Rural Payments and Services

The aim of this scheme is to create conifer woodlands on land that is suitable for timber production and that is accessible for timber transport (including links to suitable public roads).

This option is principally aimed at planting Sitka spruce.

You must meet all eligibility criteria listed on the general Woodland Creation page and:

• you must comply with the UK Forestry Standard
• the minimum planting width is 15 metres
• the minimum block size is two hectares in any one year. Sitka spruce stock must be plants produced from open pollinated seed from seed orchards in the tested category, unless accessing the additional capital grant for use of Sitka spruce produced by vegetative propagation from seed derived from controlled pollinations in ‘Parents of Families’ in the tested category. You must provide a copy of the supplier's document when submitting an initial planting claim (see Forestry Commission Scotland Technical Support for an example document). This should include information such as quantity, the region of provenance and Master Certificate Number. See the Forestry Commission'sMarketing and Supplying Forest Reproductive Materials for further information
• your application must meet the species composition criteria in the table below

Composition of conifer woodland
Item	Minimum (per cent)	Maximum (per cent)	Minimum stocking density on the planted area at year five (per hectare)
Sitka spruce [1]	65	75	2500
Other conifers	10	15	2500
Native broadleaves or shrubs [2]	5	10	1100
Designed open ground [3]	0	10	n/a
[1] Intimate mixtures of other conifer are allowed, up to a maximum of 30%, but the choice of species must meet the requirements of 'species selection'. [2] Up to 20 per cent of the native broadleaves can be native woody shrubs. [3] You must refer to the designed open ground guidance on the Forestry Commission Scotland Technical Support page to see how designed open ground will apply to your application. For example additional open ground, in excess of the specified percentage, may be permissible depending on the specifics of the site, but will not be eligible for grant support.

Please note that in order to achieve 100 per cent from the table above you will not be able to select all minimum or all of the maximum values.

Species selection

As an initial first step in determining whether or not the site is climatically suitable you should view the 'Forestry Grant Scheme (2014–2020) Site Suitability' folder on the Forestry Commission Scotland Map Viewer page.

Any applications that are not shown as being climatically suitable will only be considered if you can clearly demonstrate that the site is suitable for the chosen species of trees, for example where there is localised shelter in an otherwise exposed location.

Forest Research Bulletin 127 – Choice of Sitka Spruce Seed Origins for Use in British Forests – C.J.A. Samuel, A.M. Fletcher and R. Lines

As per the eligibility criteria of the Woodland Creation general guidance the tree species must be 'suitable' or 'very suitable' to the site and Sitka spruce must have the capacity to achieve a minimum average yield class 12 across the application area.

Use of genetically-improved Sitka spruce

If you propose to use this capital item then the site must have the capacity to achieve a minimum average yield class 14 for Sitka spruce across the application area.

You must provide a copy of the supplier's document when submitting an initial planting claim (see Forestry Commission Scotland Technical Support for an example document). This should include information such as quantity, the region of provenance and Master Certificate Number. See the Forestry Commission's Marketing and Supplying Forest Reproductive Materials for further information.