Just over ten years of partnership work has resulted in peat restoration equivalent to the size of 1000 football pitches in this special area.
The Forest of Bowland is known for its wide-open spaces and upland landscape, much of which is made up of heather moorland and blanket bog. A type of peatland, blanket bog is considered internationally important, and the Bowland Fells support the largest extent of this habitat in Lancashire.
Forest of Bowland National Landscape Manager, Elliott Lorimer, said, "£2.5 million has been spent on peat restoration in Bowland since 2010, helping to restore 755 hectares of blanket bog. That's all thanks to the project funders, moorland owners and partners, including the Environment Agency, Natural England, United Utilities, Yorkshire Peat Partnership, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Ribble Rivers Trust and of course, the contractors and volunteers who have made the work happen on the ground."
The remoteness of the uplands means that many people are unfamiliar with this very special habitat and the advantages a healthy blanket bog provides. Sarah Robinson, Farming & Wildlife Officer with the Forest of Bowland National Landscape Partnership explained, "Peat is made up of partly decomposed organic material which builds up in waterlogged, acidic conditions and takes thousands of years to form. It offers us so many benefits: from its intrinsic worth and landscape value to biodiversity, flood risk management and improvements in water quality. It's also vital for carbon storage."
Over the decades, peatlands have been damaged through a number of factors including atmospheric pollution, drainage, wildfires, grazing, trampling and the effects of climate. Work carried out in Bowland aims to initially stabilise the peat, preventing further loss, and then restore it to the point where it can begin to capture carbon once again.
No two peat sites are the same, which means that restoration techniques vary from place to place across the National Landscape, but three main principles apply – control peat erosion, manage hydrology and re-instate vegetation cover.
This specialist work involves expert contractors who access the fells between September and March. Working in such exposed locations during the winter months can be challenging and the conditions are often less than easy. Andy Barnes from Terra Firma Environmental Ltd said "By investing in specially adapted machinery and developing our expertise in working in these unique upland environments we have been privileged to work closely with the National Landscape ,estate and land managers to help them achieve their restoration vision over the last 10 years. Working in a defined geographical area such as the Bowland Fells means that we are often working adjacent to sites that we have restored during the early years of the programme and watching the improvements develop in the hydrological and environmental condition on the restored areas is hugely satisfying for us as a team."
To date, work has been carried out on 18 fells covering land within each of the National Landscape's three main river catchments of the Lune, Wyre and Ribble.
