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Bog Watch

A guide to how you can take practical action for peatland conservation

What is a Bog ?

Bogs began to form in areas where the amount of rain that falls is greater than the evaporation plus the drainage. When drainage is blocked the water collects on the surface. This water soon becomes stagnant, and the remains of plants do not decompose and these start to accumulate as peat.

Bog types

Irish bogs began to form about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the Ice Age.

Raised Bogs occur in the midlands where peat accumulated and filled the many shallow lakes that occurred there. Peat depth in raised bogs can often exceed 10 meters. The peat is mainly composed of Sphagnum moss.

Blanket Bogs form in areas where the average annual rainfall in greater than 1,200mm, and where that rain falls on at least 235 days a year. These conditions occur in the west of Ireland and at high altitude in mountains areas. Minerals such as iron, are washed down to the lower layers of the soil, and there they form an impermeable barrier known as an iron pan. This pan is impervious to water and causes the soil above it to become waterlogged, thus favouring peat formation. Blanket bog covers vast areas of land in Ireland, to an average peat depth of 2 meters. For more information on bogs click here.

Why Protect Bogs

Peatlands or bogs, together with their unique collection of plants and animals, are a seriously endangered European habitat. Most European countries have laid waste all their peatland resources, and to them the magic of the bog exists in memory only. Ireland is among the last of the European countries where a range of peatlands still exist, and the importance of conserving those of European Conservation Importance cannot be overestimated.

Originally 17% of the Irish countryside was enveloped in peatland. Today less than 1/12th of that original area remains of conservation value. Vast tracts of Blanket Bog, so characteristic of the West of Ireland, are disappearing at an alarming rate due to afforestation, draining, burning and overgrazing. Bogs in the Midlands continue to suffer from peat exploitation for fuel and moss peat, and are being drained and ripped up on a continuing basis. For more reasons to protect bogs click here.

IPCC's Conservation Campaign

The Irish Peatland Conservation Council (IPCC) has been campaigning for 14 years for the protection of bogs on a national scale. Our target is to protect 50,000ha of bogland - at present 30,000ha have been conserved.

What can be done ?

Taking action to save bogs on your own can often be a tall order. But if enough people join together it's amazing what can be done. Here are a few suggestions to help you take action for bogs.

By Anyone

• Why not join as a Friend of the Bog of the IPCC and benefit from all our excursions, activities and information.
• Don't use moss peat in your garden and make it known why you are refusing to use it. There are numerous alternatives available, and if your garden centre does not carry a range of peat free products, ask why not.
• Make your own compost from household or garden waste. This is not difficult, and there are many leaflets and books available to show you how.
• Come along on one of the IPCC's bog trips and learn more about the life of a bog or join us on a conservation workcamp. These are always enjoyable days out, and its amazing what you can learn.
• If you live near a bog keep an eye out for any damage being done to it. Report all illegal cutting and dumping.
• Keep a special eye out for those who use the bog as a dump. This is illegal, whether its large commercial dumping, or a bag thrown from a moving car. Note the registration number and inform the Gardaí and local Council.
• Demand action. Contact the local press and make bog conservation an issue.
• Organise a bog fundraiser or distribute promotional leaflets & brochures which we can supply to you.

By the Family

• Come along on one of the IPCC's bog trips and learn more about the life of a bog or join us on a conservation workcamp. These are always enjoyable family days out, and its amazing what you can learn.
• Ask your children if they are learning about bogs in school. With an increased emphasis being placed on the educational value of peatlands, the chances are your child is already aware of just what great places bogs really are!

  If they are not learning about bogs, ask why not. The chances are they are working on conservation projects, but perhaps using the local bog as a study focus has simply not been raised. Copies of the IPCC's Education Catalogue, which contains details of the many educational materials now available for teachers and students alike, can be obtained from the IPCC.

• Why not join as a Family Member of the IPCC and benefit from all our excursions, activities and information.
• Collect your used stamps, telephone cards, old coins and send them to us so that we can raise funds to save the bogs.
• If you go hill walking stick to paths to avoid eroding the bogs and heaths.

On the Farm

On peatland sites throughout the country a myriad of wild plants, both rare and beautiful, live under a threat of extinction as do many Animals and insects.

• Water quality on a bog is vitally important for plant and animal life. Don't spray slurry or other waste near precious bogland sites.
• Silage run-off can seep into a bog's water table, and the results can be devastating to all life within it. Make sure your silage clamp is secure, and that run-offs are kept to a minimum.
• Don't unblock drains on a bog - a dry bog is a dead bog!
• Insecticide sprays drift with the wind. The fragility of the bogland ecosystem makes all living things susceptible to such poisonous contact. If spraying is essential, don't spray upwind of a bogland site. Spray on a calm still day. This is beneficial to your own health also!
• Overgrazing on bogland can kill off plant life for good and cause surface damage. If you must graze animals on the bog, keep their numbers to recommended stocking densities of 1 sheep for 5 acres and 1 cow to 20 acres.
• Burning destroys an animal's habitat, and could spell the difference between life and death. Keep any burning to an absolute minimum.
• Don't leave any fire unattended near a bog. Make sure a fire is out when you leave, and not smouldering beneath the surface.
• Is your bog a National Heritage Area (NHA)? Check before you damage the site in any way. Contact your local Council, the Wildlife Service of the Office of Public Works, or the Irish Peatland Conservation Council for further information.
• Join the REPS Scheme if you have a bogland NHA on your farm. A top up grant is available if you conserve the bog.
• Dumping is illegal, unsightly, dangerous to children and deadly to resident wildlife. Dumping attracts rats and disease, so please don't use your bog as a dump!
• Report all archaeological finds made on bogs on your land to the National Museum, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
• Do not plant trees on your bog as this changes the character and wildlife of the area forever.

Bogs and the Greenhouse Effect

Did you know that bogs act on a continual basis as big carbon 'soaks', and once opened by development, the carbon dioxide trapped within the peat over thousands of years is released into the atmosphere. Bogs contain three and a half times as much carbon as all of the worlds tropical rainforests put together.

The IPCC is the country's leading charity dedicated to conserving peatlands and raising public awareness of their unique heritage.

Practical ways to help the save the bogs campaign

• SOS Bogs: Encourage your friends to join the IPCC's campaign to protect our threatened bogs. Membership forms and information packs can be obtained from the IPCC free of charge.
• Take orders for books, stationery, clothing or other gifts from our campaign catalogues and then pass them on to us. Alternatively, why not pass on our gift catalogue to a friend when you have finished with it. All profits made on the sale of goods go straight towards our bog fund - spending power with a difference!
• Go Peat-Free and compost your own household waste - you'll be recycling and making sure our peat supplies last longer. We'll be more than happy to send you a recycling pack to help get you started. Encourage your local garden centres to stock peat alternatives - consumer power is very influential.
• Encourage your friends to introduce our range of stationery to their families and friends. We have a full range which can be seen at our Enviro Shop in Capel Street.
• Always use IPCC stationery and self adhesive re-usable envelope labels - an environmentally friendly way to spread the Save the Bogs campaign message and cut down on our use of paper.
• Organise your own local fundraising events, e.g. coffee mornings, cake and jumble sales, sponsored walks, etc. If you contact our office we can supply you with complimentary promotional materials for display.
• IPCC posters can be displayed in many shop windows, i.e. grocer, hairdressers etc.
• Persuade your local doctor, health food store, veterinary surgeon, dentist, bank manager, library, etc to display leaflets on their counters and in their waiting rooms.
• Join the IPCC on practical workcamps to help repair and restore damage caused to bogs and improve visitor access.
• Assist us as a volunteer at our offices where we welcome help in organising projects, campaigns and competitions. When stuffing thousands of envelopes, the motto "Many hands make light work" is particularly apt!
• Bogs in the Classroom - if you are a teacher why not consider a visit to a bogland this year with your students. Introduce them to a fascinating habitat and engrossing subject for classroom study. Please send a self addressed envelope for details of IPCC's peatland education resource materials.
• Persuade your local press to publicise local bog issues and events reported in our magazine Peatland News. Similarly, send us their address details and we can arrange to include them on our mailing list for Press Releases.
• Save your used postage stamps. Our ongoing appeal for stamps is a practical way of recycling used stamps while raising much needed funds.
• We also collect old books, coins, postcards as part of our Collectors' Appeal.
• We always need a helping hand at trade shows. It's a fun day out with the assurance that your help is very welcome.
• Help us sell raffle tickets. Every year we hold a prize draw; the tickets are available in April/May and the actual draw is held in the autumn. As an extra incentive we also have sellers' prizes. Every ticket sold helps us towards our goal.
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WHY SHOULD YOU HELP?

• Today, less than one quarter of the original peatland area survives.
• Ireland's peatland resource is one of the best in Europe
• An area of bog 20 times the size of Monaco is destroyed in Ireland every year.
• Bogs are a finite resource and will not last forever.

With 5 years to go before the last of the intact sites are destroyed, the Irish Peatland Conservation Council is working hard to protect our peatlands. With your help we can do it together.

We have suggested a number of ways that you can get involved - practically speaking! Any way that you can help is very welcome and by no means is the above list complete. We would be delighted to hear any of your own ideas - please contact us if you need any advice.

Thank you for your support.