Higher Level Stewardship

Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) schemes are designed to encourage responsible land management which will help to preserve and enhance the environment, including the archaeology within it – understanding the archaeological sites and knowing where they are is an essential part of protecting, managing and enjoying them.

The recent launch of the New Forest Higher Level Stewardship Scheme, the biggest of its kind in Europe, has presented the opportunity for a further 374km² of lidar data to be acquired, along with aerial photography and near infra-red imagery. This promises to be an incredibly powerful tool in helping to manage the New Forest landscape and identify archaeological sites.

It is hoped that volunteers will be able to get involved in the analysis of this data, helping to verify sites identified by the lidar out in the Open Forest.

field work verification