PROJECT START DATE:  OCTOBER 2015

PROJECT END DATE:    FEBRUARY 2021

Our conservation work is:

• stabilising and revegetating bare peat
• installing mini-dams in drainage channels to rewet the blanket bog
• tackling areas of over-dominant plant species like heather by cutting dense areas
• trialling new techniques to rewet the moors (bunds)
• planting sphagnum moss, a major component of blanket bog
• controlling invasive species like rhododendron
• working with land managers to share best practice
• will protect the integrity of 95 square kilometres (9,500 hectares) of active blanket bog

Keep up to date with the latest news about the MoorLIFE 2020 project.

Read the reports and papers produced as part of MoorLIFE 2020

We use extensive scientific research and monitoring to back up our conservation work.

• setting up field labs to monitor what happens to things like water quality and storm flow when we try various interventions, like planting sphagnum
• using aerial imagery to carry out landscape-scale remote sensing to create a map that shows the vegetation cover
• producing a carbon audit report to measure the carbon emitted through our conservation work against the carbon that will be stored by the repaired blanket bog
• monitoring the socioeconomic impact of the project
• creating a database to record moorland wildfires in the area

• develop the first ever ‘moor in a van’; our Bogtastic Van visits communities surrounding the Peak District and South Pennines
• develop a national wildfire recording tool to allow the wildfire-fighting community to record their fire data in a single place, an initiative that aims to increase our evidence base of how blanket bogs reduce the risk of wildfire
• hold and participate in conferences and seminars including BogFest 2017 which brought together nearly 300 experts on peatlands from across the globe
• start a junior ranger group in Edale to inspire a new generation of conservationists

The project is delivered by the Peak District National Park Authority as the lead and accountable body (the Coordinating Beneficiary).

On the ground delivery is being undertaken largely by the Moors for the Future staff team with works also undertaken by the National Trust High Peak and Marsden Moor Estate, the RSPB Dove Stone team and Pennine Prospects (the Associated Beneficiaries). Funded by the EU LIFE programme and co-financed by Severn Trent, Yorkshire Water and United Utilities. With advice and regulation from Natural England and the Environment Agency, and local advice from landowners.

The €16 million project will receive €12 million funding from the EU LIFE programme, the largest ever award to a UK nature conservation project. It is co-financed by Severn Trent, Yorkshire Water and United Utilities.

• Bare peat revegetation target reached: 52.9 hectares (target 43 hectares)
• Grip and gully blocks - 13,076 dams (target 15,398)
• Cutting molinia - 62.93 hectares (target 56)
• Cutting heather - 198.62 hectares (target 242)
• Cutting cottongrass - 810.73 hectares (target 673)
• Invasive species control target exceeded: 3,531.9 hectares (target 1,800)
• Sphagnum introduction target exceeded: 2,263.48 (target 1440)
• People engaged with 14,593 including 8554 people experiencing the Bogtastic van (target 7000)
• Events attended 260 (target 80)
• Land management events target met - 20 events (target 20)
• Numbers of land managers engaged with: - 334 (target 220)
• Remote controlled mower bought and deployed
• UAV bought and deployed for collecting aerial imagery of vegetation cover
• Land cover map produced