Richard Toleman in Ae Forest
The photograph is courtesy of the family of George Dey. George took many forestry photographs in his forestry career and many are now shown on this web site. Check under ‘Groups’ and George Dey Collection.
The photograph caption indicates that Richard Toleman is in among naturally regenerating Sitka spruce at Ae Forest. In some areas the regeneration was that prolific and at densities of hundreds per square metre it was considered essential the trees had to be thinned in order for them to reach a marketable size. Mass regeneration was especially noticeable after the 1968 gale and in the following years Forest Research set up some experiments at Ae comparing mechanically thinned, chemically thinned and plots left untouched. For many tears the mechanically thinned (brush cutters) plots looked the most promising but at a very significant cost.
The author recalls visiting the remains of the plots in 2006 and had difficulty in determining what had been mechanically thinned and what was left to its own devices.