Over the past five decades, Northumberland Wildlife Trust has been working tirelessly to protect the region’s peatlands via The Border Mires peatland restoration project - the earliest and longest running project of its kind in the country.
Now, the wildlife charity, as host to the Northumberland Peat Partnership (NPP), is able to continue its efforts to protect the county’s peat with a new dedicated peat team.
A grant of £81,000 per year until 2026 from Esmée Fairburn Foundation (as part of a Great North Bog Coalition Award) and one-off Nature for Climate and Peat Discovery Grant of £370,000 (from Natural England) will facilitate the assessment and monitoring of 5,000 ha (hectares) of upland and lowland peatlands during the first year.
The team of eight people is working across 10 sites in the county during year-one; helping land-managers and farmers fund, map, survey, plan and coordinate the restoration of degraded peatlands. They will also be helping to implement continuous hydrological monitoring to ensure remedial works such as bare peat restoration and drain blocking are effective and result in the rewetting of the degraded habitat, so peat-forming bog species can again thrive.
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Posted On: 21/11/2022