Thoughts on Glastir Woodland Management

[SteveA]

We've been filling out forms!.....

 

Any thoughts (good & bad & indifferent) on Glastir Woodland Management?

 

Glastir Woodland Management offers grants to manage existing woodlands that are 0.5ha or more in a single block

 

Glastir Woodland Management, along with the Glastir Woodland Creation scheme, replaces the Better Woodlands for Wales (BWW) scheme and completes the Glastir Woodlands Element.

 

The scheme is targeting Welsh woodlands to deliver the following Glastir objectives:

• managing soils to help conserve carbon stocks and reduce soil erosion
  
• improving water quality and reducing surface run-off
  
• managing water to help reduce flood risks
  
• conserving and enhancing wildlife and biodiversity
  
• managing and protecting landscapes and the historic environment
  
• new opportunities to improve access and understanding of the countryside
  

To help deliver positive outcomes for these objectives, area and capital grants will be available for the following operations:

• thinning
  
• restocking
  
• infrastructure
  
• boundary work
  
• protected and priority species
  
• vegetation management
  
• pest control
  
• public access
  

[slack ma girdle]

General consensous that i have come across, is it is very slow to get through the process.

[SteveA]

General consensous that i have come across, is it is very slow to get through the process.

 

Yes, I've heard that being mentioned before. The scheme appears to be a tricky one to manage.... but as far as advice goes we've found them to be helpful.

 

Filling out the forms is okay; waiting & chasing for them to arrive in the first place is a bit frustrating.

 

Our form was sent back to us as they said the form wasn't enclosed (it was definitely enclosed).... but they double checked and it appears the automatic scanning system double scanned our cover letter/ ignoring the entry form.... so we've sent it back again by snail mail + via email as backup.

 

Plodding along with it.....

[SteveA]

Bumping this thread again to find out how it's going.

We're wondering how the squirrel trapping works in the scheme?

ie, Are we expected to use a certain type of trap?

Where do we place them? etc, etc

 

Not exactly had much helpful management advice from the scheme yet! Probably due to lack of staff. Gah!!

[Welshwoodsman]

Bumping this thread again to find out how it's going.

We're wondering how the squirrel trapping works in the scheme?

ie, Are we expected to use a certain type of trap?

Where do we place them? etc, etc

 

Not exactly had much helpful management advice from the scheme yet! Probably due to lack of staff. Gah!!

 

 

I had mine through couple of months ago- IMO a total waste if my time. Grants don't start until 2016- but the contract is valid from jan 14, so once signed, you are tied in- but cant do anything until the claim year that work is scheduled for (after jan 2016). Another sting in the tail is, unlike BWW, where work was agreed, and grants agreed- if you didnt complete the work, just didnt claim the grants, Glastir is different- you are signing to pledge that the work will be done, and then grant claimed. If you don't/ can't do the work in time, you are in breach of contract- and they can prosecute you, even if you didnt try and claim the grant. Total rubbish- with the weather I have had in the wood, i couldnt definitely say that any work would be completed on schedule☔️. So chucked the contracts and management plan

On the fire. Will do it in my

Own time, and pay myself.

Have already written my own management plan.

 

 

Sent by smoke signal from my teepee.

[ArthurBottlesworth]

My wife looked at it and said "we're not doing this"

My comment was " don't be daft its free money"

But when we looked I didn't like it at all, not many round here gone for it

They were specifying stuff like " aluminium nails for attaching bird boxes " and how many stakes to be used to support planted trees..... Given that its administered by a girl called " the bitch of Bala" haven't gone for it

 

Shame really as I'd like to have planted a small orchard ......

[SteveA]

I had mine through couple of months ago- IMO a total waste if my time. Grants don't start until 2016- but the contract is valid from jan 14, so once signed, you are tied in- but cant do anything until the claim year that work is scheduled for (after jan 2016). Another sting in the tail is, unlike BWW, where work was agreed, and grants agreed- if you didnt complete the work, just didnt claim the grants, Glastir is different- you are signing to pledge that the work will be done, and then grant claimed. If you don't/ can't do the work in time, you are in breach of contract- and they can prosecute you, even if you didnt try and claim the grant. Total rubbish- with the weather I have had in the wood, i couldnt definitely say that any work would be completed on schedule☔️. So chucked the contracts and management plan

On the fire. Will do it in my

Own time, and pay myself.

Have already written my own management plan.

 

Sent by smoke signal from my teepee.

 

We haven't signed it yet, we're still working it all out & trying to keep it all on track (with the things we want to do anyway). It's too easy to get distracted into ticking other peoples boxes. I'm hoping the Glastir Advanced will be of more benefit.

 

Good point about the weather..... we were just chatting about that very subject. Some of our areas are too wet to be clearing scrub in the winter, yet they haven't suggested helping out with water management as first priority (despite us pointing this out to them).

 

Not to bothered about getting tied in with jobs to do, so long as we're sure we can do them on time.

Must say I think the rates they pay are pretty pathetic really.

 

Cheers, steve

[SteveA]

Well, we decided to go for it - took quite a bit of fine tuning and sending things backwards & forwards but quite happy with it all now.

Have already signed up to the Glastir Entry & Glastir Advanced and we'll soon be signing up to Glastir Woodland Management too.

 

Currently making 20 bird boxes to go up before xmas.

[timberonabike]

As mentioned above, there is no flexibility in the scheme, we are currently trying to explain that we have only done half the fencing because the only access is across a neighbours field and when it hasn't been in crop it has been a mud slide and you would struggle to get a scrambler to the fence line, let alone the tractor. Could potentially balls up the whole plan. Not looking very beneficial to us right now. Not to mention very specific odd requests.

 

Tim

[SteveA]

As mentioned above, there is no flexibility in the scheme, we are currently trying to explain that we have only done half the fencing because the only access is across a neighbours field and when it hasn't been in crop it has been a mud slide and you would struggle to get a scrambler to the fence line, let alone the tractor. Could potentially balls up the whole plan. Not looking very beneficial to us right now. Not to mention very specific odd requests.

 

Tim

 

We kept the weather in mind with the jobs we signed up for so we shouldn't face

any problems like you've found, in theory, hopefully!

eg, we decided to drop a couple acres of holly/ brash removal in a particularly wet/boggy area of our woodland. But that is only because Glastir Woodland Management wouldn't agree to paying for ANY ditch clearance work. We'd rather tackle something like that in our own time.

 

We haven't noticed any odd requests.... and I think using soft nails for mounting bird, bat and owl boxes makes sense.