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Did You Know?
Here are a few introductory facts about why our
Peak District moors are special:
Your questions answered at FAQ.
- The Peak District National Park has some
fine examples of upland habitats such as heather moorland and
blanket bog.
- The heather
moorlands in the UK comprise some 75% of the entire world's resource
- a true national treasure.
- Moorland includes blanket bog, the wet
areas of deep peat which occur on the flat summits of many of
our moorlands. Blanket bog is one of the world's rarest habitats
and is even more threatened than tropical rainforests. If something's
on your doorstep it can be easy to take it for granted but moorland
and especially blanket bog are really special, something we can
all be proud of. It occurs in such far away places as Kamchatka
(Siberia), Tierra del Fuego (Southern Chile), the Riwanzari Mountains
(Africa), as well as right here in the Peak District - sandwiched
between Manchester and Sheffield.
- Our moorlands are not a natural wilderness,
but are the result of management for grazing and sporting following
tree clearance many centuries ago.
- Around 17 million people live within
60 miles of the Peak District National Park
(UK: 58.7 million, England 49.1million).
- The bird populations of the Peak District
moors are of international conservation importance, including
breeding populations of merlin and golden plover.
- 45km of Britain's premier National Trail,
the Pennine Way, crosses the Peak District moors.
- Blanket peat bogs can act as a ‘carbon
sink’ almost as effective as the tropical rainforests. Plants
remove carbon from the air as they grow and, due to the wet conditions,
do not rot and release this carbon when they die. Dead plant material
turns instead into peat and so the carbon is locked up in the
peat. Peat bogs in Britain already store more carbon than all
the forests in the UK and France and so help reduce global warming.
(Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas).
- Most of the Peak District moors are classed
as Sites of Special Scientific Interest - the UK's highest national
conservation category. They're also part of a Special Protection
Area - the highest European conservation category. They're within
a National Park- the highest landscape protection category. In
fact 35% of the Peak District National Park is designated as Sites
of Special Scientific Interest.
- Much of the economy of the local area
and people’s livelihoods still depend on the moorland landscape.
- In the Peak District National Park there
are 8,756 km of drystone walls.
- Peak District reservoirs supply surrounding
towns and cities with an amazing 450 million litres of water a
day.
- Traces of local inhabitants, from at
least 7000 years ago (the mesolithic) to the present day, survive
on the moors.
- Sphagnum mosses are important in forming
peat, but they are sensitive to atmospheric pollution. Since the
industrial revolution, loss of Sphagnum has been an important
feature of the changes in Peak District and South Pennines blanket
peat. This loss is accompanied by a drastic reduction in peat
accumulation and drying of the peat. Moors for the Future is trying
to find ways to reintroduce sphagnum.
- Maps are essential
for monitoring changes in vegetation. Moors for the Futrue and
partners have used new technology to map vegetation within the
Peak District.
- Bracken control is the most important
factor in changes to vegetation on the moors.
- The Peak District moors have many landowners.
Some of them are key partners in the Moors for the Future project
including the Peak District National Park Authority, United Utilities,
National Trust, Yorkshire Water, Severn Trent Water, National
Trust, Sheffield City Council and private owners represented by
the Moorland Association.
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