Dartmoor: Mires Project launched

A five year pilot project to restore areas of internationally important blanket bog on Dartmoor has begun.

The Dartmoor Mires Project will assess pilot areas totalling 120 hectares, with a view to restoring high-quality blanket bog, using innovative low impact techniques. This work will achieve benefits for upland wildlife, improve water provision and increase the potential of Dartmoor’s blanket bog to store carbon and hence to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The project will respect the area’s importance as a grazed landscape, its recreational and military use and its historic significance.

The project is a partnership led by Dartmoor National Park Authority and funded substantially by South West Water under its Mires on the Moors Project, with contributions from other project partners.  The Mires on the Moors Project has already provided benefit on Exmoor where 326 hectares of moorland have been restored to date. On Dartmoor, the project will be spending £9.1 million on managing water quality and quantity before it reaches reservoirs and water treatment works.

Visit the Dartmoor National Park website for more information.