As the Chinese proverb says, the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second-best time is now. Though not meant to be taken literally, this is pertinent to the forestry sector today. Increasing woodland cover is a priority for addressing the climate and biodiversity emergencies we face: trees, and especially the soils in which they grow, capture massive amounts of carbon, whilst also providing valuable habitat for a range of woodland species. As such, woodland creation plays a vital role in securing the future of our wooded landscapes, ensuring they are in good condition for generations to come.
The UK government aims to increase woodland cover to 16.5%, a 2% increase on what we have now. This target aims to increase carbon sequestration, restore biodiversity and importantly to also increase the proportion of timber we grow ourselves – the UK is the second largest timber importer behind China, making us particularly vulnerable to timber shortages as demand increases. £500 million of the Nature for Climate budget has been dedicated to tree planting, yet we are still falling short of annual planting targets – in 2023-24, 20,660ha of new woodlands were created in the UK, almost 10,000ha behind the annual target of 30,000ha/year to 2025. Clearly, we have a bit of catching up to do.
Planting coniferous trees as well as broadleaves has high potential for landscape recovery and biodiversity restoration, as well as timber provision. In the UK, 95% of all timber consumed is softwood, from conifer trees, yet 92% of planting between 2012-2022 was with broadleaf species. Planting a mixture of broadleaves and conifers where appropriate is an excellent way to develop a sustainable and secure timber supply for the future, reducing our reliance on imports and supporting the UK forestry industry.
As well as producing timber, woodlands are vital for wildlife, which has been decreasing as a result of habitat fragmentation, degradation, and lack of management. For example, a single native oak tree in the UK can support over 2300 species, over 300 of which are specific to oak trees. Planting new trees is key to addressing the decline in woodland biodiversity – planting can join up areas of existing woodland to create habitat corridors, provide important hedgerow habitats across landscapes, increase the population of the pollinators we rely on, and increase the resilience of the landscape to climate change, pests, and disease.
What funding is available?
There are a range of grants available for creating woodlands. For example, the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO) can fund a range of woodland creation activities on sites as small as 1 hectare (2 and a half acres). This funding can cover up to 100% of the project initiation costs, and includes:
· Up to £10,200 per hectare in capital items(trees, tree protection, planting etc.)
· Up to £12,700 per hectare in additional contributions (payments for ecosystem services such as nature recovery and flood risk alleviation)
· 15 years of maintenance payments of £400/ha/year
In some areas, community forest grants or local authority grants are also available, which can pay for up to 100% of the cost of designing and planting a woodland. Examples of these include the Northern Forest grants, Forests for Cornwall ran by Cornwall Council, and Northumberland Forest. The Woodland Trust also runs two tree planting schemes which can cover 75% of planting costs called MOREwoods and Trees for your Farm, which might be good options for sites smaller than 1haand where conifer planting is not appropriate. With this grant funding, the costs associated with planting trees are minimised.
Carbon credits and the Woodland Carbon Code
In addition to grant funding, there are also private financing options available to support woodland planting and management, such as the UK Woodland Carbon Code.
Trees are one of the most effective ways of capturing and storing CO2 from the atmosphere. New planting projects can be signed up to the Woodland Carbon Code (WCC), which is the quality assurance standard for UK woodland carbon projects. This means that over time, as trees grow and begin to sequester carbon, you can gain carbon credits (one carbon credit is equal to one tonne of CO2 sequestered by a woodland), which can then be sold on the open market or back to the government under the Woodland Carbon Guarantee. The price of carbon credits is projected to increase over time as the market grows, so registering for carbon credits now could generate regular income from your woodlands in the future.
Carbon credits and timber are two ways through which you can diversify the income stream from your landholding through planting trees. Trees can also be beneficial to the rest of the landholding, by offering shade to grazing livestock, protecting soils by preventing topsoil erosion, increasing the abundance of pollinators and enhancing pest and disease control. Woodland planting is particularly suitable on less productive land and areas which are hard to access – for example, planting on awkward field corners to square up fields, or on poor soils. In-field agroforestry is another option to consider, where trees are planted within the farmed system, such as rows of fruit trees in strips across an arable field. This can provide an extra crop of fruit, nuts or timber, which increases the resilience of the income from a farm.
Woodland creation provides a suite of benefits to the environment, economy and people, and projects of any size are eligible for support. Tomorrows Forests can help you plan, apply for grant funding, plant and manage your woodlands, to ensure you gain a sustainable asset for the future. Now is a great time to be getting involved in woodland creation and management – find out how we can support you by getting in touch.
