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 ten hectares can claim £3,000 per hectare, with the cost of the work also fully covered.

Sam Newton, woodland creation officer at the 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 Northern Farmer: Sam Newton_Woodland Creation Officer in the North York Moors National Park credit NYMNPA

“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 per cent of the National Park, supporting many key wildlife species such as turtle dove and small pearl-bordered fritillary.

The Northern Farmer: Wood pasture tree planting in the North York Moors_credit NYMNPA

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 ten hectares.

For more information,see northyorkmoors.org.uk/grants. The National Park’s woodland creation team can be contacted on 01439 772700, or email conservation@northyorkmoors.org.uk.