BW's tree management programme

SOME readers of narrowboatworld have expressed concern over the robustness of British Waterways' tree management policy. Here, Vince Moran, British Waterways Operations Director addresses those questions.

Tragic death

Any accusation that British Waterways is ‘misleading the coroner' regarding its tree management programme is completely unfounded. At the conclusion of the inquest into Mrs Brennan's tragic death, the coroner stated during the course of his summing up just before giving his verdict that British Waterways' tree management system 'is a robust system, and I don't think that any failure in that system contributed in any way to Mrs Brennan's death'.

This is not a statement by British Waterways but an actual quote from the coroner confirmed by a transcript of the summing up. This conclusion was also supported by a senior HSE officer who was involved in investigating the death and gave evidence at the inquest.

The policy

We currently manage around half a million trees across the network, which are all regularly inspected as part of our routine length inspection and operations duties. In addition, surveys are also undertaken by qualified arboriculturists at intervals. As well as identifying potential dead, dying or dangerous trees, our staff and contractors also look for growth that undermines structures, banks or the towpath. All trees that require work are subsequently added into local maintenance programmes and prioritised accordingly.

Our environment team also works hard to ensure that we comply with local tree protection orders and conservation law, as well as conserving local ecology as much as possible. Clearly, any trees that fall as a result of extreme weather and high winds, as the UK has experienced this week, are dealt with immediately on a reactive basis.

2011/2012 winter maintenance programme

As in previous years, we are currently carrying out work on trees as part of our routine winter maintenance programme. This year, we are carrying out work on 13,000 trees that are a potential risk to people and or property, this equates to 2.6% of all trees in our care, at a cost of £2.2 million. Just under half of these trees require felling and the remaining trees will be worked on using traditional woodland management techniques, such as coppicing and pollarding, which extends the life of the tree and provides important habitat for many species of wildlife.

As in subsequent years, in many instances the waste wood from this year's programme will be chipped and left onsite to biodegrade naturally.  However, where possible it will be either left as appropriately sized logs as winter fuel for boaters, or be left as habitat wood piles and standing deadwood to help local biodiversity.

We also recognise that trees play an important role in providing the network with character, as well as having many environmental benefits. Therefore, we have received third party funding for two projects to plant an additional 10,000 trees this year, including rare disease-resistant native elm trees, which are synonymous with waterway heritage. We are also ensuring that the new Canal & River Trust website, which is currently being built, includes information for members of the public on how to report dead or dying trees to us.