See Supplementary Information – Muirburn and Peatland
Key Issues:
- Peatland plays a valuable role in supporting a range of land uses and providing natural services. It needs to be managed carefully in order to continue that role.
- When in good condition, peatland will have a high water table, a high cover of Sphagnum bog-mosses, and slow heather growth, which rarely becomes rank.
- Techniques are available to improve the condition of some degraded peatland resulting in the restoration or improvement of the multiple services that peatland provides.
Burning
- Burning should not take place on peatland unless it is part of a habitat restoration plan approved by SNH.
- Such a restoration plan will almost always include drain blocking, or other actions to raise the water table. Although cutting will normally be preferred, burning may have a role in:
- reducing dense vegetation which may shade out mosses and thus hinder recovery, and
- exposing drains and facilitating dam installation.
- More information about a habitat restoration plan is in Supplementary Information – Muirburn and Peatland.
- If burning is to take place, a low severity fire should be used, normally burning with the wind, when the litter under the canopy is moist.
- Peatland areas should never be burnt in very dry conditions, as this can cause significant damage and lead to serious peat fires.
Cutting
- As part of habitat restoration, where ground conditions permit, cutting can be used to open up the canopy and allow a range of bog species to recover and re-establish.
- On wet peatland, lightweight cutting equipment, mounted on low ground pressure vehicles, should be used to minimise the amount of compaction.
- Care needs to be taken to avoid scalping hummocks.
Risks:
- Peatland can be damaged easily by incorrect management.
- Fires that ignite peat can be very damaging and difficult to extinguish.
- Many peatland areas form part of drinking water catchments. Inappropriate management can lead to impurities in the drinking water, which are expensive to remove.
- Bad burning practices can produce bare peat, which is easily eroded by wind and water, allowing it to enter watercourses.
- Badly managed cutting can damage the surface of the peat.
Benefits:
- Reducing a heavy vegetation fuel load on peatland may reduce the risk of lasting damage should a wildfire occur.
- In some circumstances, burning and cutting can break up dominant heather and grass cover, which may increase the diversity of the vegetation and create space for peat-forming Sphagnum mosses to re-establish or expand their cover.