Issues
Farming
Drainage
Water is vital to peatlands. Many peatlands have a water
content greater than 90%, so their ecosystems are very susceptible
to damage from drainage. In Ireland peatlands have been
drained for a variety of reasons, including:
Fens are particularly attractive for agriculture as they
are more fertile than bogs, so large areas of fen have been
lost to reclamation. Agricultural intensification on fens
usually involves draining and infilling. This has a huge
impact on fen hydrology and ecology, leading to a decline
in biodiversity and often complete loss of the habitat.
Heavy grazing often accompanies fen drainage, which can
cause other problems such as trampling, poaching and contamination
with feed and dung.
| Birch
regeneration |
 |
Large areas of lowland raised bog have
been converted to grassland, usually by draining, infilling
and capping with soil. Even draining the edges can disrupt
the hydrology of the entire bog and dry out the surface
layers. Lowland bogs frequently occur within drained agricultural
landscapes so are subject to localised drainage. This can
allow scrub and woodland species such as birch to encroach
onto peatland habitats. The invasion of non-native species
like Rhododendron can also have a devastating effect on
peatlands, as these species often adapt to bog conditions
better than the native plants. Archaeological finds are
also at risk, as trackways, hunting platforms, spear-shafts
and even bog bodies have been dried beyond recovery in drained
peatland.
| Land
drain |
 |
Areas of blanket bog accessible by
tracks or roads have been reclaimed since the early 19th
century. The Agricultural Act (Northern
Ireland) 1949 gave grants to drain extensive tracts
of blanket bog in the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase
the amount of livestock the land could support. Although
this increased the rate of surface water removal, there
was negligible improvement in grazing quality and the grant
schemes for drainage reclamation ceased in the mid 1980s.
Open drains in blanket peat can have an indirect effect
as they allow more rapid run-off of water and sediments,
so contribute to flooding, siltation, acidification downstream,
erosion and even bog bursts.
Blanket bog declined rapidly during the second half of
the 20th century due to agricultural intensification. Much
of this land now supports grassland agriculture and shows
little or no evidence of formerly having been blanket bog.
Grazing and burning
Blanket bogs were traditionally used for rough grazing.
But in recent years factors such as the European
Union Policy (CAP) have, since the 1970s, increased
the number of animals grazing on these areas. Large numbers
of livestock, mainly sheep and cattle, currently have a
impact on blanket bog vegetation throughout Northern Ireland.
As well as encouraging localised poaching and peat erosion,
higher levels of grazing reduce the amount of Heather and
other dwarf shrubs. If this continues the Heather and shrubs
may be replaced by less productive grasses.
Blanket bogs are frequently subjected to burning for agricultural
management. While occasional small-scale burning may cause
little damage to the quality of the habitat, some areas
experience uncontrolled fires. This reduces the quality
of peatland by simplifying the vegetation structure and
destroying sensitive species, especially sphagnum bog mosses.
The Department of Agriculture and Rural
Development (DARD) have a number of measures in place
to prevent overgrazing. Within the Less
Favoured Areas (LFA), which cover approximately 70%
of Northern Ireland, farmers must comply with Good
Farming Practice to receive area payments. Good Farming
Practice has 8 verifiable standards including prevention
of overgrazing and unsuitable supplementary feeding and
prevention of damage to habitats and archaeological features.
Information and advice on stocking rates and management
is contained in a booklet 'Heather Moorland
- Management', available from the DARD
Countryside Management Branch.
It is illegal to burn Heather between
15 April and 31 August under the Game Law Amendment Act
(Northern Ireland) 1951. Information and advice on Heather
moorland regeneration is contained in a booklet 'Heather
Moorland - Regeneration', available from the DARD
Countryside Management Branch.
