Woodland Management on the Riverside Path

Recently I saw a letter (to the B&R? Or was it Hereford Times?) saying what a pity it was that a tree had been cut down to make a base for one of the new wooden sculptures that have been put in along the Riverside Path.
Just before that, Hay Town Council and the Hay Community Woodland Group put out a joint statement, available via the Hay Town Council website.
Having read the statement, I'm happy to report that no trees were cut down just in order to put a sculpture up. The sculptures are sited on the bases of trees that were already going to be cut down because they were either dead or diseased.
Some of the trees have a blue X marked on the trunk - these marks were put there by an arborist called Huw Morris in 2017, to identify which trees needed to be removed. A / in blue denotes trees that require some pruning. So far, none of the trees marked have been felled, but some have been pruned.
The trees are mostly growing on quite a steep bank, and they are monitored regularly - if they are at an angle, they may be at risk of uprooting in high winds (such as we've been having for the last couple of days).
The trees with orange marks have Dutch Elm disease, and are dead - and there's one case of Ash Die-back as well.
When trees are felled, a good length of trunk is always left in situ, to help maintain the stability of the bank. The larger logs are taken away to be used as firewood, while smaller logs and brushwood are used to provide habitat for wildlife.
The Community Woodland Group do a lot of good work along the riverbank. Volunteers meet on the second Sunday of each month, and can be contacted on haycwg1@gmail.com