Abstract
Coppices are generally perceived as isolated patches within a contrasting landscape. To a substantial degree this is a true reflection of their character: the modal coppice in lowland England is a compact wood of 5-50 ha set in open, cultivated farmland from which it is separated by sharp woodland margins defined by a ditch. This perception is reinforced by maps, which depict woods as blobs of green on a white background; by ownership patterns, which often separate ownership and management of woods from that of surrounding farmland; and by the structure of rural bureaucracy, which isolates responsibility for forestry from that for agriculture.
The country is well wooded and shady, for the fields are all enclosed with hedges, oak trees, and several other sorts of trees, to such an extent that in travelling you think you are in a continuous wood.
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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Peterken, G.F. (1992). Coppices in the lowland landscape. In: Buckley, G.P. (eds) Ecology and Management of Coppice Woodlands. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2362-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2362-4_1
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