December 2006

HORSE POWER FOR LOCAL WOODLAND SCHEME

A woodland management scheme by Aggregate Industries’ business Bardon Aggregates, owner of Holme Park Quarry near Carnforth, has favoured the power of horses over machines to extract felled timber.

Two Belgian/Ardennes horses were employed last week by the Holme Park’s landscape team on the quarry’s outskirts, working with main contractor Lowther Forestry and sub-contractor Simon Lenihan. The scheme to thin existing conifers is the first stage of a long-term project to significantly improve the quality of the woodland fringing the quarry, raise the conservation value of the woodland and condition of the neighbouring Local and National Nature Reserves.

Phil Jackson, the company’s landscape supervisor, says, “The horses were used instead of traditional machines because it meant we could keep disturbance to the woodland floor to a minimum and reduce damage to adjacent trees.

“We take our environmental responsibilities in the local community very seriously, and so any opportunity to minimise impact to wildlife is welcomed. Without some form of management the conifers would not grow effectively to screen the quarry. By thinning them we will bring on native broadleaved woodland in the area and allow more natural light to get through.”

The scheme was developed in accordance with the planning consent for mineral working in the quarry at Holme Park, and developed with Natural England and the quarry’s Liaison Committee.

It aims to deliver the objectives of the National Nature Reserve and the neighbouring Local Nature Reserve which form part of Aggregate Industries’ landholding.

Holme Park Quarry supplies Carboniferous limestone aggregate and armour stone, and has been operated by Aggregate Industries trading as Bardon Aggregates for nine years.

Aggregate Industries is supporting The Wildlife Trust’s role in the BBC’s Breathing Places campaign which aims to engage local organisations and communities to help build a quiet place for people and wildlife. Holme Park Quarry recently hosted a seed hunt as part of the campaign. The quarry is also establishing a Biodiversity Action Plan to look at ways of increasing its contribution to nature conservation alongside mineral extraction.

 

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