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Coppicing is used a lot in my neighbourhood (and in the Netherlands as a whole) on willows close to water banks; I don't know if the wood is used for anything, but the trees have deep and sturdy roots that stabilize the soil, without the tree growing to a size where it might fall over in a storm or drop a lot of materials in the water.


I love willow trees, they have such an impressive will to live even if their lifespans are fairly short as trees go.


Doesn't coppicing or pollarding reset the lifespan of the tree to an extent?


My Dutch boss explained to me that the willow branches harvested there are used to reinforce the dykes nearby.


(I'm Dutch) I don't think this is true. It may have been true in some instances, but I can't find anything about that. Dikes are reinforced using rocks, stones, and tarmac.


Willow shoots were and still are used to reinforce waterworks. Look up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascine_mattress or the Dutch word "zinkstuk" for a detailed description.


OK, maybe I was misunderstanding something. It was also not at the sea, but more water between agricultural plots, so maybe just for drainage?




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