Peatland protection scheme begins

Special dams keep bogs wet and prevent erosion

Work has begun to protect large areas of North Pennines peatland from the risk of flooding and climate change.

Almost 120 miles (193km) of moorland drains in Northumberland, Cumbria and County Durham, are being blocked in an effort to stem erosion.

Contractors will use excavators to create peat dams in drainage ditches, blocking them at regular intervals to stop the flow of water.

Once blocked, the ditches fill with water and begin to re-vegetate.

The first phase involves a 3.7 mile (6km) area at Killhope Moor, Weardale, in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Carbon emissions

Other projects will take in the Bollihope Estate, Raby Estate, Waskerely Park, Killhope, Geltsdale and Whitfield Estate.

Paul Leadbitter, the AONB partnership's peatscapes project manager, said: "The benefits of healthy, wet peatlands are numerous and their importance to us now and in the future is vital to climate change, flood risk, biodiversity, the economy and the historical record.

"Peat is a vital store of carbon, with an estimated 2,500 tonnes of carbon stored in each hectare of English peat.

"With 15% of the world's peatlands, the UK has 20 years of industrial carbon dioxide emissions locked in the peat and it needs to stay there.

"A key threat to this carbon storage system is the drying of peatlands due to historical drainage.

"By blocking up eroding moorland drains we will effectively keep the carbon locked up."

Funding has come in part from the Environment Agency and Natural England.