Saddleworth Moor Conservation Work

Saddleworth Moor, as viewed from Hollin Brown Knoll. (picture: Bob Pilkington/Geograph)

Work has begun to help preserve Saddleworth Moor. It’s part of the Moors For The Future project, described as one of the largest conservation schemes ever attempted in this country.

Over the next five years, it’s hoped the project will start the process of returning damaged moorland the size of 320 football pitches back to a healthy condition. The work is taking place across the South Pennines and Peak District National Park, with Saddleworth Moor one of the first areas to benefit.

The work involves spreading huge amounts of heather cuttings over damaged areas of moorland, with the aim of encouraging new vegetation. Helicopters will be used to get the heather to particularly remote parts.

According to a statement from Moors For The Future, restoring peat moorland to a healthy state can help the environment in a variety of ways. Those include storing carbon thereby preventing it damaging the atmosphere, helping to provide good quality drinking water, slowing the rate at which rainwater rolls off hills so limiting the risk of flash flooding, and offering a unique habitat for a wide range of wildlife.

Several bodies are involved in the scheme, including the Peak District National Park Authority, Yorkshire Water, United Utilities, the National Trust, Natural England, the Department for the Environment, and the Environment Agency. But the largest cash injection has come from the EU, which is spending £5.5m on the initiative over the coming five years.

There’s more information at the Moors For The Future website here.

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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