Peat To People | Peatland Connections

A Crichton Carbon Centre Project

Connecting and Re-Connecting People to Peatlands

Through Art & Science Approaches

Let’s begin at the beginning…

SOIL

That precious stuff beneath our feet that supports

life on earth.

PEAT

A dark, squadgy, organic, waterlogged, anaerobic, acidic, carbon storing soil.

PEAT MAKES PEATLANDS

AND

PEATLANDS MAKE PEAT

Peatlands, bogs, and mires are unique wet landscapes. The plants that grow on peatlands: sphagnum mosses, cotton grasses, sundews, bog asphodel, bog cranberry, form a low-lying carpet of vegetation. This interwoven living carpet of plants absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, which becomes locked as carbon into their cell structures. As the plants die, but not fully decay, peat forms and the carbon in their cells becomes locked into the earth.

Our peatlands have been gradually forming since our last ice age, taking years to form millimetres.

The thick layer of vegetation and organic matter protects the peat forming system beneath, keeping things wet and acidic, physically holding peat in place and protecting it from rain, wind, and ice erosion.

60% OF THE UK’S PEATLANDS ARE IN SCOTLAND

Many of Scotland’s peatlands are scored with artificial drains.

Drainage disrupts the natural hydrology, drying out the land, which ultimately degrades the peatland, its flora and fauna, and can lead to peat erosion.

What were once inconspicuous drains can erode into huge gullies, metres deep, releasing thousands of years of carbon back into the atmosphere.

This is where the Crichton Carbon Centre come in.

Keeping Carbon Where It Belongs

Our Goals 

Saving the Carbon in Peatland Carefully

Balancing People & Environment Collaboratively

Exchanging Knowledge Respectfully

Educating People Creatively

Researching for Action Pragmatically 

Building Natural Capital Continually

Spreading Good Practice Effectively 

Valuing Ecosystems Fairly 

Stabilising eroding peat, and raising the water table, are the single most important actions to reduce carbon loss from our peat soils.

We need to manage and restore our peatlands carefully to keep their hydrology intact.

Raised hags created through erosion are levelled,

drainage diches are blocked to re-wet the peat,

and bare peat is held in place using geo-textile.

Climate Changes in Scotland including hotter, drier, weather, storms, and rainfall deluges are contributing to increased erosion on bare, exposed peat.