Day 058 - 30 Nov 94 - Page 26
1 A. Yes. A soil which is deficient in phosphates or
2 nitrogen is not going to be a healthy starting place for
3 forestry.
4
5 Q. Also, the actual quantity of the soil, the actual soil -- I
6 do not know what you call it, the soil base?
7 A. Depth.
8
9 Q. Depth -- the fallen trees play an important part in that,
10 do they, or the brash?
11 A. The brash is what is removed during the process of
12 felling and left in the forest. Fallen trees contribute in
13 their own part but a very small part compared with the
14 brash.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What sort of fertilizers are used
17 predominantly?
18 A. My Lord, precisely which ones are used by name?
19
20 Q. No, what types are they, do you know?
21 A. Well, fundamentally, the fertilizer is not spread,
22 either natural fertilizer or chemical fertilizer, is not
23 spread unless there is a great necessity because it is a
24 very small part -----
25
26 Q. I see you say it is more common in the uplands where soil
27 conditions for new planting are deficient ---
28 A. Yes
29
30 Q. -- but what are they putting on the land in the uplands?
31 A. They are putting chemical fertilizers rather than
32 natural fertilizers, yes.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: When you say in the last paragraph: "10 per cent
35 of the amount of phosphate applied on forest land can be
36 expected to be lost in run-off", that is run-off into water
37 table, yes?
38 A. The run-off that is measurable in some form, yes, and,
39 therefore, the water table is significant, yes.
40
41 Q. If we move on to the next page: When you say, "the
42 biological effects are usually undetectable", there is,
43 though, is there not, a recognised problem of the
44 cumulative reaching of all these chemicals that are used
45 into streams, the water table and maybe eventually into the
46 seas, so although it is not maybe detectable in the actual
47 area where it is used, it contributes to the cumulative
48 effect in the seas such as the North Sea, or whatever,
49 would that be a reasonable statement?
50 A. I think this is -- what is being stated here is that it
51 has not had any detectable effect and the amounts that we
52 are concerned with related to forestry of the use of
53 anything such as phosphates or nitrogen or amonia or urea
54 or any of the chemicals that might be used in specific
55 cases reaching into the sea and doing damage has not been
56 identified.
57
58 Q. But it makes a contribution?
59 A. That is not to say that any use of chemical fertilizers
60 on agricultural land has not had effect, but that these
