Peat Restoration Case Studies

Yorkshire Peat Partnership: Rewet, replant, restore

Yorkshire Peat Partnership is restoring peatlands in the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks and Nidderdale National Landscape. They are an umbrella organisation funded by Defra, the Environment Agency, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Natural England, Yorkshire Water and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

It is estimated  that North Yorkshire contains over a quarter of England's blanket bog. These peatlands are often heavily used by various interest groups who have different impacts on the habitat. Each site is painstakingly surveyed before the YPP start to plan for restoration. These surveys are made up of:

Foot surveys: Before drafting a restoration plan, the YPP need to know what's on the ground. The team walk a series of transects over each site, stopping every 100 metres to measure peat depth, record vegetation and any erosion features. All of these data are logged on GPS mappers and later used to plan restoration for the site

Aerial surveys: After the foot survey, The site is mapped from the air with an Unoccupied Aerial Vehicle (UAV). UAVs allow the team to cover ground very quickly and the accurate sensors help to make sense of confusing terrain, identifying how water is moving across the ground. This means that they can target interventions where they will be most effective thus achieving the most from a given site's budget.

Archaeology surveys: In parallel with their own surveys, the YPP contract specialist historic environment surveys. These help to avoid damage to any historical artefacts or sites on the peatlands they are restoring, and can uncover previously unknown features of history.

Find out more from the YPP

Pumlumon Project: a better way to manage uplands

Established in 2007, the Pumlumon Project is a radical rethink of how the landscapes of upland Britain could work. Across 40,000 hectares of the Cambrian Mountains, Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust are pioneering an upland economy built around wildlife, ecology and long-term sustainability.

By looking at and considering carbon storage, reconnecting habitats, storing flood water, bringing back wildlife, changing grazing patterns, recreating habitats, developing green tourism and involving communities, they have given Wales a workable way to defend people from flooding, absorb carbon dioxide, bring prosperity to the uplands and at the same time making the Welsh uplands a place where wildlife thrives.

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