Chase facing recovery woe

Experts from the Forestry Commission have said it could take decades for areas of Cannock Chase to recover after severe gales brought down thousands of trees.

Initially the number of trees felled by the freak weather in January was thought to be in the region of 1,000 but the Forestry Commission have now said the real toll could be much higher with as many as 4,000 trees destroyed.

Bosses at the beauty spot have been forced to take workers off environmental projects in order to clear the forest of the fallen trees.

Although roads and facilities are clear of debris there are still numerous tracks and paths which are blocked by trees which will be cleared over coming weeks.

Last month's storms were said to be the worst since 1987 and in certain places it could take as long as 50 to 100 years to recover.

Environment manager Jason Maclean said although the number of tress hit appeared large it was only about 10 per cent of the total cut by the Forestry Commission in a single year.

Jason added: "Where we have lost old trees and the big pine trees these can't be replanted at that age so it could take the forest a long time to recover from that.

"It isn't as bad a disaster as it sounds though. We encourage open spaces in the forest anyway as it is good for the local wildlife."

He said the commission would replant to fill any gaps in the forest and dead trees would be removed and cut up to be sold."Normally we would cut the trees down in a single area. All this means is we are having to go to where the trees have fallen.

"When this happened the first thing we did was to clear the roads and open the facilities but there are still some areas in the forest itself which are blocked and causing inconvenience to walkers and bikers.

"Most of the trees, about 95 per cent, would have been trees we were going to cut down anyway. In terms of recovering we have to look 50 years ahead." It would take a long time to replace larger trees but they would aim not to waste any of the wood. The commission hope to complete planting by the end of February before the weather becomes too warm.

By Shaun Lintern