The Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) was introduced in April 2002, initially as a two year pilot scheme, to provide funds to tackle a wide range of problems in areas affected by aggregates extraction. English Heritage, along with English Nature and the Countryside Agency (now Natural England), and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), is a major distributor of the fund on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The core objective of the English Heritage ALSF Programme is to reduce the impact on the historic environment of aggregate extraction, both terrestrial and marine.