Woodland Connectivity focus for this year’s Dumfries & Galloway Tree Planting Grant Scheme

The Dumfries & Galloway Tree Planting Grant Scheme is now open for applications. This supports native tree planting across the region with grants of up to £1,000. Recipients last year varied from farmers and landowners through to community groups and schools, all of whom benefitted from the flexible and easy scheme to make their small scale tree planting ambitions come true!

The planting of native trees in Dumfries & Galloway delivers a wide variety of benefits, from biodiversity and habitat provision, through to landscape benefits and carbon capture.

This year there is a particular focus on ‘Woodland Connectivity’ – how can a small-scale intervention contribute to native woodland nature networks and wildlife corridors. This covers everything from connecting remaining blocks of woodland through to simply designing your small-scale project with habitat connectivity in mind.

The scheme is overseen by the Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands (DGW), a charity supporting a range of tree-related projects in the region. The lead for the scheme is Phil Dowling, Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands’ Woodland ACTION officer. Phil said:

“This season we’re encouraging grant applicants to design projects that join fragmented woodland sites together. Woodland connectivity leads to a landscape with both greater biodiversity and genetic diversity, resulting in increased resilience towards pests & disease, climate change, and invasive non-native species. The health of a landscape can influence such things as soil nutrient cycles, drainage, carbon capture, as well as our own and mental and physical wellbeing.

Last year grant applicants really engaged with our “tree on farms” theme, integrating trees into the D&G farming landscape; it’s going to be fascinating this season to see how applicants factor connectivity into their woodland schemes.”

For full information about the scheme and the application form, visit: https://dgwoodlands.org.uk/dumfries-and-galloway-tree-planting-grant-scheme/.

The Dumfries & Galloway Tree Planting Grant Scheme is funded thanks to Scottish Forestry, Woodland Trust Scotland, The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Dumfries & Galloway Council.

If you would like more information about the scheme or to kick off an application, please visit the Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands website here: https://dgwoodlands.org.uk/dumfries-and-galloway-tree-planting-grant-scheme/ or contact Phil Dowling on phil.dowling@dgwoodlands.org or 07301 052793.

Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands is seeking to support trees, habitats and the people that depend upon them across the region. Partners include Borders Forest Trust, Woodland Trust Scotland, Dumfries & Galloway Council and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. For more information about Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands, follow the facebook or twitter pages, visit the website www.dgwoodlands.org.uk or sign up for the newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/iAlL6k.

Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands is registered in Scotland as a SCIO, number 052525.