Trust secures £100k to protect and restore peatlands

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has been awarded a £100,000 grant to identify the mechanisms needed to protect and restore the county’s peatlands.

The Discovery Grant from Natural England will also be used to develop a Lowland Derbyshire Peatland Restoration Plan. 

The Government’s Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme (NCPGS) aims to reduce emissions from peatlands and establish processes to restore degraded peat.

The scheme will also provide wider benefits such as improved ecosystems and biodiversity, better water quality, natural flood management, and connecting people with nature. 

Through the Natural England grant, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust will identify mechanisms to restore the region’s peatlands to a healthy, functioning habitat so they can start to absorb carbon as they build up more peat and keep carbon locked up in the ground.

Developing a coherent restoration plan will also support the Local Nature Recovery Strategy for the county and build on the natural capital work of Derbyshire County Council. 

While many of Derbyshire’s peatlands are already subject to restoration activities, there are significant areas that are not covered by such programmes, from peatlands within the Pennines, to lowland peatlands in the Trent Valley. 

According to the trust, these peatlands represent important carbon stores in the region’s fight against climate change.

However, when damaged, the peat becomes dried and exposed to the elements, and instead of storing and taking up carbon, emits it back into the atmosphere as CO2.

Matt Buckler, head of wilder landscapes at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, said: “There are approximately 1,300 hectares of known peatland in the county, outside the Peak District National Park, across a range of habitat types.

“These are critically important from a nature recovery network point of view, forming significantly along wetland corridors, such as the Trent, Derwent and Erewash valleys. 

“Many of the sites have been damaged through past land management, such as drainage or increased nutrient run off from a range of sources (for example, agriculture, roads, housing) which causes the degradation of peat and the conversion from sites of carbon sequestration to high levels of carbon emission. 

“We are delighted to have been awarded this vital funding from Natural England to allow us to investigate plans for the restoration of these sites, which give so many benefits to society, ensuring that we deliver the needs of the different landowners, and work with partners to identify ways to fund the work.”