At the Forest

European Redwood is an evergreen, coniferous tree that grows to around 30 meters in height and around 1 meter in diameter. Sourced from Northern Europe, at Bereco we love European Redwood for many reasons including:

• Redwood forests are remarkable carbon storage units
• Redwood moisture uptake compared to other species is relatively low, making the wood less prone to dimensional change and movement – a necessity for timber windows and doors.
• The natural tannins that give European Redwood its distinctive colouring also give it a natural resistance to insects and decay, so gone are the days of rotting timber windows.
• Slow growing, we harvest the wood between 90 and 130 years of age. This gives the wood tight growth rings and a high heartwood content helping to prevent cracks and shakes appearing in the timber.
• European Redwood is lighter than most other species of wood with a density of around 500kgm3, whereas Oak is around 700kgm3 for its density. This makes Redwood an extremely durable and stable wood perfect for wooden windows and doors.

Foresters harvest timber in accordance with forest management plans. A properly managed forest can take up to 130 years before it’s ready for felling and harvesting. Most well managed forests will follow a management plan like the one below.

• Years 1-3: Soil preparation and planting of saplings
• Years 4-5: Regeneration inspection
• Years 10-20: Thinning
• Years 20-30: Surveying the young forest
• Years 30-60: Thinning
• Years 60-80: Fertilising
• Years 80-90: Forest inventory and road construction
• Years 90-130: Harvesting and felling

When it comes to the process of harvesting, it’s no longer a case of heading into the forest and cutting down trees with an axe or even a chainsaw. Ask people to tell you how it’s done and your brain will conjure up images just like this but the process has become much more efficient considerate of the nature of the area being felled.

Trees can now be harvested easily with a machine called a feller buncher which allows one person to cut down four trees every minute.

Not only is the feller buncher ideal in terms of economies of scale for felling forest areas but the machine also removes the non-usable limbs from the trunks. By laying these on the forest floor, they protect the all-important soil from being damaged by the machines weight which is invaluable to the ecosystem of the forest.

Trees are not pulled from the roots, instead stumps are left to ensure the vital underground root system stays healthy and guarantees the longevity of the forest. Wildlife corridors and transition areas are always left in areas of harvesting. This allows any wildlife to move easily and discretely through areas of felling migrating to greener pastures in the standing forest.