Wrong, the vegetation, including trees, shrubs, brambles etc, all have extensive root systems which hold the soil/earth together.
You kill them the root system dies, decomposes, the soil/earth then becomes loose due to erosion by heavy rainfall or a combination of frosts & rainfall which then loosens the soil further until it collapses or slides.
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They also have those great big branches up in the sky catching the wind acting like sails, so that those roots you think so highly of start pulling on the ground. Just think how much drag there is on a large oak tree in a gale.
They suck a huge amount of water out of the ground in the summer, so the embankments shrink and crack. (I take it you have noticed how the track rises over the underbridges in ash embankments in the summer, and often dips as it goes past clumps of trees in the cess) Come the autumn it rains, and the rain runs down into the cracks lubricating them, so the now wet and heavy surface layers can slide off the still dry and crumbly lower ones.
The leaf cover also kills the grass on the surface of the bank, and without this binding layer. The surface drys out and any disturbance sends it rolling down the bank eroding the surface. Trees and bushes also provide cover for burrowing animals, who again weaken the banks.
So cut all the trees down, and leave the banks to the grass, as that binds the surface, which then holds the core in place. Without the disadvantages listed above.
hock:
