There are two faces to landscape conservation: the restoration of natural environments and the maintenance of historic environments. The re-channelling of sections of the forest streams to their pre Victorian courses are an example of the former; and I'd suggest the removal of conifers from the fringes of the Knowles is the latter. I've often said that to a great degree the New Forest is far from a natural environment, the creation of layers of human activity spanning millennia; left to it's own devices the forest would be a very different place. These pines have probably been removed as part of the ongoing 'Conifer removal on Ancient Woodland sites' plan. Without continuous management the growth of pine, birch and carr species would swallow the managed woodland mosaic hundreds of years in the making via human interventions; in reality the forest is a smorgasbord of historic landscapes/environments we desperately try to hold in aspic.
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