Manage historic and archaeological features on grassland (updated for SFI26)

What you must do

You must manage the area containing the historic or archaeological feature in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim. This includes: maintaining a continuous grass sward or vegetation cover minimising bare ground, scrub, bracken and pernicious weeds You must not: plough, cultivate, re-seed, harrow or roll the grassland carry out supplementary feeding on or within around 6 metres (m) of the historic or archaeological feature locate vehicle or stock access routes within around 6m of the historic or archaeological feature (existing surfaced tracks can be used) Before you remove scrub or trees, you must get any relevant consents, permissions or licences. For example, you may need to apply for: a felling licence from the Forestry Commission a forestry environmental impact assessment (EIA) from the Forestry Commission an agriculture EIA ‘screening decision’ from Natural England Read section 10 ‘Get any regulatory consents before you do your SFI actions’ in the SFI26 scheme information.

When to do it

You must do this action from its start date, throughout each year of this action’s 3-year duration.

Evidence to keep

You must keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action, such as: field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices photographs or other documentation If it’s not clear that you’ve done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, we may ask for this evidence. You must supply the evidence if we ask for it.

SFI26 actions v2.0, updated 7 July 2026 — verified 1 Aug 2026. Open official guidance