Case Record – Horse Power in Area 19

Details:

Date: Location: Client: Main Contractor: Contract:

March 2003 Killington Cumbria Highways Agency Carillion Highway Maintenance A combined effort between Area 19 Highway Maintenance and students from the National School of Forestry to ensure the least destructive way of managing the countryside

Issue

The Highways Agency at Area 19 utilised a traditional approach to habitat management, reducing negative impact upon the surrounding natural environment and helping to deliver the local Biodiversity Action Plan.

As part of the Highways Agency’s ongoing Biodiversity Action Plan, 400 non-native larch trees were felled alongside the M6 near Killington, Cumbria to be replaced by native oaks, birches, holly and rowan. The program included the installation of 50 bat boxes to encourage the bat population to breed. Access to one area and ground conditions made the use of a tractor and trailer to remove trees impracticable without building an access road. Peter Rooney, Highway Maintenance Horticultural and Arboreal supervisor for Area 19, came up with a novel idea.

Solution

Turning the clock back and using a horse to drag the logs to a more accessible place to load them onto a trailer. Peter contacted the national School of Forestry, part of the University of Lancashire, who are based near the Area 19 head office at Newton Rigg, Penrith. The school took up the challenge with students from the Forestry Management and Equine courses taking part.

The pictures show a Cumbrian Fell Pony, a rare species of native pony, being driven by students from the school minimising the damage caused to the ground where the logs were being moved. The logs were sold for pulp production, which paid for the haulage; the remainder was donated to the school. Students from the school also put up bat boxes to encourage the bats to breed.

Business Benefits:

• Improve customer relations by demonstrating our commitment to environmental improvements.
• Improve community relations by demonstrating the positive impacts Carillion can have within local communities.
• Employee motivation through involvement in supporting the local community.