Climate-proofing the Highland's woodlands

The successes of a forestry grant scheme

Creating better connections for our fragmented habitats is seen as a way for species to migrate and adapt to a changing climate. The Highland locational premium is an example of a woodland grant scheme aimed at creating links between forest habitat networks and benefitting the movement of woodland wildlife for the decades to come.

Highland Council's Woodland and Forest Strategy aspired to increase the area covered by forest in Highland region, as well as looking to create bigger and better connected forest habitat networks. How we achieve these objectives is the challenge, as woodland grant schemes don't usually state precise planting patterns, and public funding for woodlands has been diminishing.

Landowners would be offered an incentive to create new woodlands in the best possible places. Policy and decision makers, foresters and researchers all agreed that access to a grant should depend on linking two or more of the mapped forest habitat networks in accordance with certain mathematical thresholds so that, for example, small planting schemes linking larger networks would be rewarded more than large schemes linking small networks.

Being different to previous grants, more help was offered with the publication of habitat network maps, worked examples and guidance on a website, and seminars and one-to-one 'surgeries' held with the forestry community.

The project was led by Forestry Commission Scotland with technical support from Highland Birchwoods. It ran for the 2006 calendar year.

The outcome

Foresters quickly grasped the new rules and a great many high quality and creative applications were received. In fact, more applications were received than there was money available - so only the very best schemes were accepted. In total, 19 separate schemes of 575 ha connected 40 individual forest habitat networks covering 8,500 ha and costing a total of £1.5 million. An example is in Morvern where two sizeable networks - both containing Special Area of Conservation woodlands - were linked together with a 35 ha of new planting.