Day 056 - 28 Nov 94 - Page 37


     
     1
     2   Q.   That is done once in a lifetime, a fixed amount.  Then
     3        there is a one in five thinning?
     4        A.  Not necessarily, no.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The thinning was one row in three or two in
     7        five.  I do not think it meant that it was done one way one
     8        time and then the other way the next, but those were two
     9        ways in which you could thin.
    10
    11   MR. MORRIS:  Right, and that is done once?
    12        A.  Yes.
    13
    14   Q.   One in three or two in five once?
    15        A.  One has to say one is talking about very well organised
    16        plantation forest, and in certain instances you will find
    17        the thinning is done manually, and then the system maybe
    18        that which they are accustomed to in that area.  When it is
    19        done with machines (as is now done) then you do have to
    20        open up a sufficiently wide path for the machine, and that
    21        is when they take two in five.  So, you have variations on
    22        that theme, according to the particular method of Silvi
    23        cultural management.
    24
    25   Q.   So when you say that there is likely to be, say, maybe
    26        three thinnings, apart from the initial one, would they be
    27        one in three thinnings or two in five thinnings?
    28        A.  No.
    29
    30   Q.   Or whether there would be selective thinnings?
    31        A.  The first thinning, if it is going to be done
    32        mechanically, if it is done with a machine, has to open up
    33        a wide enough path at regular intervals through the forest
    34        for the machine to pass through.  But modern machines today
    35        have arms with a long reach so that the second thinning
    36        will done much more on the basis of which trees are not
    37        maturing well and which trees are maturing well.
    38        Therefore, it is not on the basis of taking out a single
    39        row; it is on the basis of selecting the inadequate trees.
    40
    41   Q.   So, the three further thinnings after the initial one, for
    42        example -----
    43        A.  The two further after the initial one.
    44
    45   Q.   The two further after the initial one, they are likely to
    46        be  ---
    47        A.  Selective.
    48
    49   Q.   -- selective trees.  What kinds of proportion of selective
    50        trees will there be?  What will the average or general 
    51        figure be?  Will it be one in 100 trees or one in 10? 
    52        A.  Again, it depends on the species, it depends on the 
    53        region where you are and the terrain, but if you take --
    54        again one has to take Scandinavia, if for no other reason
    55        that Scandinavia is a major supplier of the resource, the
    56        forest resource for McDonald's, and if we take that area
    57        alone, then what they are doing is reducing the original
    58        number of trees planted from somewhere in the area of 3,000
    59        trees per hectare, plus natural regeneration which may well
    60        make it up to 5,000 trees per hectare, because you get

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