A CAR park which attracts an estimated 1,000 dog owners per day to the edge of the New Forest is set to close for up to two months for tree felling operations.

Barriers went up this week at the Dibden Inclosure car park, 300 yards to the west of the Heath roundabout at Dibden Purlieu and dog owners were being shown alternative parking and walking areas.

The Forestry Commission's New Forest communications manager Bridgette Hall estimated that around 200 cars visited the inclosure daily, making it the most popular in the Forest.

Many of those cars carry more than one dog and countless other people walk their pets across the A326 and into the Forest from their homes at nearby Dibden Purlieu.

The closure, she said, was likely to last for six weeks although it could be eight, depending on how long the Forestry operations last.

With some signs having been ripped out of the ground, she appealed for people to co-operate and added: "We are trying to do all the work in one go and minimise disruption and it obviously helps if people stay clear of the thinning and felling operations."

People are being asked to use other car parks, with a new one having been opened 300 yards west of the Applemore Roundabout on the northern tip of Marchwood Inclosure. King's Hat and Foxhunting inclosures, both to the north of Beaulieu, are other suggested alternatives.

At the same time, commission staff are appealing to people to keep their dogs under control, particularly when they are on the open forest where the bird-nesting season is set top begun again in the next few weeks.

Commission operations forester Judith Gauler said 9,000 tonnes, much of it stunted because of the dense tree population in the inclosure, is due to be taken away, most of it to fencing and chipboard companies.

After the work has been completed, tracks to the car park and walking tracks through the inclosure will be restored.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.