Forest worker Ray Stride has a new tool in his conservation kit that can pluck up a one-tonne tree as though it were a daisy.

This week he has been putting the machine through its paces in the Forestry Commission’s Holiday Hill inclosure, near Lyndhurst.

The work is part of a project aimed at restoring part of the site to semi-natural ancient woodland by removing around 2,000 conifers.

Eventually the western hemlock trees will make way for native broadleaved species like oak and beech.

Mr. Stride, said: “My £250,000 machine is one of a new breed of harvesters. Its air-conditioning, state-of–the-art seating and six-stack CD player make it much more pleasant to operate than the old type.

“But it is the sheer power and technology built into it this type of machine that makes them such valuable tools.”

Mr. Stride said that after his machine had cut a tree off at the base it could strip its branches and saw it into logs in seconds.
Thanks to the on-board computer, the harvester makes sure every log is the right length and diameter to fulfil the Forestry Commission’s contract with the sawmill.
The Ponsee, so called after a little terrier once owned by the Finnish manufacturer’s managing director, has a high-revving saw at the end of its fully articulated handling arm.

A broken saw tooth could fly off so fast it would be potentially lethal up to 200 metres away. Bullet-proof glass has to be fitted to the cab to protect the operator.

Despite the machine’s power, its special tyres are designed to prevent damage to the delicate ground it works on. It even runs on bio-degradable vegetable oil that will not harm plants.

This type of harvester can now be fitted with global positioning equipment capable of identifying individual trees deep in a wood that have been marked out for felling.

The same device can be used by the drivers to identify sensitive wildlife sites that must be avoided.

On-board e-mail systems can be fitted that keep the machine in constant contact with everyone from the customer and the Commission, to the timber haulier and the sawmill.

Orders can be taken, cut and delivered without the operator even having to turn off his engine.

Anyone wanting information about the removal of conifers in Holiday Hill inclosure should ring 023 8028 3141.

Details of other conservation work in the New Forest can be found on the www.forestry.gov.uk website.
NOTES TO EDITORS
For further information please contact Mr. Kevin Penfold, New Forest Operations Manager, on 023 8028 3141.