Pollarding and Coppicing Workshop: The Old is New Again
This workshop looks at the traditional practices of pollarding and coppicing in the context of modern urban design. Coppicing cuts trees near the ground and allows them to resprout. Pollarding trains an array of branches starting at about 6 feet elevation and cuts them back annually to create a managed and beautiful form for trees. These practices were the common way to manage trees near settlements during the premodern era. Today they have new possibilities for expanding and fulfilling the ideas of urban forestry. Trees managed in this way are easier and safer to maintain in the long run. They tend to remain at a predictable height, create full and dense crowns, and be more aesthetically pleasing. They also provide more ecosystem services such as shade and pollinator and bird habitat. The workshop will look at ways and means for creating these managed trees, at what is required to maintain them, and at the species and cultivars best adapted to this work. Speaker William Bryant Logan is the author of multiple books and is on the faculty of the New York Botanical Garden. He has spent the last three decades working in trees. He is a certified arborist, and founder and president of Urban Arborists, Inc., a Brooklyn-based tree company. He was most recently awarded the 2021 John Burroughs Medal for distinguished nature writing for his book Sprout Lands. Sprout Lands covers topics such as pollarding and coppicing covered in this workshop!
Approved for 2 ISA CEUs.