Dartmoor National Park Authority

14 January 2010

‘Mires on the Moors’ Project Funding Secured for 5 Years

Dartmoor and Exmoor National Parks will together share £4.1m of South West Water funding for a 5 year project starting in April this year it has been announced.  The money will be used to fund restoration of some of Dartmoor’s and Exmoor’s blanket bog, in order to conserve and enhance this crucial habitat for upland wildlife, to improve water quality  and increase the potential of the south west England’s blanket bog to store carbon and hence to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

On Dartmoor, the project will be called the Dartmoor Mires Project and will be managed by the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) with the support of the Environment Agency, Duchy of Cornwall and Natural England which together make up the Action for Wildlife Partnership. The work will be carried out in close partnership with Dartmoor commoners recognising their unique skills and knowledge of the blanket bog, as well as the Ministry of Defence and other organisations.

Suzanne Goodfellow, Director of Park Management at Dartmoor National Park Authority said:

‘A pilot blanket bog restoration project has been running on Exmoor over the past few years and some limited trials have taken place on Dartmoor.  The new funding provides a wonderful opportunity to take this work forward.  Exmoor has already benefited from the restoration of 326 hectares of moorland to date.  On Dartmoor, this funding will allow us to restore areas of high quality blanket bog so that they can provide a priority habitat with unique plants and birds as well as a water resource and carbon store.’

Funding will be split between Dartmoor and Exmoor.  It will be spent on restoration works such as blocking ditches and erosion gullies in order to create shallow pools which promote the regeneration of moorland bog vegetation.  In this way the moors will be ‘stitched’ back together reducing the damaging effects of old drainage ditches, former peat cuttings and erosion gullies. This will bring various benefits including restoration of a globally important habitat and its associated species such as dunlin, and improved water quality which benefits all river life including species such as the salmon.  The project will also be investigating whether the work brings benefits in terms of slowing the rate of run off into streams and rivers, after rainfall.

Andy Guy, spokesperson for Natural England said:

‘Restoring blanket bog vegetation on Dartmoor and Exmoor will protect the peat that lies in layers beneath the surface. This will both prevent further losses of carbon dioxide from the peat to the atmosphere and also enhance the capacity of the bog to lock up additional stores of carbon.  The Mires on the Moors project therefore shows fantastic creativity and partnership in responding to the threat of climate change.’

The project will be developed by the Action for Wildlife Partnership together with commoners, archaeologists, and recreation and other interests to ensure that an integrated approach helps to provide for the multiple benefits of Dartmoor’s special landscape.

The Mires on the Moors Project will run from April 2010 until March 2015.

For further information

1.For further information about Dartmoor, please contact Frances Cooper, tel:  01626 831027.

2.For further information about Exmoor, please contact David Smith,  tel: 01398 322290.

Notes for Editors

1.Funding for the Mires on the Moors project comes from South West Water (SWW) under their Periodic Review 2009 Programme.  Partners include: Dartmoor National Park Authority, Exmoor National Park Authority, Natural England, SWW, the Environment Agency, the Duchy of Cornwall, Dartmoor Commoners' Council, the Ministry of Defence, and the RSPB.

2.Blanket bog habitat is recognised as a priority habitat under the EC Habitats Directive and the primary reason for the notification of the Dartmoor Special Area for Conservation and the moorland Site of Special Scientific Interest.  Blanket bog forms on the gentle slopes of moorland above 400m where water run-off would have been slow in the past, allowing bog mosses and other specialised plants to build into layers of peat at least 50cm deep.  

Page updated 15 January 2010