Sustainable Forestry & Complete Woodland Management.
What We Do
We manage local West Sussex woodlands using contemporary systems where possible to increase the productive life span of the woodlands and their surroundings. We run a sizable cutting crew, thinning the vast areas of post 1987 ‘hurricane’ re-planted woodland. We also run numerous harvesters/forwarders allowing us to cut and sell more than 30,000 cubic metres of wood per year to various markets.
Aside from sustainable forestry & complete woodland management, we provide many local wood markets including quality chestnut fencing and of course various local firewood businesses (approx. 15,000 tonnes is sold to local firewood businesses per year). The aim for any forester is to grow bigger trees. All of the species are different and should be managed differently but they all need thinning at regular intervals to retain the increase in volume and to remove the suppressed, damaged and diseased trees.
How it Works
Our work begins with a landowner gaining a felling licence for the thinning of his or her woodland. Our approach will depend on the species of trees involved and the age of the woodland. Forestry work may include the use of mechanical timber harvesters, and our talented cutting crew to fell and convert the timber. Usually around 30% of the crop will be ‘thinned. This includes removal of any supressed or damaged trees, leaving the bigger, straighter, stronger trees to continue growing to their full potential. Once felled one of our forwarders will remove the timber from the woodland floor and stack it in a prearranged loading area ready for road haulage to various clients.
Hardwoods typically need to be at least 30 years old before thinning takes place. Once at thinning age a regular plan can be put in place based on the yield class of the various species. We typically thin the same compartment every 5 years removing 15-45 tonnes per hectare (depending on the species). We aim to harvest 70% of the annual increment meaning that every successive thinning operation removes less trees from the crop, but the yield stays the same. All remaining trees are given an appropriate amount of crown space in which to grow. Basically, the larger the crown the bigger the butt!
Thinning produces biofuel, as a bi-product of timber production. Ultimately the aim is to produce big straight trees for the various timber markets. These include Oak for furniture, Spruce for fencing, Red Cedar for roofing shingles, Larch for cladding or Ash for things like paint brush handles!!
What Our Clients Say
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MJO Forestry have worked alongside and supported the Estate team at West Dean College for many years. The service is always second to none, their approach is flexible, approachable and extremely professional throughout. The range and scale of works has increased over the years, and they are well prepared to take on and efficiently manage any estate works that arise. This ranges from Forestry and Estate Management, guidance and support on tree safety, to all manner of tree works.
The greatest advantage for West Dean College working with MJO Forestry is the broad comprehensive service they provide. We have found them to be incredibly knowledgeable, reliable and consistently valuable to our variety of works throughout our Estate, regardless of the size of the task – Fully recommended.”
Latest News
Roadside Operations
Road Side Operation- B2141 In October 2018 MJO Forestry undertook our first Roadside Operation to clear the dangerous Ash Trees from the edge of the road of the B2141, where they were a risk to
Ash Dieback Case Studies
Managing Ash Dieback - Case Studies 2019, In partnership by The Royal Forestry Society
Ash Dieback
Ash Dieback What is Ash Dieback? It is thought that Chalara, or Ash Dieback as it is more commonly referred to, spread to Europe in the 1990s but has only, in the last few