Funding and support for Tree Planting

This page lists a range of funding and support opportunities for planting trees. Please note that some funds are renewed annually and may be closed temporarily. For advice on funding specific projects please contact CWA staff.

South of Scotland Tree Planting Grant Scheme

Grants of up to £1000 available, per applicant per year! The grant scheme is open to any organisations or individuals who can bring forward a planting project of less than 0.25ha that will enhance the landscape and biodiversity of the Dumfries and Galloway region and contribute to improved public amenity.

Forestry Grant Scheme

The Forestry Grant Scheme, administered by Scottish Forestry, is the primary source of funding for new woodland creation. There are nine woodland creation options, covering different types of woodlands and objectives. The grant includes an initial planting payment and an annual maintenance payment for five years. There are also a range of capital grants available for operations such as fencing and tree protection.

The FGS also includes funding for restocking woods after felling, where this will improve the biodiversity, resilience and species diversity of woodlands in the long term.

Scottish Forestry Small Woodlands Loan Scheme

The Small Woodlands Loan Scheme aims to remove cash flow barriers that small woodland owners might have when considering tree planting. The loan works alongside the existing Forestry Grant Scheme and is aimed at woodland creation projects up to 20 hectares in size. Half of the upfront costs associated with planting a new woodland, including buying trees, ground preparation or fencing, can be paid in advance by Scottish Forestry.

Carbon Sequestration

New, growing woodlands sequester carbon, and woodland owners/managers can generate income by “selling” this carbon to those who wish to offset unavoidable emissions. The Woodland Carbon Code is the voluntary standard for UK woodland creation projects where claims are made about carbon sequestration. The code creates verifiable carbon units that can be sold and provides assurance that the planted trees will be sustainably managed and capture the carbon dioxide claimed. Carbon units can be sold as Pending Issuance Units (PIUs), which are a “promise to deliver” future carbon sequestration, or as Woodland Carbon Units (WCUs) once the carbon has actually been sequestered. Owners/managers can register schemes and market their carbon units themselves, or engage a project developer to do this on their behalf.

Future Woodlands Fund

The Future Woodlands Fund (FWF) is intended to offer land managers a simple and low risk way to plant or regenerate native trees and works alongside the Forestry Grant Scheme. The FWF covers the costs of developing applications to the Forestry Grant Scheme (including agent fees, and specialist surveys) as well as the initial WCC validation. The Ghost Woodlands option offers a fencing supplement to aid natural regeneration. Both of these options allow the land owner to retain carbon income for themselves. There is also a small woodlands option (3-5ha) which covers costs related to the FGS application and validation, plus £3500/ha paid in two stages – 75% to assist with establishment works and 25% on completion of planting, in return for the rights to the carbon income. The value of this carbon will be reinvested into the FWF, supporting more native woodlands in Scotland.

International Tree Foundation

The International Tree Foundation (ITF) is a UK-based charity dedicated to supporting communities with their tree planting ambitions. Such projects are to enhance not only the landscape but also provide community and social benefits and can come in all shapes and sizes, from small community woodlands, hedging, to landscape-scale forestry. Projects can be woodland creation or restock (where the restock will improve biodiversity, amenity, etc) and support from ITF does not preclude grant aid from the Forestry Grant Scheme. There are no absolute minimum or maximum sizes for projects but the general expectation is that they will fund projects of between 1,000 and 20,000 trees, with funding support at an average of £1.75/tree, with additional small grants available for maintenance in the first 18 months after planting. Visit here for more information or contact Sam Pearce on sam@internationaltreefoundation.org to discuss a potential project.

Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint is an environmental consultancy that offers tree planting opportunities to its clients as part of their sustainability programmes: they are always looking for planting sites. The trees are paid for by their clients and are usually 1 year old whips of UK native species and come with a cane and spiral guard if required. Projects can be woodland creation, enrichment planting or restocking. The trees are supplied by a large commercial nursery, who should be able to supply plants of appropriate provenance. There is no set maximum number of trees (minimum is 10 trees) that you can apply for, although the numbers that can be supplied will depend on Carbon Footprint's clients, so smaller projects, requiring hundreds or a couple of thousand trees, might stand a better chance than those needing tens of thousands (that shouldn't stop large projects applying though). The clients decide which projects get supported, so there are no guarantees that you will receive trees if you apply. In some cases the clients may offer some volunteer labour to help plant the trees. Contact Alex Stores alex.stores@carbonfootprint.com for more information. The application form can be downloaded here.

Woodland Trust: Free trees for schools and communities

The Woodland Trust runs a regular programme supplying tree packs to schools and community groups across the UK. Tree packs come in a range of sizes from 15 to 420 trees and comprise mixtures of native species to meet various objectives.

Woodland Trust Scotland Tree Seed Collection Project

The Woodland Trust is running a two-year pilot project with the objective of addressing the shortage of locally provenant native trees for its sites and projects.  The Trust has recruited over 200 volunteers and they collected enough seed in 2021 to grow 3.2 million trees.

The Trust is now looking for more sites for volunteers to (sustainably) collect seed from and would like to hear from community woodland groups in Scotland who would be happy for volunteers to collect from their woodlands.  The Trust can offer community woodlands back a percentage of seed or trees grown from the seed collected.

If your community woodland group is interested in participating, please contact matildascharsach@woodlandtrust.org.uk, ideally by the end of March 2022.

The Tree Council: Branching Out Fund

The Tree Council Branching Out Fund is designed to get communities and young people up to the age of 21 involved in tree and hedge planting and care and is open to any school or community group within the United Kingdom.

Borders Forest Trust: South of Scotland Tree Planting Grant

The South of Scotland Tree Planting Grant provides support and financial assistance to plant individual trees or small clumps of trees, in order to retain this landscape resource for the benefit of people, communities and wildlife. This grant is for tree and woodland planting projects that fall below the size eligible for the Forestry Grant Scheme. Applications are invited from organisations or individuals in Scottish Borders and Dumfries & Galloway only.

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