PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Note that this project was followed up by separate project LIFE00 NAT/UK/007075 Blanket bog - Restoring active blanket bog of European importance in North Scotland.
In world terms, blanket bogs are a geographically restricted habitat. They require very specific climatic conditions - persistently wet and cool - in order to allow the growth of Sphagnum rich vegetation which is usually only found on the fringes of large oceans at high latitude. The Flow Country in North Scotland is a prime location for this priority habitat. At 400 000 ha, it is the largest single expanse of blanket bog in Europe, and possibly in the world. Other significant areas within the United Kingdom are found in Northern Ireland, where Cuilcagh mountain, which extends over 5000 ha along the border with the Republc of Ireland, is one of the most important sites for conservation. The threats facing blanket bogs include drainage, burning, overgrazing, peat extraction and forestry. These are widespread, numerous and not easily controlled, primarily because of the nature of the damaging operations, the remoteness of the sites and the large areas over which they occur. Moreover, peatland habitats are particularly sensitive to hydrological changes brought about by drainage for agricultural improvement, forestry and peat extraction. Lack of control over these activities is a key conservation problem which requires immediate action if the remaining habitats are not to be lost or further degraded.
OBJECTIVES
Through land acquisition and conservation management initiatives this project will aim to directly secure significant key areas of pristine blanket bog habitat for conservation purposes and manage some of the marginally damaged areas in order to restore them to a high conservation status. It will also investigate and demonstrate practical conservation measures that can be adopted elsewhere. Hence, the overall objective is to illustrate that, unlike certain current practices, the conservation of this habitat can, and is, a sustainable form of land use with a significant potential for attracting much needed tourism benefits and employment opportunities in such remote areas.
For Scotland the objectives were to buy blanket bog (around 3 000 ha or more of largely undamaged active blanket bog and adjacent areas of marginally damaged bog for restoration); produce a management plan; optimise the existing Peatland Management Scheme (agri-environment scheme) run by Scottish Natural Heritage; block drains; ensure appropriate grazing; launch an appeal to help with purchase; and establish interpretive facilities, an information programme, and an education programme.
In Northern Ireland the original objective was for Fermanagh District Council to buy 1 200 ha. This land would be leased back to the original owners to be farmed in a way prescribed by the competent environmental authority. Then it would be monitored, illegal peat-cutting stopped, a flow monitoring weir installed, and interpretive facilities improved. However, because two major landowners entered their land into the local agri-environment scheme, the objectives were changed to leasing 265 ha; active restoration of 28ha; improving interpretation facilities; producing a long term management plan;and producing a fire-fighting plan.
RESULTS
For Scotland :
(1) 7 265 ha of blanket bog was purchased and was actively managed through the RSPB Forsinard estate (an appeal raised £1.4 mil in four months), there was an ornithological survey carried out, priority areas of blanket bog were identified, and a management plan was produced for the estate. An additional 908 ha of blanket bog, 178 ha of blanket bog/wetland and 164 ha of mixed conifer forestry was purchased to bring the total size of the reserve to 8 314 ha.
(2) The Peatland Management Scheme was used to help secure conservation friendly traditional management prescriptions to over 60% of the SSSI blanket bog area at a relatively low cost (£1.77/ha/yr). It also restored 16 sites and provided significant cost benefit and techniques analysis to improve demonstration value. A total of 1,250 dams have been installed along 19.9 km of hill drains at an average cost of £861/km. A total of 202 ha of trees have been felled at an average cost of £345/ha. An addiitonal 2 087 dams have been installed in forestry furrows. The most cost-effective solution was to fell and put trees into furrows (£324/ha).
(3) The importance of blanket bogs has been strongly promoted both amongst local communities and visitors. Over 1 000 school children have visited Forsinard Estate Flow Country Visitor Centre, and facilities were upgraded. The project published best practice guidelines on peat cutting (“Traditional peat cutting in the North. Past & Present.”) and on peatland management (“A Landmanager’s Guide to Best Practice in the Peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland.”).
For Northern Ireland :
(4) A 99-year lease on 237 ha of active blanket bog and 28 ha of degraded cut-over bog was obtained, as was a 25-year lease on 0.7 ha of limestone grassland. Bound into the lease agreements is a permanent binding condition that the leased areas be protected in perpetuity from peat cutting.
(5) Blanket bog restoration included:
Drain blocking;
Removal of oxidised, cut turf;
Stabilisation of erosion gullies;
Sculpting of peat surfaces; and
Sphagnum innoculation.
(6) In total, 6.6 km of drains were blocked (65% of the total). 12.5 km of fencing has been completed, including three cross fences to provide exclusion zones around the cut-over bog and manage the movement of sheep.
(7) Experimental grazing levels and active shepherding fed into a review of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (agri-environment scheme) stocking densities, leading to the introduction of the rule of 0.5 ewe/ha. This demonstrated the project’s role in influencing the long-term conservation of this pSAC and other similar sites in Northern Ireland.
(8) It was determined by the project that the long-term management plan should be produced by the competent authority. It was agreed that the plan would be drafted by the project and finished before the end of 1999. The Steering group (including the competent authority) would then approve the plan and determine the logistics for consultation with the landowners (this part to be ready by 2000).
(9) Long-term monitoring of rainfall, stream discharge, discharge on blocked and unblocked drains, sediment discharge, water levels in damaged and restored bogs and a series of 50x20m re-vegetation trial plots was ongoing.
(10) The visitor centre was extended.
(11) A fire fighting plan has been agreed with the Fire Authority of Northern Ireland and equipment purchased to facilitate this.For Scotland :
(1) 7 265 ha of blanket bog was purchased and was actively managed through the RSPB Forsinard estate (an appeal raised £1.4 mil in four months), there was an ornithological survey carried out, priority areas of blanket bog were identified, and a management plan was produced for the estate. An additional 908 ha of blanket bog, 178 ha of blanket bog/wetland and 164 ha of mixed conifer forestry was purchased to bring the total size of the reserve to 8 314 ha.
(2) The Peatland Management Scheme was used to help secure conservation friendly traditional management prescriptions to over 60% of the SSSI blanket bog area at a relatively low cost (£1.77/ha/yr). It also restored 16 sites and provided significant cost benefit and techniques analysis to improve demonstration value. A total of 1,250 dams have been installed along 19.9 km of hill drains at an average cost of £861/km. A total of 202 ha of trees have been felled at an average cost of £345/ha. An addiitonal 2 087 dams have been installed in forestry furrows. The most cost-effective solution was to fell and put trees into furrows (£324/ha).
(3) The importance of blanket bogs has been strongly promoted both amongst local communities and visitors. Over 1 000 school children have visited Forsinard Estate Flow Country Visitor Centre, and facilities were upgraded. The project published best practice guidelines on peat cutting (“Traditional peat cutting in the North. Past & Present.”) and on peatland management (“A Landmanager’s Guide to Best Practice in the Peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland.”).
For Northern Ireland :
(4) A 99-year lease on 237 ha of active blanket bog and 28 ha of degraded cut-over bog was obtained, as was a 25-year lease on 0.7 ha of limestone grassland. Bound into the lease agreements is a permanent binding condition that the leased areas be protected in perpetuity from peat cutting.
(5) Blanket bog restoration included:
Drain blocking;
Removal of oxidised, cut turf;
Stabilisation of erosion gullies;
Sculpting of peat surfaces; and
Sphagnum innoculation.
(6) In total, 6.6 km of drains were blocked (65% of the total). 12.5 km of fencing has been completed, including three cross fences to provide exclusion zones around the cut-over bog and manage the movement of sheep.
(7) Experimental grazing levels and active shepherding fed into a review of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (agri-environment scheme) stocking densities, leading to the introduction of the rule of 0.5 ewe/ha. This demonstrated the project’s role in influencing the long-term conservation of this pSAC and other similar sites in Northern Ireland.
(8) It was determined by the project that the long-term management plan should be produced by the competent authority. It was agreed that the plan would be drafted by the project and finished before the end of 1999. The Steering group (including the competent authority) would then approve the plan and determine the logistics for consultation with the landowners (this part to be ready by 2000).
(9) Long-term monitoring of rainfall, stream discharge, discharge on blocked and unblocked drains, sediment discharge, water levels in damaged and restored bogs and a series of 50x20m re-vegetation trial plots was ongoing.
(10) The visitor centre was extended.
(11) A fire fighting plan has been agreed with the Fire Authority of Northern Ireland and equipment purchased to facilitate this.