james h c fenton
WWW.FENTON.SCOT
PEATLAND RESTORATION
The nature conservation movement is as much a follower of
bandwagons as everyone else. A new idea comes along, a bandwagon
is created and everyone unthinkingly jumps on it!
A recent example is peatland restoration: peat stores a lot of
carbon, there is a lot of peatland erosion, ergo we should restore the
peatlands. This is very simplistic: certainly where human-caused
damage is obvious, we should put it right.
However, it is frequently stated that “85% of Scotland’s peatlands
are damaged”: this is so often said that everyone thinks it must be
true. But, apart from obvious damage from peat extraction, moor grips
and tree planting, there is very little evidence to support this (not a
shred of evidence, in my view!). There may well be erosion on 85% of
Scotland’s peat but this not the same as saying they are ‘damaged’.
Erosion is a perfectly naturally feature of upland blanket peat with little
evidence that most of it is human-caused.
It might seem self-evident to many people that trampling damage
from grazing animals (sheep or deer) is a major cause of erosion. But,
perhaps surprisingly, a report from the then Scottish Natural Heritage
showed no correlation between the amount of peat erosion and
herbivore density*. In any case, peatlands have low nutritional value
with only about 1% offtake by grazing animals, so they do not attract
grazers in large numbers.
Certainly trampling (or wallowing) by animals, for example red deer
in corries, can cause localised damage, but this must always have been
the case. An eroding area of blanket, near the end of its millennial old
life, is likely also to be more subject to erosion by animals than a
younger bog.
I have produced a critique of the peatland restoration bandwagon
which can be downloaded here. To me it seems wrong to interfere
with natural processes in a habitat for which Scotland is the world
centre: after all, one of the biggest call of NGOs is ‘not to interfere with
natural processes’. The climate mitigation benefits of many peatland
restoration schemes appear to me to be more of assertions rather than
based on quantitative evidence. Even if there is some minor climate
benefit, does this mean we should be allowed to interfere with natural
processes in the world centre of the temperate blanket peat?
James Fenton
June 2023
*Cummins, R., Donnelly, D., Nolan, A., Towers, W., Chapman, S., Grieve, I.
and Birnie, R.V. (2011). Peat erosion and the management of peatland
habitats. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 410.
Dr James Fenton, Seil Island, Scotland
www.fenton.scot ecology@fenton.scot
Web design by James Fenton
Xara Web Designer Coyright 2023
* NEW * November 2023
New piano music - go to music page