30 January 2024
The North York Moors National Park Authority is increasing its financial incentive for farmers and landowners to create large woodland areas. It means that anyone with a planting area greater than 10 hectares can claim £3,000 per hectare, with the cost of the work also fully covered.
Sam Newton, Woodland Creation Officer at the North York Moors National Park Authority, said:
“Over the past seven years we have created some really valuable woodland habitat across the North York Moors and we are keen to create much more.
“The grant is very flexible and can be for the creation of both native woodlands as well as grazed wood pasture, which involves planting trees at much lower density and continuing grazing regimes amongst them. You may even have an area of land where young trees are appearing naturally and we could support you to enable this to develop further.”
There is evidence to suggest that the North York Moors was almost entirely wooded before it was cleared by human activity in the Middle Ages. Today, woodlands and forests cover about 23% of the National Park which support many key wildlife species such as the turtle dove and small pearl-bordered fritillary.
As well as capturing carbon from the atmosphere and boosting biodiversity, planting new woodland can also improve livestock welfare, reduce soil erosion and help mitigate surface flooding by slowing the flow of water across landscapes.
Once trees are planted, the National Park Authority will fund and coordinate up to five years of maintenance, at no cost to the landowner, including weeding around young trees, replacing any trees that have died and supporting the removal and recycling of tree guards.
Although the increased financial incentives are only for larger area of land, payments of £1,000 per hectare are still available for areas of between five and 10 hectares.
For more information, you can visit northyorkmoors.org.uk/grants. The National Park’s Woodland Creation Team can be contacted on 01439 772700, or email conservation@northyorkmoors.org.uk
ENDS
Media contacts
Nina Beadle
Communications Officer, North York Moors National Park Authority
press@northyorkmoors.org.uk
01439 772700
The North York Moors National Park
The North York Moors is a beautiful landscape of stunning moorland, ancient woodland and historic sites. Created on 28 November 1952, it became Britain’s sixth national park. Covering an area of 554 square miles (1,436 square kilometres) the National Park has 26 miles of coastline, two national nature reserves, 840 Scheduled Monuments and over 3,000 listed buildings, attracting an estimated 8.4 million visitors a year.
The National Park has two visitor centres, Danby Lodge National Park Centre and Sutton Bank National Park Centre, providing opportunities for cycling, walking, eating, picnicking, shopping, crafts and wildlife-watching. The centre in Danby also houses the Inspired by… gallery, which features regularly changing exhibitions by artists who draw their inspiration from the North York Moors.
The North York Moors National Park Authority works with a wide variety of people to care for this beautiful corner of Yorkshire, providing apprenticeships and volunteering opportunities with nearly 14% of staff being apprentices from local families.