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Action 17. Peatland Management and Restoration

The biological communities of any peatland site are constantly changing and require management to maintain their conservation value. This involves understanding the site, identifying the objectives to be achieved by management, formulating programmes of work and monitoring the effectiveness of this work to ensure that resources of cash, labour and skills are being used efficiently. Management plans are a convenient tool for bringing all these elements together.

Every fen, raised bog and blanket bog has been man modified in Ireland. In the case of raised bogs the damage consists of turf cutting on the periphery, burning and drainage. For blanket bogs the damage includes drainage, turf cutting, burning and overgrazing. While fen damage includes land reclamation, nutrient enrichment, drainage and in-filling.

Land purchase is only the first stage in conserving peatlands. This must be followed by the formulation of a management plan for each site to ensure that they are maintained or restored to a favourable conservation status in accordance with the terms of the Habitats Directive.

Fens are an early stage of bog development, consequently some sites have to be managed quite intensively if the choice is to maintain them as fens and 'artificially' prevent them from evolving into more ombrotrophic habitats.

A number of groups in Ireland are involved in peatland management and restoration work on some 26 peatland sites.

Between 1996 and 1999, Dúchas and the European Union spent 1.8 million Euros on the Raised Bog Restoration Programme and the development of management plans for candidate raised bog SACs aimed at restoring them to favourable conservation status (Raeymakers 2000).

One of the positive outcomes of this investment and previous research initiated under the Irish/Dutch Raised Bog Study Project has been the development of a management tool kit to restore raised bog hydrology.

Further information on the restoration of peatlands has come from a programme of research funded by Bord na Móna focusing on cutaway bogs. They have been successful in restoring wetland/fen communities on cutaway raised bogs (Egan 1998) and peat forming Sphagnum communities on cutaway blanket bog in Western Ireland (Farrell & Doyle 1998).

In spite of the extensive research, IPCC are disappointed that Dúchas have not made any site management plans available for consultation by local interest groups and users, whose actions could negatively impact on the conservation area. None of these plans have been published.

It is inconceivable to consider restoring or managing peatlands without taking local stakeholder interests into account. Not only is their support essential for the success of the project but they can often play an active role in safeguarding a site's conservation value in the long term.

General Objective
To develop management and restoration plans for all conservation worthy peatlands in Ireland, and to make these publicly available.

IPCC have published a Peatland Conservation and Management Handbook (Foss & O'Connell 1998) which includes information on restoration methods which can be applied to peatland sites. The aim of this handbook is to stimulate local communities or conservation groups to undertake effective conservation and management of peatlands.

IPCC have participated with community groups in the preparation of a number of peatland management plans and carried out restoration work on a number of peatlands (Aukema & Scherrenburg 1998, Dourcelle 2000, Poutsma 1999, Martens 1993, Janse 1993).

Actions
3.17.1 Dúchas should publish management plans for conservation worthy peatlands and monitor the effectiveness of these on a regular basis.

3.17.2 Dúchas should work to resolve the conflicts between turbary and conservation specifically in relation to raised bogs through a programme of acquisition, management agreement and transfer of turbary rights.

3.17.3 On blanket bogs Dúchas should focus management plans on repairing the damage caused by overgrazing and erosion.

3.17.4 Dúchas must consult more widely with stakeholders and user groups in the formulation of management plans for conservation worthy peatlands, particularly where their property adjoins the conservation unit.

3.17.5 Sufficient manpower and resources should be provided to implement management plans and allow on-going monitoring of sites.

3.17.6 Dúchas should publish site management and restoration plan guidelines for bog and fen habitats to ensure best practice across the country.