CHIEF NATURE CONSERVATION FEATURES OF EPPING FOREST
Over past millennia the Forest has been managed by man as a self-
sustaining source of fuel, timber, meat and sport. The modern Forest is one of
the few remaining examples of large-scale wood-pasture — that combination of
grass, marsh, scrub and dense stands of trees formerly widespread on common
land and in parks (Rackham 1976). The national importance of the Forest for
wildlife lies in this combination of features, but the studies of specialists in
many brances of natural history are published in the Essex Naturalist and
elsewhere (See 'The Wildlife of Epping Forest', Essex Naturalist, in
preparation).
At the passing of the Act some of the wood-pastures north and east of
London had been destroyed (Hainault Forest; Enfield Chase; Mill Green,
Ingatestone), but others survived (Curtis Mill Green, Navestock) together with
many large active parks (South Weald, Gaynes, Thorndon and Bedford's).
Elsewhere, managed woodland, unimproved grass, marshes and pools were
widespread. Now, all wood-pastures, save Epping Forest, are virtually defunct
for want of grazing (e.g. Curtis Mill Green) or destroyed by conversion to
farmland (Copt Hall, Epping). South Weald Park is now being managed as
simulated wood-pasture by using a forage harvester instead of cattle and tree-
planting instead of natural regeneration,
In preserving Epping Forest, the Conservators maintain for us an example
of wood-pasture, though in a modified form owing to the cessation of pollarding
(see pages 62 -70), and also the largest tract of old timber, unimproved grassland
and marsh, pool and bog in this part of England. The nature conservation
status of these habitats in the Forest is now summarised.
Standing timber and dead wood
Most of the trees in the Forest are pollards between 200 and 400 years old.
They are many fewer now than at the passing of the Act and are less suitable for
epiphytes (mainly ferns and lichens) because of excessive shade (Crombie, 1885)
and, more recently, polluted air (Hawksworth, Coppins and Rose, 1974).
Young trees dominate the plains, a few belong to an older generation but they
are too exposed to air pollution for rich epifloras to survive on them.
The older trees, particularly the pollards, have dead wood in their stems
and branches. Beech and hornbeam are the commonest species: oak, once
frequent, is declining in the pollard groves due to overtopping by other species
and provides abundant dead wood. Its value for epifaunas and fungi may be
restricted by shade. It is Forest practice to leave much of the fallen wood to rot
where it lies: in doing so the Conservators are maintaining the continuity of
dead wood from centuries back and thus providing habitats for those
organisms, some of which are now very scarce, requiring it. Epping Forest is one
of the principal examples of this specialised habitat in Britain.
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