WIS Element 4 – Coppice and Coppice with Standards
Introduction
The Woodland Improvement Scheme (WIS) Element 4 – Coppice and Coppice with Standards provides for a fixed Coppice and Coppice with Standards grant.
Operations must have the potential to improve biodiversity and the quality of the timber.
Eligible operations
Support will be available for the following operations:
- Preparation of a site-specific Coppice and Coppice with Standards management plan (see below)
- Pre-harvest tree marking to identify high quality standards
- High pruning of standards
- Stumping back
- Singling out stumped back trees to promote one strong straight stem per stump
- Deer management and deer management plan
- Enrichment planting where necessary for future high quality standard trees
- Forest protection (fencing, tree guards and other measures)
- Clearance of invasive species such as laurel and rhododendron
- Vegetation management
- Maintenance of open spaces, rides and glades to promote diversity
Please note: a site-specific Coppice and Coppice with Standards Management Plan must be submitted in support of the application. A template can be found on pages 50-51, Annex 5 of Woodland Improvement Scheme 2023-2027 (PDF).
Grant rates
|
Support measure |
Fixed Grant (€/ha) |
|---|---|
|
WIS Element 4 – Coppice and Coppice with Standards |
€1,200 |
|
|
Funding
Funding will be targeted at the following forest categories:
- All grant-aided broadleaf and mixed forests
- Non-grant aided reforestation sites where trees have been planted post-1983, including natural regeneration
- Suitable broadleaf forests where coppicing would provide silvicultural and ecological benefits
Forest owners who have already received WIS Element 1 – Thinning and Tending intervention can apply for Coppice and Coppice with Standards. The application to enter the Coppice and Coppice with Standards Scheme can only be made four years post first thinning.
Free draining mineral soils are best suited to Coppice and Coppice with Standards.
Sites subject to severe and persistent threats that could undermine the long-term sustainability of the project may not be accepted (e.g. sites within a locality of heavily infested rhododendron or within a deer ‘hotspot’).
Eligibility
- Individuals must be over 18 years of age and hold a Personal Public Service Number (PPSN). Companies must provide their company registration details (CRO number).
- Applicants for technical approval must be the owner, leaseholder or joint manager of the land at the time of the application. Exceptions to this rule will only apply where:
- the owner is deceased, and their legal representative submits the application; or
- the owner consents in writing to the submission of the application in the name of a designated third party.
- In order to qualify for payment of woodland improvement grants, the applicant must own, lease or be in joint management of the lands proposed for improvement. Applicants must provide documentary evidence of ownership and of leasing or joint management where relevant if requested.
- It is not permitted to apply for more than one Element on the same plot.
Application procedure
The applicant and a Registered Forester (List of Registered Foresters, PDF) must complete the application form following a site visit and detailed field assessment by the Registered Forester.
Only one element can be selected per application form. Approval is only valid up to and including the expiry date specified in the letter of approval.
Relevant publication
Further information
Contact your local Teagasc Forestry Adviser