Search for alternative to heather burning

The research, led by experts from York University, will look at alternatives to burning.

With the help of a large tractor-powered mower, the team are investigating if cutting heather on three trial sites in North Yorkshire and Lancashire would be cost effective and more environmentally-friendly.

Andreas Heinemeyer, of the university’s Stockholm Environment Institute, said: “Heather burning is a common practice on upland heather moorland throughout the UK. The main aim of burning is to encourage the heather to produce new green shoots to feed red grouse and livestock.

“The problem is that burning on peat soils also seems to cause discoloured water – about 70 per cent of our domestic water comes from upland areas and water companies are spending several hundred million pounds every year treating the water to make sure it runs clear when it reaches our taps.”

Burning also threatens the myriad of mosses that form blanket bog vegetation, a vital component of healthy bog ecosystems and the key to active peat growth and regeneration.

The project team are applying different treatments on test areas in the Yorkshire Dales and the Forest of Bowland.

Early results in the five-year trial show that patches of heather burned and cut in spring this year, halfway through the project, are already showing signs of re-growth.

The work is funded by Defra and has the backing of water companies, landowners, gamekeepers and environmental bodies including Natural England and the Yorkshire Peat Partnership.

“Blanket bogs and upland moorlands are some of our most precious natural resources,” Mr Heinemeyer added. “They have been developing since the last Ice Age and play an important role in supporting many ecosystem services not least their role in mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases by locking away carbon.”