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Complete a woodland condition assessment
The guidance on this page is for SFI pilot participants only. Please visit GOV.UK for the official Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme guidance.
Find out how land managers can assess how good their woodland is for wildlife.
If you’re completing this action as part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, how you do it is up to you.
The advice on this page can help you get better environmental and business benefits, but you do not have to follow it to get paid.
Why you should assess the condition of woodland
The ecological condition of a wood describes how good it is as a habitat for wildlife. Management of both the wood and the surrounding land can affect its condition.
You can use a condition assessment to identify:
- which features of the woodland to manage for wildlife
- how to make the wood more resilient to the expected effects of climate change
An assessment will include a survey that’ll measure the woodland’s features, like the number of tree species.
You can use the condition assessment on any woodland, native or non-native. It’s not suitable for wood pasture or parkland.
It does not replace the condition assessment on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). You can find the status of your SSSI land from Natural England.
Benefits of assessing woodland condition
The features you assess build up a picture of the woodland and help you identify what to improve. Completing a condition assessment shows you which features:
- have an important influence on wildlife
- are in good ecological condition
- will benefit most from improvement
- are good for wildlife, including non-native features
It will also identify threats to your woodland like invasive species and tree diseases. Identifying a threat early could save you money and reduce the impact it has on the woodland.
How to assess your woodland
You’ll get the most benefit if you complete one assessment for each woodland on the holding. If you’re using the woodland standard you can complete a single assessment for all your woodland.
Do the baseline assessment before you start any management work in the woodland. Repeat the assessment every 3-5 years to monitor change. Monitoring change can show you whether management is working and where it has the most benefit.
For best assessment results complete the field survey twice in one year. This should be in:
- early spring before ground vegetation covers up features like dead wood
- summer when trees are in leaf and ground vegetation is present so you can see features like evidence of wild animals browsing
Before you start
You can prepare a recording form for the survey in advance. The form includes:
- an introduction on how to do a survey
- advice on what to record
- recording and scoring forms
Find out more about how to assess woodland and get the form.
Complete a field survey
Complete a field survey to collect information about the different woodland features. Include:
- the size of the woodland
- surrounding land use
- tree, shrub and ground cover species present and whether they are native, or non-native
- the age of the trees present, from seedling to veteran
- the amount of dead wood, open space and bare soil
- the effects of tree disease and grazing animals
Design a walking route through the woodland, stopping at pre-planned points. Collect information from 10 metre radius survey plots scattered through the woodland and make observations while walking between these survey plots.
The survey will allow you to give each feature a score, so you can see if they’re in good, moderate or poor condition.
Condition assessment and the woodland standard
If you’re completing an assessment for the woodland standard, you can use a single assessment for all your woodland. You do not need to complete a separate survey for each woodland.
If you’re surveying more than one woodland, you should:
- prepare a route map for one walk through all the woodland
- put at least one survey plot in each patch of woodland
- add more than one plot to patches larger than 5 hectares (ha)
- add more plots in patches that vary in broad woodland habitat type and have more than 2 age classes
You should use more than 10 plots (in total) if:
- there’s more than 30ha of woodland on a holding
- the woodlands vary a lot in broad woodland habitat types and number of age classes
Calculate the condition score
Once you’ve completed the survey you score it against the thresholds given. A score of 3 is good, 2 is moderate and 1 is poor condition. Add up the scores to produce a total for the individual woodland or whole woodland holding. If your total score is:
- 36 or more, the woodland is in good condition
- between 26 to 35, the woodland is in moderate condition
- 25 or less, the woodland is in poor condition
How to use the condition score
Keep a record of each survey and condition assessment you complete. You can see how scores change between assessments to find out how the woodland is affected by threats and management activities.
You can use the results of the condition assessment to create a woodland management plan. Include in the plan how you’ll improve features with moderate or poor scores, for example by:
- creating open spaces
- protecting woodland from animals like deer or grey squirrels
- removing invasive species
