Woodland Creation Site Visit in Ring of Gullion

The Ring of Gullion team and IndiWoods Ltd are inviting all landowners and farmers to a site visit at Slieve Gullion Pods in Mullaghbane at 6.00pm on Friday 1st September to highlight the Forest Expansion scheme, a grant scheme for woodland creation over 5ha. The site visit will also highlight the One Million Trees Scheme which has successfully run in the area for the last 3 years.

Carolyn Trimble from IndiWoods, a woodland creation agent will be outlining benefits of planting trees on your land especially beside water and how you can access funding to new woodlands on land over 5ha. Padraig Carragher, owner of Slieve Gullion Pods will be on hand to talk about how he has benefited from the grant last year.

The Forest Expansion scheme, which is intended to encourage and support landowners who wish to plant their own woodland, is funded through the Rural Development Programme, part financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and DAERA.

Successful applicants to the Forest Expansion Scheme will receive up to 100% of eligible establishment costs and annual premia for a 10 year period. The Scheme is competitive, meaning that projects must conform to the UK Forestry Standard and that it favours bids with lower costs and which are part financed by the applicant.

Applications are scored higher by incorporating into their woodland plans services such as public access, storage of forest carbon to mitigate climate change, better wildlife habitat, larger woodland scale and planting on land with potential to mitigate flood risk.

Applications for the Forest Expansion Scheme must be submitted to Forest Service by 3.00 pm Friday 29 September 2017 for the 2017/18 planting season.

Councillor Roisin Mulgrew, Chairperson of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council explains, ““This workshop is designed to be both informative and practical. We hope to give landowners a range of ideas in regards planting trees on their land and showing them the benefits involved for themselves.”