Coppicing or Re-viving old birch

[Montana_Sam]

Hi Everybody...

I live on a fairly dry clay plateau above a river valley in NWest Montana...our property is forested, and there is a beautiful grove of old, multi-stemmed paper birch, each tree having 3-5 stems of 10"-20"+ DBH. They have large, sprawling canopies providing plenty of shade and habitat...we love them.

I've noticed over the years here that the tops have been dying back. I've seen this a lot in the industry and have cut plenty of tops out myself for homeowners...everything seems to be blamed...lack of water, ash-borer beetles, and most recently I was told by a forester that birch trees specifically lack the strength to pump water very high, so the tops are deprived of water and tend to die on older trees...who knows?

So not knowing what the cause is, and not wanting to exacerbate the problem, I've let them be. But I've been reading a lot about coppicing lately and am curious if this could revive the old trees...

My primary question is this: undoubtedly coppicing works on birch species of a young-middle age...but would it work on a much older tree? Some have proposed that the epicormic buds on old trees can no longer be revived or activated, and yet I've cut down plenty of huge, old, Ash, elm, willow, and maples that have sprouted insanely vigorously the next spring...reaching 12' high or more. But I can't say I've seen it happen on old birch....

If I could coppice all these trees and have a beautiful grove of young multi-stemmed, 30' trees in a few years, I'd do it right now...

Just looking for some observations or advice. Thanks fellas.

 

[Raintree]

First find out why the upper canopies of the birches are dying back. "Birch trees lack strength to pump water"? (LOL) Look at the common key pests & issues of birch trees, ie bronze birch borer. Keep in mind that birch is a pioneer species and not known for longevity.

 

[Dbodave]

I don't think it will do anything except make them look a little less unsightly for a while. Paper Birch are native, Ojibwe used to live in birch bark wigwams before European settlers arrived.

 

[Huskybill]

Harvesting firewood from damaged or tree with badly broken limbs selected by the forester I did coppice some of the stumps. Coppice is a bee shapped knotch in the face of the stump. After time passed I had multiple saplings growing from the roots. I’m thinking there future firewood trees.

 

[Dbodave]

Harvesting firewood from damaged or tree with badly broken limbs selected by the forester I did coppice some of the stumps. Coppice is a bee shapped knotch in the face of the stump. After time passed I had multiple saplings growing from the roots. I’m thinking there future firewood trees.

I've seen the purple leafed ornamental birch re sprout from the ground after being completely destroyed by BBB. By the following year, although skinny they were like 5' tall