Restoring Damaged Blanket Bog Long-term monitoring of the effects of - PDF document

Restoring Damaged Blanket Bog Long-term monitoring of the effects of restoration on hydrology and vegetation at three sites in England S. Ross, G. Hammond, A. Keen, P. Anderson, P. Worrall Penny Anderson Associates Ltd. Funded by United Utilities Our knowledge is your advantage Introduction • PAA was commissioned by United Utilities to monitor blanket bog restoration at sites across England under the Sustainable Catchment Management Programme (SCaMP). • Restoration aimed to restore and/or improve the hydrological functioning and vegetation community types on the sites. • The projects began in 2006/07 and continues today. • Presentation aims to provide an overview of key results up to 2013/14. Our knowledge is your advantage

Sustainable Catchment Management Programme (SCaMP) • SCaMP is an innovative and large scale project designed to: – Improve catchment quality – Meet nature conservation objectives – Improve raw water quality – Ensure a sustainable future for agricultural tenants • Key aims are: – To restore habitats towards target condition – To improve water quality, particularly colour – To reduce run-off rates, sediment load and downstream flooding – To improve carbon retention and reduce carbon loss Our knowledge is your advantage Sites Assessed Peak District: – Goyt Valley – Longdendale Bowland – Brennand Our knowledge is your advantage

Prior to Restoration • Areas of extensive bare peat, significant drainage and gully erosion. • Effect of grazing and burning regimes over decades. • Poor vegetation condition and loss of peat from the moorland. Our knowledge is your advantage Restoration Measures Across 12,300ha blanket bog: •85km grips blocked with peat or plastic dams. •470ha eroding bare peat treated with nurse crop, heather brash, geojute textile. •Experimental coir roll installation. •Grazing and burning regimes reduced/removed Our knowledge is your advantage

Our knowledge is your advantage Monitoring Approach • Vegetation (quadrats within plots). • Hydrology (water-table level in peat, stage discharge, rainfall gauge). • Water quality (colour as DOC, turbidity as POC). Our knowledge is your advantage

Assessment of Restoration Measures • Grip blocking (peat and plastic dams) – Goyt Valley & Brennand sites. • Bare peat restoration (lime, seed & fertiliser +/- geojute textile) – North Longdendale sites. • Coir roll installation – localised area on North Longdendale. • In combination with changes to grazing and burning regimes (either removed or reduced) across all sites. Our knowledge is your advantage Key Results: Grip Blocking Significant increases in Sphagnum cover: Brennand (L) & Goyt (R) 100 100 2006 2008 80 * 80 Sphagnum cover (%) 2010 * Sphagnum cover (%) * 2012 * * 60 60 2007 * 2008 2009 40 40 2010 * * 2012 * 20 * 20 * * * * 0 0 BB1 BB2 BB3 BB5 BB1 BB2 BB3 BB4 BB5 Site Code Site Code • BB1 = no grips • BB1 & BB2 = grips blocked 2006, peat • BB2 – BB5 = grips blocked 2010, peat • BB3 = grips blocked 2010, peat • 2007 = baseline • BB5 = grips blocked 2006, peat & plastic • 2008 = grazing changed, grips not blocked • 2009 – 2012 = post blocking Our knowledge is your advantage

Key Results: Grip Blocking Small but significant reductions in colour over time – Brennand (below) & Goyt. 900 900 BROWN SYKE RAW WATER COLOUR 800 800 Monthly Mean 700 700 600 600 COLOUR (HAZEN) 500 500 400 400 300 300 200 200 100 100 0 0 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / 0 1 5 8 1 2 6 9 2 4 7 0 1 5 8 1 3 6 9 2 4 7 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 / 4 / 3 / 1 / 9 / 7 / 7 / 5 / 4 / 3 / 2 / 0 / 8 / 8 / 6 / 4 / 3 / 1 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 4 / 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 2 2 0 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2 DATE Our knowledge is your advantage Key Results: Grip Blocking Trend towards declining raw water turbidity over time at Brennand (below) while Goyt remains +/- stable. 160 160 TURBIDITY MEAN ANNUAL TURBIDITY 140 140 120 120 100 100 TURBIDITY (NTU) 80 80 60 60 40 40 20 20 0 0 04/06/2007 02/09/2007 01/12/2007 29/02/2008 29/05/2008 27/08/2008 25/11/2008 23/02/2009 24/05/2009 22/08/2009 20/11/2009 18/02/2010 19/05/2010 17/08/2010 15/11/2010 13/02/2011 14/05/2011 12/08/2011 10/11/2011 08/02/2012 08/05/2012 06/08/2012 04/11/2012 02/02/2013 03/05/2013 01/08/2013 30/10/2013 DATE Our knowledge is your advantage

Our knowledge is your advantage Our knowledge is your advantage W ATER TABLE DEPTH BELOW SURFACE (cm) Key Results: Grip Blocking Goyt (below) however Brennand shows no consistent trends. Trend towards higher and more stable peat water-table levels over time at 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 26/03/2007 26/05/2007 26/07/2007 26/09/2007 26/11/2007 26/01/2008 26/03/2008 26/05/2008 26/07/2008 26/09/2008 26/11/2008 26/01/2009 26/03/2009 26/05/2009 26/07/2009 26/09/2009 26/11/2009 26/01/2010 26/03/2010 26/05/2010 DATE 26/07/2010 26/09/2010 26/11/2010 benefits of blocking grips. there is localised evidence of the monitoring results are unclear, On Brennand where water table 26/01/2011 26/03/2011 26/05/2011 26/07/2011 26/09/2011 26/11/2011 26/01/2012 26/03/2012 26/05/2012 Mean annual WTL (cm) Water Table Level (below surface, cm) 26/07/2012 26/09/2012 26/11/2012 26/01/2013 26/03/2013 26/05/2013 26/07/2013 26/09/2013 26/11/2013

Many of the trends on well-vegetated blanket bog are difficult to detect through fixed point photography, but some are discernable – Goyt Valley (below). 2012 2007 2010 Our knowledge is your advantage Key Results: Bare Peat Restoration Significant increase in vegetation cover across treated plots on North Longdendale. Nurse crop (largely Highland bent, Agrostis castellana ) establishes quickly then reduces in cover. 120 100 * * * * 100 80 Nurse Crop Cover (%) Vegetation Cover (%) * 2007 80 2007 60 * 2008 2008 2009 60 2009 2010 2010 40 * 40 2012 2012 * * 20 * 20 * * * * * * * * 0 0 BB1 BB6a BB6b BB7 BB1 BB6a BB6b BB7 Site Code Site Code • BB1 = mounds of bare peat with lime, seed and fertiliser (LSF) • BB6 = bare peat slopes with LSF, brash (a – geojute; b + geojute) • BB7 = untreated bare peat slopes Our knowledge is your advantage

Key Results: Bare Peat Restoration Dwarf shrubs (largely heather, Calluna vulgaris ) begin to establish. Along with mosses Campylopus introflexus and Hypnum jutlandicum . 100 100 Dwarf Shrub Cover (%) 80 80 Bryophyte Cover (%) * * * 2007 2007 60 60 2008 2008 2010 2009 * * 2010 2010 40 40 2012 2012 * 20 20 * * * * * * * * 0 0 BB1 BB6a BB6b BB7 BB1 BB6a BB6b BB7 Site Code Site Code Our knowledge is your advantage Key Results: Bare Peat Restoration 2007 2008 2012 2012 2007 2010 Our knowledge is your advantage

Key Results: Bare Peat Restoration Trend towards lower colour over time, but this is only statistically significant when assessing post-treatment data only (after 2008). 1200 1200 Raw Water Colour SMALL CLOUGH 1100 Monthly Mean 1000 1000 900 800 800 COLOUR (HAZEN) 700 600 600 500 400 400 300 200 200 100 0 0 14/07/2006 22/10/2006 30/01/2007 10/05/2007 18/08/2007 26/11/2007 05/03/2008 13/06/2008 21/09/2008 30/12/2008 09/04/2009 18/07/2009 26/10/2009 03/02/2010 14/05/2010 22/08/2010 30/11/2010 10/03/2011 18/06/2011 26/09/2011 04/01/2012 13/04/2012 22/07/2012 30/10/2012 07/02/2013 18/05/2013 26/08/2013 04/12/2013 DATE Our knowledge is your advantage Key Results: Bare Peat Restoration Trend towards increasing and more stable water table levels over time, except for 2013 – still vulnerable to dry periods. 22-02-2008 22-05-2008 22-08-2008 22-11-2008 22-02-2009 22-05-2009 22-08-2009 22-11-2009 22-02-2010 22-05-2010 22-08-2010 22-11-2010 22-02-2011 22-05-2011 22-08-2011 22-11-2011 22-02-2012 22-05-2012 22-08-2012 22-11-2012 22-02-2013 22-05-2013 22-08-2013 22-11-2013 0 PEAT WATER TABLE LEVEL BELOW SURFACE (cm) 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 Daily Mean Raw Data Annual Mean 160 Our knowledge is your advantage

Key Results: Bare Peat Restoration Removed sheep grazing only. BB2a – no coir rolls; BB2b – coir rolls added Plot without coir rolls appeared to do better…? 45 40 Vegetation Cover (%) 35 30 2007 2008 25 2009 20 2010 15 2013 10 5 0 BB2a BB2b Plot Code Our knowledge is your advantage Key Results: Bare Peat Restoration There is significant recovery of vegetation on the plots with coir rolls. Recovery dominated by vegetative expansion of common cotton-grass, Eriophorum angustifolium. No evidence of seedling establishment . Our knowledge is your advantage