The North Yorkshire Woodland Certification Local Pilot Scheme (LPS) part of the North Yorkshire Sustainable Woodland Project (NYSWP) was run by YORWOODS from October 2002 to September 2005.

The objectives of the project were:

• To identify and evaluate appropriate incentive and support mechanisms for small woodlands seeking certification.

• To increase the uptake of certification for small woodlands thereby bringing them into a demonstrably sustainable management regime.

• To evaluate what certification delivers in terms of the economic, social and environmental outputs of small woodlands.

• To evaluate how any benefits, which were achieved, could be maintained.

Using grants to help with the costs of woodland management planning and certification over the three-year period the project directly advised 81 people and/or organisations, trained upwards of a further 80 owners and managers and facilitated over 1,800 ha of woodland in North Yorkshire being certified. Other woodland owners implemented the requirements of sustainable management through use of the prescribed management template and claimed grant monies but without taking up certification. More than 20 events were attended where presentations were given about the processes and advantages of certification.

The conclusions drawn from the project relating to the above objectives were:

• To identify and evaluate appropriate incentive and support mechanisms for small woodlands seeking certification.

At the commencement of the LPS the levels of grant support to be offered by Forestry Commission in the pilot project areas had yet to be agreed. The mechanism that was agreed created two types of grant, the Woodland Management Planning Grant (WMPG) and the Certification Pilot Grant (CPG). The former was designed to help the implementation of the latter through use of management planning to attain certification. In its first year, and through the two grants, the LPS was able to provide the extra incentive required to push those who were considering certification towards that target. Following the initial surge of interest it was notable that, despite promotion and grant incentives, certification has not been a pressing issue for the majority of woodland owners/managers. Because of the issues outlined below it is difficult to make a convincing or economic case for the certification of woodlands smaller than 30ha.

• To increase the uptake of certification for small woodlands thereby bringing them into a demonstrably sustainable management regime.

It was evident from the results of the project that as woodland holding size decreases the relevance of certification diminishes. The figures show that of the nine approved CPG claims only one was for an area of less than 30ha. This can partly be seen as a consequence of the comparatively low levels of grant income through CPG, however the major reason is that smaller woodland holdings do not produce enough saleable timber to be worthy of certification for economic reasons. This is evidently partially a problem of depressed timber prices but, even allowing for an upturn in the timber market, for producers of small volumes of timber certification is of marginal value compared to the financial outlay it entails.

• To evaluate what certification delivers in terms of the economic, social and environmental outputs of small woodlands.

In the ‘Certification Standard for the UK Woodland Assurance Scheme’ (UKWAS Steering Group, 2000) small woodland is defined as ‘usually a privately-owned woodland managed by the owner or a manager, typically less than 100 ha in size’. Applied to North Yorkshire this definition covers most privately-owned woodland as 72% of the total hectarage is under 100ha in size (NYSWP Executive Summary, 2002). In the first year of the LPS it was highlighted that ‘small woodlands’ under 10ha were particularly unsuited to the demands of certification and woodlands of such size would not be concentrated upon during the rest of the project’s life. Furthermore promotional literature was altered to address ‘woodland certification’ rather than ‘small woodland certification’ in order that woodlands of over 100ha were not being seen to be neglected.

An analysis of the project appears to show that the WMPG part of the mechanism to encourage certification was relatively well-used but that this did not necessarily translate into a take-up of certification. Where certification was achieved this demonstrates that the three facets of certification; economic, environmental and social have been addressed but most of these were estates of reasonable size which, in all probability, had forest management plans of reasonable standard already in place. However certification must have addressed potential gaps or flaws in these plans and ensured that they do meet the criteria for producing legal and sustainable timber. The output which is certain is that any future timber production on these estates is eligible to be traded as certified, thus increasing the chance of more domestic timber contributing to the total certified market.

• To evaluate how any benefits, which are achieved, can be maintained.

Although the take up of certification has been slow and financial incentives are unlikely to be forthcoming there is no evidence to show that woodland owners and managers are likely to abandon certified status once it is achieved. Therefore the benefits of certification look likely to be maintained even if increases in certified area are slow. Those with holdings of greater than 30ha and who have claimed FC grants in the past to facilitate public access are likely to become certified as under the new grant scheme monies for public access are linked to certification. If timber prices improve and there is greater retail demand for certified product this would also drive certification forward.

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