Wildlife, woodlands and the local economy are set to benefit from a new Kent based scheme that will help develop the market for locally produced woodfuel. The scheme will deliver a targeted package of support to the forestry and renewable energy sectors.

The aim is to establish markets for locally grown wood, which will bring local woods into management and provide new habitats for wildlife. The scheme, the Kent Downs Woodfuel Pathfinder, will also support the creation of 'green' jobs and new opportunities for people to get involved with their local woodlands through enterprise and conservation.

The scheme is targeting nearly a quarter of Kent, one of the most wooded landscapes in Britain. It is designed to support the government's Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), an £860m scheme expected to increase investment in heat produced by renewable technology by £4.5 billion before 2020.

In the Kent Downs AONB if just half the estimated annual growth was harvested from the 15,000 hectares of woodland each year this would produce 40,000 tonnes of wood. This amount of woodfuel could heat the equivalent of around 5,000 homes and reduce carbon emissions by 8,000 tonnes each year.

The temporary open spaces created by the tree harvesting has also been proven to provide new habitat for rare and protected ground nesting birds as well as woodland butterflies that thrive on plants in warm and sunny areas of woodlands. As such the expanding woodfuel market also supports an opportunity to increase biodiversity in the Kent Downs AONB.

Kent's woodlands can be used to provide a range of woodfuel products, from seasoned logs to wood chips, pellets and briquettes. This fuel can be used in a number of ways, from domestic stoves and biomass boilers, to large-scale community heating systems that can be designed to provide heat to an entire village.

Woodland owners, farmers and land owners are vital to the scheme's success as much of Kent's woodland resource is in private ownership. Forest contractors and woodfuel heating engineers are also crucial as they will form part of the woodfuel supply chain that will meet demand created by the Renewable Heat Incentive.

The Pathfinder scheme brings a national focus on these opportunities in Kent and forms part of the Forestry Commission's Woodland Carbon Task Force and builds on the experience gained under the Woodheat Solutions project. It is also part of an International project sharing experience with partners operating in a similar landscape in the Nord pas De Calais region of France as part of the EU funded MULTIFOR project

Other partners supporting the scheme include Kent County Council, eleven Kent local authorities and several environmental conservation organisations including the Kent Wildlife Trust, Woodland Trust and Butterfly Conservation.