Woodland Regeneration Grant Guide

Transcription

1 GENERAL DETAILS PLANNING Version 1/June 2005 For updates and the latest version go to: 4 English Woodland Grant Scheme Woodland Regeneration Grant Guide Purpose ASSESSMENT FELLING & REGENERATION Woodland Regeneration Grant (WRG) contributes to the costs of making changes to the composition of woodland within the normal cycle of felling and woodland regeneration. When felled areas are regenerated, either by planting or by natural seeding, this represents one of the greatest opportunities to change the woodland to improve its capacity for sustainable management and public benefit delivery. The objective of Woodland Regeneration Grant is therefore to support desirable change and an increase in a woodland s capacity for sustainable management arising from timely felling and appropriate regeneration of woodlands. Eligibility IMPROVEMENT MANAGEMENT Situations not eligible for Woodland Regeneration Grant The application must be approved by the FC before any work takes place. Any felling or pre-clearance of the woodland area must be undertaken in accordance with the Felling Regulations and the good practices set out in the UK Forestry Standard and associated guidelines. The area of broadleaved woodland must not be diminished as a result of felling and replacing woodland areas. WRG will normally be withheld: From areas that have been felled illegally Where tree removal has been undertaken in unsustainable or insensitive ways that are incompatible with the status of the site or features on the site Where conifers or exotic shrub species have been included despite being expressly excluded by the grant requirements. Main requirements CREATION 1 Planting or natural seeding These methods are interchangeable as far as EWGS is concerned and can be used together or separately as required to make the restocking successful. The grant covers any method or mixture of methods that the FC and the applicant agree as suitable. In the case of natural regeneration, the grant contributes most towards ground preparation and protection, whereas with planting, it contributes most towards the plants and protection. The FC will not approve proposals for regeneration by natural seeding where the potential for success is clearly very low due to the distance or type of seed trees available. 1

2 Restocking Ancient Woodland sites In all cases in Ancient Woodlands and Ancient Woodland Sites, natural regeneration will be the preferred method of restocking. Required stocking density Broadleaves must be established at 1100 trees per hectare or more, and conifers at 2250 trees per hectare or more. Conifer/Broadleaved mixtures For the purposes of applying WRG, all woodlands, including mixtures, will be classed as either conifer or broadleaved depending on the balance of these two species groups at the times of: Felling (or application to fell) and Replanting or preparation of the site for natural seeding The actual broadleaf/conifer mix to be replanted will always be subject to the policy presumption that the area of broadleaved woodland cannot be diminished as a result of felling and replacing woodland areas. Grant Change from Change to Grant rate Conifer per hectare nurse Conifer plantation Native species 1100 N Broadleaved species 950 Y Conifer species 360 Y Broadleaved Native species # 1100 N plantation Broadleaved species 950 Y Wide-spaced broadleaved restocking ## 350 Y Conifer plantation Native species # 1760 N on Ancient Broadleaved species 950 N Woodland Sites Conifer species 0 Y Broadleaved Native species # 1760 N plantation on Broadleaved species 950 N Ancient Woodland Sites Ancient and other Native species # 1100 N semi-natural woodland Notes # Restocking by natural regeneration or, where agreed, planting to full Bulletin 112 standards. ## Low-stocking rates for wide-spaced crops such as poplar or, for example, gapping up after coppicing. Must establish between 100 and 1100 trees/ha for this grant rate. Conifer nurse and exotic shrub species Additional conifer species planted as an establishment nurse or for game purposes (including exotic shrubs) may only be included amongst the grant-aided trees where Y is indicated in the table above. Inclusion of any conifers where N is indicated will render the restocking ineligible for this grant. The FC may, from time to time, agree woodland felling and regeneration proposals that include restoration of other natural land cover types (such as heathland and wetland). This will be where the evidence is strong that the overall public benefits of doing so are 2

3 Restoring other natural land cover types likely to outweigh the benefits that woodland alone might provide. In these cases we will seek to support the transition to the new land cover type by co-ordinating the approval of any WRG and appropriate felling consents with the approval of any grant support under Defra s Higher Tier Scheme. Continuous cover and natural regeneration Woodlands managed on continuous cover principles may be funded by WRG by agreeing a pro-rata grant value based on the area regenerated each year and the average change (if any) in woodland composition. Making an application The application comprises the completed forms and an acceptable map. Forms are available from FC Offices or from the FC website The applicant will need to complete form EWGS 1 General Details and EWGS 4 Felling Permission and Woodland Regeneration Grant, and provide an Ordnance Survey MasterMap showing the boundary of all the woodland to be felled and or regenerated. The FC cannot accept maps that are not Ordnance Survey MasterMap. Base maps of the required quality can be obtained free of charge from the Forestry Commission by completing a request form. This request form is found in the free FC guide General Guide to EWGS, which is available from Conservancy offices. This guide explains the EWGS map requirements more fully. Completing the Woodland Regeneration Grant form Page 1 Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Property Name and Application No. Enter the property name and application number as per the General Details form (EWGS 1). Case Ref. No. Applicants should leave this blank. This section is for general prescriptions of the proposals. Applicants can refer to these prescriptions when entering the new woodland details overleaf to avoid repetition. See the guidance for Column 14 before completing this question. Pages 2 & 3 Column 4 Work Group Use a letter to identify each work group. A Work Group is simply a convenient way of showing that all the detailed work elements (specification, rates, timing and claims etc) are all the same and can be applied to one or more subcompartments. If parts of your woodland proposals are different in some way (e.g. different land use category, grant type, species mix, planting season or claim year) these should be separated out into different subcompartments and entered under a different work group. 3

4 Column 5 Column 6 Column 7 Column 8 Column 9 Column 10 Column 11 Subcompartments in the Work Group List all the subcompartments that are in this Work Group. The areas must have been entered on page 4 of the General Details form (EWGS 1) and they must be clearly shown on the application map(s). Area of Work Group Enter the total area of all the subcompartments included in this Work Group. The FC will measure the areas from the maps but applicants should enter their estimate here. % to be felled Enter the estimated proportion of the subcompartment area that is to be felled. Where all the trees are to be cut, this would be 100%. Type of felling Enter the code that describes the tree felling in this Work Group CF Clear Felling Removing all the trees from an area SF Selective Felling Removing groups of trees from within an area T Thinning Removing a small proportion evenly over an area FC Fell Coppice Cutting stems to promote growth from the stump FIT Felling Individual Trees Felling large single trees (e.g. on boundaries) CCF Continuous Cover Felling Continuous felling of a wide range of ages and sizes Composition of felled area Enter the proportion of broadleaves and conifers to be felled. Age of trees Enter an estimated age. Type of licence Licences normally carry a requirement to regenerate the area felled, or occasionally a replacement area. Enter C (Conditional licence) to indicate that regeneration is intended. Rarely the FC issues Unconditional licences where the felled area is not replaced. Unconditional licences for felling are only approved if there is a significant public benefit gain to be had. Much more commonly, Unconditional licences are issued for thinning activities where there is no need to regenerate the woodland. Enter U (Unconditional licence) if this is the intention. Column 12 Species Enter the replacement species to be used for this work group and the estimated percentage of the total work group area for each. Use separate lines for: Each tree species that will comprise 20% or more of the woodland. Other species can be grouped together using the Species Group codes for this purpose. Where Species Group codes are used, list the species included in this mix in Column 14 Woody Shrubs (WSH) Open Ground (OG) which is to be part of the grant-aided area. A table of species and codes is on the next page. 4

5 Species codes for entry into Column 12 Species Groups Species Code Species Code Species Code Native Mixed NBL Mixed Broadleaves MB Other broadleaves XB Broadleaves not in the main list Mixed Conifers MC Other conifers XC not in the main list Other Elements Species Code Description Woody Shrubs WSH Native woody shrubs and minor trees appropriate to the site, i.e. hawthorn, blackthorn, holly, dogwood, alder buckthorn, purging buckthorn, spindle, guelder-rose, wild privet, elder Open Ground OG Managed open space (maximum 20%) Broadleaf Species Species Code Species Code Species Code Alder AR Elm EM Red Oak ROK Common Alder CAR Hazel HAZ Poplar PO Grey Alder GAR Hornbeam HBM Rowan ROW Ash AH Lime LI Sweet Chestnut SC Aspen ASP Small-leaved Lime SLI Sycamore SY Birch BI Field Maple FM Willow WL Downy Birch PBI Norway Maple NOM Goat Willow GWL Silver Birch SBI Pedunculate Oak POK Cricket Bat Willow CBW Wild Cherry WCH Sessile Oak SOK Conifer Species Species Code Species Code Species Code Western Red Cedar RC European Larch EL Scots Pine SP Lawson Cypress LC Hybrid Larch HL Norway Spruce NS Douglas Fir DF Japanese Larch JL Sitka Spruce SS Grand Fir GF Corsican Pine CP Western Hemlock WH Noble Fir NF Lodgepole Pine LP Yew YEW Column 13 Column 14 Percentage to be established by natural regeneration If it is intended to encourage and include naturally seeded trees as some part of the established woodland, estimate the proportion of the work group area to be established in this way. This information ensures that any later inspection can take these additional trees into account. Details of felling and regeneration Use this column to briefly describe the proposed felling. For sensitive sites, describe how the site, soil and remaining trees and coppice stools will be protected from damage. Give details of the proposed regeneration work such as: List of species included in Species Group codes (e.g. MB or WSH) 5

6 A description of the stocking density and how the species will be distributed across the site The proposed ground preparation for natural or direct seeding of trees. Standard proposals On the back page of the form is a set of standard proposals or specifications that can quickly be incorporated into the application by entering the reference in the first part of Column 14. The text should note any changes to the standard proposals used. Applicants may also set out their own work specifications in this column rather than nominate standard specifications but these must include sufficient information to accurately describe the work details. General details about the work can also be entered under Item 3 and referenced back to this column to avoid repetition. Column 15 Change in woodland type This column sets the grant to be applied to the restocking or regeneration work. Using the notation in the tables below, specify both the From and To woodland types. From Notation To Notation Broadleaved plantation BL P Broadleaved species BL Conifer plantation Broadleaved plantation on Ancient Woodland Sites Conifer plantation on Ancient Woodland Sites Ancient and other semi-natural woodland CON P BL PAWS Conifer species CON CON PAWS Native species Wide-spaced broadleaves NBL WBL ASNW Column 16 Claim Year Insert the financial year in which you intend to claim the grant for the whole of this work group. The Claim Year from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007, for example, is written as 06/07. Each planting season spans the start and end of two Claim Years so either may legitimately be chosen. It is a fundamental requirement that the work group must be completed before grant can be claimed, and the claim must be submitted before the end of the designated Claim Year. If this is not possible for any reason, the applicant must seek an early amendment to the agreement or no right to the grant will exist under the EWGS contract. Consequently where it is planned to plant in the spring, the FC strongly advises applicants to nominate the later Claim Year (for instance: nominate Claim Year 06/07 [1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007] for any planting in the spring of 2006 and claim on or after 1 April 2006). For applications received by 31 March 2006 only the Claim Years 06/07 and 07/08 are available. The FC will tell you if the funds for your nominated Claim Year are already fully allocated and will offer alternatives if that is possible. 6

7 Claims and payments Claims Applicants may submit claims as soon as the work has been completed. The FC prefers a single claim for all the WRG agreed for each Claim Year. Incomplete work may not be claimed until the agreement is amended to reflect the situation. Claims that are late or delayed because of unacceptable work standards may forfeit all payments if they cannot be approved and paid in the correct Claim Year. Payments Regeneration Grants are paid in one instalment upon satisfactory completion of the planting or initial works. Once the first WRG payment is made the contractual obligations on the applicant are to establish the woodland and maintain it for 10 years from payment. Where natural regeneration is used, however, the establishment of a suitable stocking of new trees may take longer than this. In these cases the FC either will request that the stocking is made up by planting of appropriate species or will agree an extended period over which the contract may be fulfilled. If it is discovered within the contractual period that the woodland has not been regenerated or maintained as agreed or that the intended use of the land and the woodland has been changed without prior agreement, then the FC may reclaim all the relevant grants paid and cease to pay further grants on the areas concerned. Where this action would remove the eligibility for other grants these will also be reclaimed. Felling Licences Felling Licences issued alongside EWGS schemes will expire when the grant approval expires. This will be when the work is done or when the due date for claiming grant passes. If there is a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) on any of the trees in the felling application (or if any of the trees are in a Conservation Area) applicants are advised to discuss the proposal with the Local Authority before applying. The FC will in any case consult the Local Authority over the felling proposals, and if a Felling Licence is issued then separate approval from the Local Authority will not be required. If applicants do not tell the FC that a TPO exists, then any licence issued on that basis will be void and any tree felling may potentially be in contravention of the Felling Regulations. In carrying out its statutory duties, the FC may refuse an application for a Felling Licence and the FC may also issue a Felling Licence with conditions attached for the restocking or regeneration of the woodland. For Felling Licence applicants who disagree with FC decisions there is an appeals procedure governing the resolution of these issues, details of which are set out in the FC booklet Tree Felling Getting Permission available from and FC offices. 7

8 Getting help The FC will offer advice and help you come to decisions about your options and opportunities for woodland regeneration but cannot help you draw up your application. The application forms and guidance are available from as is more detailed guidance on this particular grant and the full FC code covering the operation of the EWGS. This document is for information only and does not constitute an agreement of any form nor does it confer any rights. It is intended as a guide to help applicants decide whether the grant is applicable to them and whether the main requirements of any grant agreement can be met. The information is subject to change. Full and current details of the grant scheme and the requirements of any EWGS grant contract that may be made between the applicant(s) and the Forestry Commission arising from an application to the grant scheme can be found at Forestry Commission England Great Eastern House, Tenison Road, Cambridge CB1 2DU Tel: Fax: fc.nat.off.eng@forestry.gsi.gov.uk Web: EWGS1-GL-MDA/HN-7.5K-Jun 05. Crown copyright. FCCS374 8