Rural Payments and Services

The aim of this item is to benefit moorland, heathland and grassland habitats by reducing or eradicating bracken cover and preventing habitat loss.

Controlling bracken can also help to restore a more open structure to the existing vegetation, which will encourage native plants to thrive and provide better habitat for wildlife.

Any single chemical or mechanical control of bracken will not completely eradicate it and follow-up treatment will be necessary.

Land that is moorland, heathland or unimproved grassland where you have completed primary treatment of bracken, including under a previous Scottish Natural Heritage or Scottish Government agri-environment scheme, in the last five years is eligible.

You should not include areas of land covering rocks, scree, water, dense bracken etc. We will check this using the same approach we use to check land for the Basic Payment Scheme.

Assessing your land eligibility

You must combine this item with one of the following management options:

• Moorland Management
• Species-rich Grassland Management
• Habitat Mosaic Management
• Heath Management (Coastal, Serpentine, Lowland and Special Interest)

If you are applying for land where primary treatment was undertaken under a previous agri-environment scheme, you must prepare a bracken management plan.

The plan must include a 1:2,500 or 1:10,000 map showing the extent of the bracken, the areas to be treated, the type of management you propose (chemical or mechanical) and identify the locations of sensitive areas and appropriate buffer zones.

• you must treat any bracken regrowth within the area detailed in your bracken management plan by either chemical or mechanical methods
• if spraying, you must ensure the chemical you are using is approved for bracken control
• if spraying within one metre of the top of the bank of a watercourse, you, or your spray operator, must have Scottish Environment Protection Agency authorisation
• if controlling mechanically, you must cut or crush the bracken and any regrowth
• you must maintain a diary which includes the dates treatment was undertaken

You must submit your claim between 1 September and 30 September.

You can claim £90.00 per hectare of land treated.

The inspectors will check:

• the location and extent of the work
• you have treated the area as detailed in your bracken management plan
• you, or your spray operator, must have had Scottish Environment Protection Agency authorisation
• you have maintained a diary which includes the dates treatment was undertaken

Supporting guidance is available for this item.

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