DARTMOOR landowners are being urged to grasp the opportunity to tap into extra funding being made available to plant new woodland on the moor.
The Government has announced a two-year extension to the New Native Woodland Challenge Fund, which can result in grants covering full establishment costs, effectively enabling new woodlands to be created at no cost to the landowner.
Rupert Lane, head of trees and woodlands at Dartmoor National Park Authority, said: 'Over the last four years of the Challenge Fund, Dartmoor has gained 25.4 hectares of new native woodland.
'As Challenge Funding is competitive and only has two years to run, it is important to grasp this opportunity.'
One of the key features of the Challenge Fund is to ensure that new woodlands are located to either extend or ideally link two or more fragments of ancient woodland, often very rich habitats.
By establishing trees on adjacent sites, the ecosystem improves at a greater rate than with the planting of totally new woodland areas in isolation.
Applications to the fund will be judged on merit — consideration being given to quality, value for money, public benefit, degree of partnership involvement and public support. Conservation is paramount but the scheme should also be able to produce some timber.
The deadline for plans to be submitted to the Challenge Fund is October 31, with bids to be submitted by January 3, 2002.
Any landowners requiring help with applications are welcome to help from the DNPA. Contact Rupert Lane on 01626 832093.