It's good news for eroding moorland in the
Peak District and South Pennines with
a
£5.5 million
EU funding boost for the
Moors for the Future Partnership aimed at restoring more
than 2,000 acres of damaged land by 2010.
The Bleaklow moors
looking suitably bleak - PEK
Edale-based Moors for the Future will be using the funding to launch
its five-year Moorlife project, one of the biggest moorland restoration
programmes in Europe. Essentially it aims to restore vegetation on
what, at present, is bare, eroding peat, which has been damaged by
centuries of air-borne industrial pollution and wildfires.
Rare blanket bog will be repopulated with highly-absorbent plants such
as sphagnum moss which will help to reduce flood risk to nearby towns.
Specialist upland plants such as heather, cottongrass, bilberry,
crowberry and cloudberry will also be re-introduced.
The project is due to start in April 2010 and will cover
large expanses of Peak District and Pennine moor between
Manchester and Sheffield, including Bleaklow, Shelf Moor, Sykes Moor,
Alport Moor, Black Hill, Rishworth Common, Higher House Moor and Turley
Holes.
Much of the land is owned by Yorkshire Water and United Utilities and
serves as catchment areas for water supplies while the rest is owned by
the National Trust and private landowners.
All good news. Geoff Nickolds, chair of the Moors for the Future
Partnership, said: “We’re delighted to have secured this vital backing
for the Moorlife project which will restore habitats of European
significance.
“It will have important benefits for communities on both sides of the
Pennines in terms of lower flood-risks and improved water supplies, and
we expect it to create up to 40 seasonal jobs and six full-time posts
for its five-year duration.
“It will also restore these wild, biologically-important landscapes to
a state where they can be enjoyed rather than endured by walkers, with
benefits for health and well-being. And we hope it will once again
support a wide diversity of upland birds, plants, mammals and insects
that specialise in this distinctive habitat."
Moors for the Future was launched in 2002. More about the project at
www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk
Arthur Winslow
