FY7: Assessing woodland condition

This item is part of Capital Grants 2025. You must read the Capital Grants 2025 guidance to understand the rules and how to apply. You’ll need a capital grants agreement before you can complete the condition assessment.

If you’re applying for this item as part of a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) application, you must read the CSHT applicant’s guide to understand the rules and how to apply.

How much you’ll be paid

How this item benefits the environment

Completing a condition assessment on your woodland will help you identify which features improve your local environment. This can include identifying features that:

• benefit wildlife (including invasive non-native species)
• are in good ecological condition
• will benefit most from improvement

You’ll also find out if there are any threats to your woodland, such as harm from invasive species or tree diseases. This enables you to act early and reduce any negative effect on your woodland.

Where you can use this item

You can use this item to:

• create a baseline condition assessment of your woodlands that you can use to inform ain a new woodland management plan
• assess woodland being managed under CSHT action CWD2: Woodland improvement to create a baseline habitat assessment in year 1 of your agreement, then repeat the habitat assessment in year 9 of your agreement – you can apply for this item twice if you want funding

You cannot use this item on:

• woodland areas which are less than 0.5ha in total
• wood pasture
• orchards
• parkland

• agroforestry

• woodland assessments for to calculate biodiversity value statutory biodiversity metric WCA 6

What you must do to use this item

You must complete a woodland condition assessment for all woodland in your CSHT agreement.

There are 2 ways you can do this:

1. Follow the Forestry Commission’s Operations note 69

Use Operations note 69 to carry out a woodland condition assessment.

You need to include all 15 indicators listed in Annex 1 in your assessment.

Your assessment must also include a map identifying your woodland areas and the survey plot locations.

How to calculate the condition score

Once you’ve completed the assessment, you need to score it against the thresholds given for each of the 15 features. Use the whole woodland survey score sheet in Annex 1 to score your woodland under different criteria.

For WCA 5 if your total score is:

• 36 or more, the woodland is in good ecological condition
• 26 to 35, the woodland is in moderate ecological condition
• 25 or less, the woodland is in poor ecological condition

2. Register to use a woodland condition assessment tool

Use the Sylva woodland condition assessment tool to calculate your woodland assessment.

You’ll need to create an account and download the app to begin.

The woodland condition app automatically calculates the woodland condition score for your woodland and produces a downloadable summary report, which confirms that you have carried out an assessment. The scores (1 or 2 or 3) for each individual indicator are added together to give a total score for the woodland assessed.

Evidence you must keep

You must keep a copy of the completed assessments, including maps and condition scores and provide them with your claim.

You must also keep and provide on request:

• a Forestry Commission approved woodland management plan (if applicable)
• receipted invoices or bank statements where a receipted invoice is unavailable (if applicable)

Read the record keeping and site visit requirements in the Agreement holder’s guide: Capital Grants, Higher Tier capital grants and Protection and Infrastructure grants for more information.

If you’re applying for this item as part of a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) application, you must read the record keeping and site visit requirements in the CSHT agreement holder’s guide.

Advice to help you use this item

The following advice may help you use this item:

Field Studies Council woodland condition assessment. [CSHT]: Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier [ha]: hectares *[WCA]: woodland condition assessment