Heather burning, water quality and greenhouse gas emissions
Heather burning on commercial grouse moor. Glenfeshie. Scotland. April 2007. http://scotlandbigpicture.com/
‘The English uplands are dominated by blanket bog and heathland habitats, which tend to have highly organic and peaty soils. When in good condition, peat bogs actively soak up carbon, accumulating between 3 and 7 tonnes per hectare per year. Peatlands also play a vital role in the provision of drinking water to millions of people, as they form the headwaters for some of England’s major water supply catchments.‘
…and…
‘The area of burned moorland has increased significantly in recent decades across much of northern England. A comparison of aerial photography from the 1970s and 2000 of over 200 km2 of the English uplands found that the extent of new burns had doubled (from 15% to 30%) over this period. A recent study found that the annual number of burns between 2001 and 2011 increased by 11% per year, with an accelerating trend in more recent years.’
…and…
‘There is increasingly strong evidence that managed burning reduces peat accumulation, causes declines in carbon storage, and increases dissolved organic carbon (DOC) levels in watercourses. Levels of DOC in UK upland water bodies have doubled over the last 30 years. Some of this observed increase in DOC is likely to be due to reductions in sulphur deposition (more commonly known as acid rain) since the 1990s. However, there is evidence that managed burning is the primary cause of DOC export in parts of the English uplands.‘
…and…
‘…the on-going declines in soil carbon, increases in the area of some high erosion
risk crops (e.g. maize) and the degraded condition of
upland peats suggests that current policy interventions will not deliver
the 2030 aspiration for all soils to be sustainably managed.‘
