Case study

Dartmoor Mires Restoration Project

View of open uplands of Dartmoor.

Area characterisation:

The physical conditions and restrictions relating to archaeology, biodiversity, land management and the military made this a particularly challenging environment for undertaking restoration activities. More time was often required than originally envisaged because of the need to adapt to local conditions. The numerous and diverse stakeholders also led to a number of disagreements and conflicts. Finally, peatland restoration is a difficult topic to communicate to interested community members.

Objective:

The physical conditions and restrictions relating to archaeology, biodiversity, land management and the military made this a particularly challenging environment for undertaking restoration activities. More time was often required than originally envisaged because of the need to adapt to local conditions. The numerous and diverse stakeholders also led to a number of disagreements and conflicts. Finally, peatland restoration is a difficult topic to communicate to interested community members.

Start/end date:
-

Financing:

Public-private partnership

Potential impacts/benefits:

The project successfully demonstrated that it is possible to undertake restoration works on Dartmoor’s peatlands and contributed significantly to the state of knowledge of these habitats, including on their condition as well as broader ecological and historical aspects. The restoration has improved the ecological conditions of the area, thereby supporting unique plant communities and nesting habitat for wading birds and other biodiversity. The healthy blanket bog helps to reduce erosion via the storage of a large volume of water within the saturated peat and slow release it slowly into rivers and streams. In addition, the accumulation of peat in bog areas is important as a carbon sink, and has been estimated to store 10 megatonnes of carbon, thereby significantly contributing to climate change mitigation.

Beneficiaries

Improved water quality and ecological conditions benefit upland wildlife, while locals benefit from flow buffering and high water quality. Increased carbon storage mitigates climate change. Other regions can also benefit from the knowledge generated.

Actions:

The Dartmoor Mires Project aimed to investigate the feasibility and effects of experimental restoration techniques on the blanket bog. Aspects such as the impacts on biodiversity, hydrology and climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives as well as the historic environment were central. To gather evidence on these aspects, the project integrated an extensive survey about the state of the resources prior to the implementation of the intervention as well as an elaborate monitoring scheme to quantify the effects of the restoration work after its completion. The knowledge gained from this programme has provided an evidence base for considering the potential for future work.

Enabling factors

Cooperating with renowned universities increased the credibility and quality of the research design and brought in necessary resources, such as students and equipment. Significant time was also invested in developing the wide range of proper indicators, to be sure to gather detailed information on all desired aspects (although some social considerations were nevertheless not sufficiently assessed).

 

The scale of restoration and broad scope of stakeholders impacted by and interested in the Dartmoor Mires project lead to a diversity of often competing interests and highlighted the need to align those interests behind a shared goal and ensure a productive environment for maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning and implementation processes. The project thus utilized an inclusive partnership - the ‘Dartmoor Mires Partnership’ - to enable access to the necessary resources, expertise, experience and perspectives, secure a high level of commitment and aspirations from those involved, and ensure that a wide range of interests were considered as the project developed. The partnership also served to gather evidence to inform partners’ decision-making and planning for the future and draw out learning from this pilot for the benefit of the partnership and wider audiences. The partnership contained organisations with a range of different roles and responsibilities in respect to Dartmoor in general and the Mires habitat in particular. The project evaluation has shown that how a restoration project of this type is organised is as important to its success as the techniques it deploys on the ground.

Enabling factors

The complexity and dimension of the project made it both possible and necessary to involve a variety of partners from both government and the private sector who worked together for a mutual goal. One tool for unifying such diverse interests and priorities was the development of a Memorandum of, While the partnership is inclusive of state and non-state actors, it has been kept to a manageable number of interested parties.

 

The Dartmoor Mires Project explores the effects of restoration work on degraded areas of high quality blanket bog, using experimental, low-key gully-blocking techniques to reduce erosion and promote regeneration of moorland bog vegetation. All sites selected within the pilot project are subject to erosion encroaching onto high quality blanket bog on peat up to seven meters in depth. To slow and ideally reverse peat loss, peat from within and immediately around the gullies is used to form small blocks across the gullies. Rainwater is held behind these, forming a series of small shallow pools enabling the water table to recover in previously degraded areas. This also protects the bog from being damaged where it is still in good condition. The pools provide ideal conditions for bog plants to naturallyr ecolonise. Only peat/peat turves are used to form the blocks within the gullies, ensuring a low impact, unobtrusive result. The aim is that all remaining unvegetated peat will be covered by water following rainfall. The performance of the peat-only technique was assessed and will continue to be monitored in the coming years to potentially encourage its application in other areas where similar erosion is threatening the blanket bog.

Enabling factors

The restoration plans were developed by a wide range of partners to ensure that historic, biodiversity, recreation and military interests were accounted for. Individuals who used the sites for grazing were also included in planning to reduce conflicts. The contractors conducting the restoration activities were under constant supervision by project staff, and utilised machinery that is specially constructed for work on bogs to exert low ground pressure and avoid damages to the bog surface.

Lessons learnt:

Generating high quality data was crucial to shed light on the impacts of the applied techniques, but created several challenges. Establishing a strong baseline led to delays due to legal constraints about fencing common land and dry conditions compromising the ability to set representative samples. Meaningful samples were thus not fully reported until two years after the project ended, preventing timely and adaptive decision-making. Planning in a larger time buffer would have been beneficial. The monitoring system in place also missed several important considerations, such as social impacts like how people perceive the work and understand why it’s being conducted as well as issues of concern to some stakeholders (e.g. landscape impact and the effect on grazing). Baseline assessments and monitoring schemes should be encouraged to consider a more comprehensive approach addressing the socio-economic aspects in order to provide more holistic insights into the pros and cons of restoration.

In the case of Dartmoor, the wide range of interests represented in the partnership provided significant support for the project, but also challenges in reconciling differing views and expectations. Broadening the remit and membership of the partnership and potentially appointing an independent chair could serve to recognize and resolve differences more swiftly. Furthermore, it is crucial to clarify expectations regarding the way in which such a partnership should function in order to have unified understandings in entering the project. Greater clarity in this regard can reduce difficulties for planning and delivery. The partnership not only enabled participants to have an input into project delivery, but further served to created added value by improving the working relationships between involved organizations and facilitating networking opportunities.

Restoration work requires the by and support of many stakeholders, particularly land users and owners. A lack of inclusive and joint decision-making resulted in some conflict and dissatisfaction among some stakeholders.

Organisations:

Dartmoor National Park

Contacts:

Ecologic Institute

The Dartmoor Mires Project was a pilot to explore the feasibility and effects of restoring degraded areas of high quality blanket bog, using experimental techniques to reduce erosion and promote regeneration of moorland bog vegetation. As part of a public-private initiative, the project aimed to conserve and enhance habitat for upland wildlife, improve water supply and increase the potential to store carbon and mitigate climate change impacts. It has spurred many similar regional projects.

Sustainable Development Goals:

  • 13. Climate action

Publications and reports: