out-with the AONB, so including the Hendre. Again, the main measure of success will be the degree of active, sensitive management of these sites with a clear plan and timescale for restoration. Decisions on the management of individual areas may be guided by the recommendations in a report on the Wye Valley Woodlands prepared by Dr. George Peterken (Peterken, 2000).

Timber production is an objective in both ancient and non-ancient woodlands. Measures of success will be the degree of active management and the achievement of a sustainable annual cut. Given the quality of the sites, in terms of soil fertility and climate, the nature of existing stands and the potential for future stands, the emphasis should be on timber quality rather than quantity and on managing a wide range of both broadleaved and conifer species for climate change adaptation. Non-PAWS areas which are to remain predominantly coniferous in character should be diversified as much as possible in terms of species composition and stand structure, while PAWS areas should be assessed individually and at the landscape scale to determine to what extent it is reasonable to retain productive conifer elements as long-term features of stand structure where these would not compromise restoration objectives.

Woodland management must also take into account the Severn River Basin Management Plan (Environment Agency, 2009; Appendix II). A key action from the River Basin Management Plan is the restoration of ancient ravine woodlands in the Wye Valley, which is in line with ASNW and PAWS management objectives. This design unit does not contain or lie upstream of any Water Framework Directive priority catchments where woodland management contributes to poor status, but management must continue to contribute to the good status of water-bodies.

The design unit contains parts of the Wye Valley Woodlands Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and is adjacent to sections of the River Wye SAC. The woodland SAC was designated in 2004 for its yew (Taxus baccata) dominated woodlands, mixed woodland (of ash, Fraxinus excelsior, Wych elm, Ulmus glabra, and lime, Tilia spp.) on base-rich soils associated with rocky slopes, beech (Fagus sylvatica) forests on neutral to rich soils, and lesser horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus hipposideros). It includes parts of Livox Wood, Graig Wood and Lower Hael Wood. The river SAC was also designated in 2004, for species including otter (Lutra lutra) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), very wet mires, and rivers with floating vegetation often dominated by water-crowfoot (Ranunculus spp.). These SACs must be protected and appropriately buffered by woodland management.

This design unit also includes two heathland restoration areas, at Broad Meend and Beacon Hill, where FCW (Forestry Commission Wales) have restored around 40 hectares of lowland heath in partnership with Gwent Wildlife Trust. These areas are to be maintained in line with the Heathland Habitat Action Plan in the Monmouthshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan (Monmouthshire Biodiversity Partnership, 2005), as measured by the continuation of management agreements with Gwent Wildlife Trust, which for Beacon Hill currently run until 2016.

Supplementary Considerations
A variety of mammals may influence the achievement of the objectives for this design unit. The presence of large numbers of grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) is a very serious obstacle to growing quality broadleaf timber, and may also lead to adverse effects on some conifers, as well as impacting on the dynamics of semi-natural woodlands. Co-ordinated squirrel control is the only effective solution. Several species of deer (fallow, Dama dama, roe, Capreolus capreolus, and muntjac, Muntiacus reevesi) are also present, and may affect natural and artificial regeneration of trees. The demands of deer control must be taken into account during forest design. Boar have been observed in small numbers west of the River Wye, but while too few presently to have any effect on forest management need to be monitored to assess negative effects on woodland and recreation.

A number of invasive plant species may affect tree regeneration, attempts to restore ancient woodland ground flora, and the condition of designated sites, and must be subject to control. These include Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) and rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum).

Of the potential tree health impacts on this design unit, ramorum disease of larch (Phytophthora ramorum) and Chalara ash dieback (Chalara fraxinea) are currently the most high profile. Wales-level responses to Chalara disease is not yet fixed, but both may impact on woods in the area through direct tree mortality or the need for sanitary fellings. Depending on the extent of infections, this will have significant effects on silvicultural approaches, with clearfelling in areas which might otherwise be managed as LISS. NRW is currently observing moratoria on the planting of ash, and the potential loss of both current and future trees of this species will have an impact on the landscape and semi-natural woodland composition of the area.

In this design plan review, it is only possible to move towards the use of less susceptible species and to consider options such as under- and interplanting to lessen the potential impact of the loss of ash.

The current levels of ramorum disease have been increasing rapidly in this area in 2013 and resulted in the first loss of mature Larch on two sites. Thus, the total loss of Larch appears inevitable and will result in a range of responses from clearfelling of pure areas through to stands including low proportions of Larch being allowed to die and senesce standing where public safety is not compromised. The restocking of these areas will be in line with their status as PAWS or other woodland. This will inevitably have some profound landscape effects but does provide a dramatic impetus to PAWS restoration across the piece.

Large Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) on the valley slopes between Llandogo and Tintern are important features of the local landscape, but as they stand on steep slopes above the A466 trunk road they may also present a very significant health and safety risk either by falling naturally, for example because of rot or windthrow, or when felled for timber. It is recommended that a survey be carried out on these trees to inform potential management approaches, but a clear direction of travel must also be identified during this design plan review, taking into account stakeholder feedback; is there a desire to see large conifers perpetuated as a feature of the valley sides and actions taken to minimise the risk they pose, or would more be gained by abandoning conifers in favour of site native broadleaves managed primarily for conservation and protection functions? The area is designated as a PAWS site.

Forest roads and tracks are needed to facilitate active management for all the diverse benefits that woodlands can provide. New access to currently inaccessible woods and improved access within woods will be planned to achieve all of the objectives above, but in all cases the environmental and visual impact of roads and tracks will be minimised. To minimise the impacts of timber haulage outside the forest, the agreement of stakeholders will be sought on approved haulage routes between forests and the trunk road network.

Maps

Location map
Proposed felling plan map
Proposed restocking map