Sustainable Management

A key theme that underpins the management of the Tarka Trail is SUSTAINABILITY. Some examples of how we do this are shown below.

Woodland management

We need to keep coppiced woodland along the Trail for its wildlife benefit but we also need to make sure that key views are kept open and that the Trail doesn't become like a tunnel through dense green foliage. Sunlight needs to reach the track to keep it dry and frost free so that it is less slippery and frost and moisture damage on the surface is minimised. So, tree management is a balance that also needs to be set against the financial resources available for the trail.

Solution? Since 2009, hundreds of metres of trail-side woodland has been thinned by a firewood contractor under an arrangement where they only receive income by selling the resulting firewood. Users of the Trail get planned and regular woodland management, local people get firewood with next to no 'wood miles' and the contractor gets an regualr income. True sustainability.

Another example is timber harvested on the Tarka Trail using a mobile sawmill being converted into high quality oak boards, posts and rails that can be used for stiles, signs, fencing and so on. In June 2010, some of this sawn timber was used by volunteers to repair the boardwalk across the dunes at Braunton Burrows. and in 2011 the oak boards will be used for new code of conduct information boards at some major access/egress points. Trail etiquette and behaviour has been flagged by users as something that could be improved and these signs are part of that process.

Other examples:

Recycled road planings have been used to maintain the Trail surface