Landowners, farmers and small holders can access a package of practical and financial support to increase tree coverage in areas of County Durham.
Free training and funding are available to plant new woodlands and manage existing ones, through two partnership schemes.
People managing land within a 10-mile radius of Durham City, are being offered support through the Durham Woodland Revival programme, which aims to create 81 hectares of new woodland, approximately the size of Durham City centre, by 2023.
The partnership programme, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Durham County Council and Woodland Trust, intends to strengthen the area’s resilience to tree disease and reducing the effects of climate change.
Grants are available for planting of areas over 0.1 hectares, but smaller than 3 hectares, including for hedgerow and parkland trees, and the team can assist with applications for funding to create larger areas of woodland.
The scheme’s experienced foresters can also provide advice on how best to create or run woodland to benefit both landowners’ incomes and the environment, including providing shelter for livestock, reducing flood risk, storing carbon, enriching biodiversity, and providing habitat for wildlife.
Woodland owners and contractors are invited to learn more about woodland creation and management at two free Durham Woodland Revival Programme training events on:
- Wednesday 22 September: Introduction to woodland creation
- Wednesday 6 October: Introduction to woodland management
Training will be held at Hamsteels Community Centre, Esh Winning and will include lunch and site visits. Places can be booked by emailing durhamwoodlandrevival@durham.gov.uk, or calling 07920 593 676.
Further courses are also being planned to focus on tree disease; continuous cover forestry; and designing new woodlands, based on site characteristics.
Cllr Mark Wilkes, the council’s Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods and Climate Change, said: “Integrating trees into a landscape is hugely beneficial for people, wildlife and the environment. We are looking to improve the management of existing woodland, particularly ancient woodland, both on the council’s own estate and on privately owned land.
“Many farms have an unproductive or awkward pocket of land, which would be perfect to introduce planting on, or woodland which is not currently being managed.
“Through these two initiatives we want to engage with busy land managers and farmers to help them find the best ways to introduce more planting on their land and to better manage the woodlands they already have, to make them more profitable and better for the environment.”
Land managers in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and along the A68 corridor can take advantage of bespoke advice, woodland surveys, and grants through the North Pennines Woodland Project.
The partnership, jointly funded by Durham County Council, the Woodland Trust and Northumbrian Water Ltd, is working with landowners to explore options for tree planting, looking at the best locations, the ideal mix of species and identifying potential future benefits to the farming business and the environment.
Information about funding and advice, for both the North Pennines Woodland Project and Durham Woodland Revival Project, is available from Ben Scotting, Woodland Officer, by telephoning 07920 577 284 or emailing durhamwoodlandrevival@durham.gov.uk.
Further information about the two woodland schemes is available online at www.northpennines.org.uk and www.woodlandrevivalproject.info
