We are surrounded by forest and every 20 years or so it all gets cut down - its chestnut and is super fast growing so although the naked ground can look desolate iniatially,the new shoots come up from the cut trunks usually about 6-8 per trunk and reach to height of 6' in 18 months.
The guys cut the trees into 2m lengths but leave anything that has branches on it or huge chunks cut from the bottom that i call 'knuckles'.
Its all there for the taking and free once the owners have taken the main trunks - they just leave this huge mass of wood to rot. Its an amazing waste of wood really but i guess it rots down to make compost for the new trees growing.
Its a form of copicing really so you will end up with 6 -8 trunks per original tree.
Fortunately our screen of trees at the back of our field was untouched so they still look stunning
