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Creating Sustainably Wooded Peatland

Peatland edge woodland photo

Project Background

Peatlands are a very important component of the Scottish Landscape, covering over 20% of its land area. Peatlands in good conditions provide a wealth of benefits such as carbon storage, drinking water provision, flood mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Despite this most peatlands in Scotland have been degraded by human activities, resulting in the loss or reduction of many of these benefits. There is presently particular concern about maintaining or restoring peatlands' capacity to take up and store carbon so as to mitigate climate change. 

Peatland and Forestry

One of the activities which has threatened peatlands is the planting of commercial forestry plantations, especially during the 70s and 80s. The establishment of these plantations results in the desiccation of the peat surface and the destruction of its original ground flora. This has a range of negative effects including facilitating the oxidative decay of upper layers of peat which can release substantial quantities of carbon dioxide.

Although it is now widely accepted practice not to plant on deep peat (>50cm) the question remains what to do with those areas already planted - with many plantations now reaching maturity. Large areas of afforested peatland are in the process of being restored and some argue this should be the fate for all plantations. However given the expense associated with peatland restoration and the ambitious government targets to increase forest cover in Scotland this may be unrealistic - instead it is likely that some plantations will be conventionally restocked with more trees after the original timber crop is harvested. 

Peatland Edge Woodland

In 2014 Forestry Commission Scotland proposed a new management option for plantations on deep peat which was termed 'Peatland Edge Woodland'. They argued that in some cases it may be suitable to clear a plantation and then establish a low density woodland, with at least 20% woodland cover being maintained. They theorised that in some situations the creation of such a habitat might allow sufficient recovery to peatland that the area would be restored to a net carbon sink while simultaneously providing a habitat with some of the biodiversity benefits of both peatland and woodland.

The concept of Peatland Edge Woodland is a controversial idea. After several year of it the concept being introduced it remains poorly defined with regard to how it should be created and maintained, what its composition and structure should be, and what benefits it should provide.