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Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds

Find out about funding to improve our woodland habitat and increase their resilience to pests, diseases and climate change.

About the innovation funds

The WiM Forestry Innovation Funds are currently closed for applications.

Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds (WiM)

Most of our woodlands have been managed in the past to provide timber and fuel. This management has shaped and maintained the habitats that support the plants and animals enjoyed and valued by society today. Presently around 41% of our woodlands are not actively managed and this can have a negative impact on the biodiversity they contain.

Through the Woods into Management (WiM) Forestry Innovation Funds, grant funding will be made available to stimulate the development and testing of new ideas that can help improve the ecological condition of woodlands, and their resilience to climate change, via increased demand for wood and increased levels of woodland management.

Applicants were invited to submit proposals spanning up to 2 financial years (ending by March 2025). Proposals may be costed at up to a maximum of £100,000 per year.

To get the most up to date information on the Woods into Management (WiM) Forestry Innovation Funds sign up for our eAlert.

Further details on the WiM Forestry Innovation Funds, including links to each Invitation to Apply, can be found below.

Timber in Construction Innovation Fund

The Timber in Construction (TiC) Innovation Fund has been designed to increase the volume of carbon stored in the built environment. By using more timber in construction, carbon dioxide can be removed from the atmosphere, storing it in products with a long service life. When sourced responsibly, timber can be considered a truly sustainable material, and the 25 Year Environment Plan, England Trees Action Plan and Net Zero Strategy commits us to work closely with others to increase the use of timber in construction.

More widespread use of wood-based products has the potential to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of construction, whilst locking away carbon long term and driving investment into tree planting and establishment. Increasing the use of English hardwood timber can help owners improve the ecological condition of their woodland, address tree health problems and increase resilience to climate change. This grant aims to increase and facilitate the use of sustainable English wood and wood fibre in construction from sustainably managed English woods and forests.

Through the innovation fund, applicants are encouraged to develop new timber products for use in construction, or new methods of construction that will enable greater use of English timber.

Routes to Market for Ash Timber Innovation Fund

Ash dieback is expected to cause many millions of our ash trees to die over the next 10-20 years. Using wood from infected trees in wood products and energy generation projects could help owners offset the cost of managing ash dieback. This fund is open to organisations including woodland management companies, conservation organisations, timber processors and forestry agents to support the development of new business models that will develop new supply chains for ash timber and help restore woodlands damaged by ash dieback.

Temporary Infrastructure Innovation Fund

To carry out habitat improvement operations including the felling and extraction of trees, suitable access is required. This fund is aimed at woodland management companies, contractors and owners with multiple blocks of woodland. Applicants can bid for funds to develop business models that will use temporary infrastructure including (but not limited to) aluminium or rubber roading, logshutes and ‘Bailey’ type bridges to access neglected or degraded woodlands.

Regional Woodland Restoration Innovation Funds

The threats faced by our woodlands and the biodiversity they support are numerous and varied. They include a lack of adaptation to climate change, diseases such as ash dieback and Phytophthora ramorum, insect pests, over grazing by deer and ring barking by grey squirrels. In addition, in many parts of the country there are opportunities to restore conifer and hardwood plantations on ancient woodland sites and to improve the condition of woodlands SSSI. The intensity and impact of each of these threats varies across the country.

To reflect this variation, the Invitation to Apply for each of the Regional Woodland Restoration Innovation Funds has been developed through collaboration with the regional Forest and Woodland Advisory Committees (FWAC’s) to identify priority areas for activity across the five regions. These funds are open to a range of organisations including forestry businesses, conservation groups and membership organisations who are in a position to help owners better manage their existing woodlands.

Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds application form

Use this application form and applicant guidance to apply for the Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds in 2023.

Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds: current projects

The Forestry Innovation Funds are currently supporting a wide range of projects due to complete by March 2025. To read more about the projects which were awarded funding last year, and get ideas for what’s possible, read our blog: Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds: 2022 successful applicants

Published 10 May 2021
Last updated 8 December 2023 + show all updates
  1. Updated the page to clarify that the fund us now closed.

  2. Added Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds: successful projects 2023.

  3. Updated details for new application round.

  4. Addition of Woods into Management Forestry Innovation Funds: successful projects 2022 page to the collection.

  5. Page updated to reflect the funds reopening for 2022

  6. Page updated to reflect the next round of funding.

  7. Page updated to reflect that applications to the funds are currently closed.

  8. Adding links to the information on the individual innovation funds and application form pages.

  9. First published.