Yorkshire Water and partners Moors for the Future have embarked on a catchment management project in Snailsden and Thurlston Moors.
The work is part of a £2 million programme, in support of Natural England, to improve the condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Centuries of change have led to Yorkshire’s peatland habitats being degraded and over the next four years the partners will conserve and enhance 43 square miles of Yorkshire’s peat moorland, much of which the company owns and is designated as SSSI.
Unmanned aircraft have been used to map erosion features on SSSI moorlands and helped to identify areas for improvement.
The project on Snailsden and Thurlstone Moors will involve re-vegetation of eroded bare peat using local species including sphagnum mosses. Sphagnum regeneration will help to reduce peat loss and maintain the natural water table.
Grips and moorland gullies will also be restored. Grips, or man-made drains, were dug across Yorkshire’s upland peatlands in the mid-20th Century to improve the land for agriculture but many of these have become badly eroded over time.
Approximately 4,000 peat turf and stone dams will be created in these grips and gullies to slow the water flow and also restore the water table. These will also trap peat sediment and help prevent it getting into water destined for customers’ water supplies meaning it’s easier to treat.
Michael Toy, Yorkshire Water’s Project Manager said: “Because the moors are so remote we are using a helicopter to deliver the materials and the mosses to site.”
