Moors for the Future day in the Peak District
Learning about the restoration of the moors of the Peak District and South Pennines with the Moors for the Future Partnership
By
Peter Judd- MTA member & BMC specialist volunteer
10th August 2019:
This is the third year that I have coordinated a day out with the Moors for the Future Partnership looking at blanket bog restoration in the Peak District with the
Moors for the Future Partnership This year MFTFP chose a new venue Wessenden Moor.
Whilst previous events have filled to capacity with waiting lists, I was rather disappointed that, despite extensive attempts to promote, this year's event only attracted 11 bookings and that number fell to just 5 on the day (4 people gave notice they couldn't make it at a late stage) perhaps not helped by the awful weather forecast in the leadup.
MFTFP's Alice and Trish did an excellent job of taking us on a day-walk around the moor. We were shown restoration work at various stages of progress, different forms of grough blocking dams (for rewetting, filtering and slowing run-off) and the different forms of foliage that indicate stages of bog recovery.
Along the way all sorts of issues were discussed including landowner and funder motivation and incentive, the importance of peat bogs for carbon capture and retention, correcting the bog acidity that's resulted from years of pollution fallout, ways of spotting easier and more difficult terrain to cross on foot and much more.
We even had a bit of a navigation challenge to finish off the day as we returned over trackless moor in heavy rain and strong wind.
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August 2018 account:
A windy and overcast Saturday morning saw 12 MTA members set out onto
Kinder Scout accompanied by two members of staff from the
Moors for the Future Programme (a multi-million pound upland peat bog restoration programme working with moorland land owners across both the Peak District and South Pennines).
During our journey we were told how industrial pollution had caused extensive damage to the bog system over the last 200 years and then shown a 'control' site on the plateau where monitoring takes place but no restoration had been attempted.
We then visited a second site where extensive intervention had taken place, the huge difference was immediately apparent. Wet, healthy, sphagnum moss rich bog is the desired result and much progress has been made in that direction transforming the formerly bare, fast eroding peat groughs.
The repair methods and the benefits resulting for both the local and wider environment where explained in detail. We were also shown monitoring techniques and even encouraged to plant some sphagnum 'plugs' ourselves.
Finally Moors for the Future Programme's public science programme was discussed and the opportunities for attendees and their client groups to make a contribution explained.
The day concluded with a debrief and rehydrate in the Snake Pass Inn!
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