Forestry Commission - Preliminary Grant Offer for woodland management options under Countryside Stewardship

From 2015 Countryside Stewardship will include support for forestry. 

Workshops will be held later in the year in partnership with Natural England to provide details of the full range of grants and how the new systems will work.

To maintain momentum in the forestry sector the Government has approved a “Preliminary Grant Offer” (PGO)  for:

• Woodland creation (i.e. grants for planting new woodland) Note: Your initial application for woodland creation must be received by the FC no later than 30th April to allow time for site visits. Your final application must be submitted by 31st May
• Woodland management plans (i.e. payment for preparation of a long term management plan)
• Woodland tree health (e.g. grants for restocking woodland that has been subject to a pest or disease)

The Forestry Commission would like to invite you to either of the following seminars taking place in South East England.

Tuesday 10th February at Godstone Village Hall (also known as White Hart Barn) in east Surrey.

Tuesday 17th February at Theale Village Hall, nr Reading.

The seminars are free, but spaces are limited and subject to first come, first served. Please use the links to ‘eventbrite’ above to book your place

OUTLINE AGENDA:

Registration from 9.00

9.30   Welcome, introductions and context of the Preliminary Grant Offer

9.40   Scope of the Preliminary Grant Offer:

• Timeline
• Option Groups (including eligibility and thresholds)
• Capital items and options

10.00 Guidance and forms

• Information sources
• Application process

10.20 Break

10.40 Scoring Woodland Creation

11.05 Questions

11.20 DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) Sustainability Criteria for woodfuel

11.35 Woodland Management Plans - Best practice

11.55 Support for Forestry Business Development – Leader, Local Enterprise Partnerships, etc

12.15 Questions

12.30 Close

Major update to the myForest service

The Sylva Foundation has announced two major updates to the myForest service.

For those who are unfamiliar with the service myForest is a free online tool for woodland owners, forestry businesses and wood users. The tools enable users to easily set-up a sustainable woodland management plan and also help with the marketing of home-grown forest products.

The recent updates to myForest include an enhanced management planning template that links with Forestry Commission England.  The mapping tool within myForest have also been improved and is now fully functional online GIS.

New Management Planning template

The myForest management plan template has been update to reflect the recent changes implemented by Forestry Commission England (FCE).  myForest  now enables the creation of management plans as part of the Woodland Planning Grant.  

These changes incorporate a number of benefits:

• more user-friendly template
• the template that allows the creation of a management plan that is compliant with the UK Forestry Standard
• provides the woodland owner with felling permissions for 10 years as part of the management plan.
• compliance with new regulations including EU Timber Regulations.

New Mapping Composer

The updated mapping composer within myForest is a simple Geographical Information System (GIS).  It allows the user to add layers and labels to a map which can be printed off or saved on your computer, and saved as in pdf format.

The maps generated can be used to provide felling permissions as part of a management plan or to support an application for a standalone felling licence.

Woodfuel WIG - FREE whole-day workshop

Maximising Opportunities for the Forestry and Woodland Sectors

The RDPE Network, working with organisations from Forestry and Woodland sectors is holding a free workshop for members of the Forestry and Woodland Sectors on Thursday 8 March 2012 in Birmingham. 

• Location: Birmingham
• Date: Thursday 08, March 2012

This workshop provides the opportunities to discuss the recent changes to the RDPE Programme in relation to the Forestry and Woodland Sectors as well as giving you an opportunity to feed in your ideas with regards the post-2013 policy and implementation (see Draft agenda and booking form).

Please return your booking form by Friday 2 March 2012. Places are limited so return your booking form early to secure your place.

The focus of the day is discussion, so each session will provide a brief overview / case study to stimulate further dialogue.

The event is FREE to attend and refreshments and lunch will be provided.

Woodfuel Woodland Improvement Grant open for applications

The value of wood as a sustainable resource, either as timber or as woodfuel is growing.

The Kent Downs has a long history of traditional coppice management and is well suited to respond to such market led opportunities.

Of course, sensitive and sustainable woodland management is crucial to the character and ecology of the Kent Downs and provides jobs for local people.  However, traditional sweet chestnut products are growing in popularity and new products are being developed.

The growing market for wood as a sustainable fuel, encouraged by the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and the Kent Downs Woodfuel Pathfinder offers market opportunities for the lowest quality wood and ‘offcuts’ produced when creating other wood products.

The greatest opportunities lie in:

• Using your own wood to supply your own heat needs;
• Adding value to your lower quality wood by selling woodfuel locally, or
• By selling the end product - heat.

The volatility and the inevitability of increasing prices of fossil fuel means locally produced woodfuel offers a secure and sustainable supply where production and supply is undertaken by local people.

The Woodfuel Woodland Improvement Grant offers support of 60% of the costs of:

• roads, loading areas, tracks and other infrastructure which will allow you to harvest wood products;
• assessing the amount of timber which could be sustainably harvested; and
• the costs of managing harvesting contracts.

Further details can be found on the Forestry Commission website.

If you are interested you will first need an approved woodland management plan, for which the Forestry Commission also offer support through the Woodland Planning Grant.

Contact your local Woodland Officer for further information.