Peat Alert

3.4 million cubic metres of peat are used in UK horticulture every year... Since the early nineteenth century, the area of undisturbed lowland 'raised' bog in the UK has shrunk by around 94%... Thorne & Hatfield Moors support over 5,500 species... The Scotts Company is the largest horticultural company in the world, with turnover approaching $2 billion and facilities in 63 countries and it's growing fast...

Peat Processing & How to Stop It

Peat is stripped when the land is dry enough to support the machinery, which is usually between Easter and the beginning of October. The moors are criss-crossed with drainage ditches and channels (from under a metre to 2 or 3m wide and over 2m deep), and there are pumping stations at various points, which keep the water flowing out. Blocking these drains and putting the pumps out of action protects the hydrology of the peat.

During the cutting season the surface is scraped off and pushed into ridges by tractor-type things and then collected by harvesters, which are distinctive by their conveyor belts. There are only three harvesters and we suspect they are not easy to replace. These move the now crumbly peat into dumper trucks, which leave it in a giant stockpile along the narrow-gauge rail lines. The stockpile is covered over to prevent it from becoming too dry in the summer or from soaking up water in the winter, which makes it more difficult to handle. There are two trains, which transport the peat back to the works at the northern-most edge of Hatfield Moor. They run through the summer, but are rarely used to full capacity in the winter as there is no other work done on the moors. They tend to derail themselves if they go too fast or if they get rocked too much. In the past the lines have been tampered with.

Once at the peat works the peat is filtered, washed and heat-treated before having the various chemicals/fertilizers added to make the various types of compost. Once it has been treated it would be completely useless (and probably ecologically damaging) to return it to the moor. It is wrapped and heat-sealed and then stacked on pallets for storage and distribution. There are vast stocks of wrapped up pallets of peat all round the perimeter of the works, waiting to be distributed.

There is only one entrance to the site, via a small metal bridge over a major drain. Every vehicle entering the works (i.e. staff cars and distribution lorries) uses this bridge. Plans & photos of the peatworks are on the web-site, along with comprehensive info on Scotts, other peat sites & campaigns, campaign updates, peat ecology, etc.:

www.peatalert.org.uk

What Is Peat?

It is undeniable - peat is a wonderstuff: cheap, sterile, lightweight and peasant to handle, with good water and air holding qualities. Peat forms in very wet or water-logged habitats such as bogs, where the dead vegetation is in effect preserved rather than decomposed. There are two basic kinds of peat: sedge and moss,or sphagnum. This is created by a slow build-up of sphagnum moss in a bog that is either 'blanket' or 'raised'. Raised bogs in lowland areas are of greatest interest to peat extractors as they can be many metres deep. They are also the ones environmentalists are most concerned about.

Theoretically a living peat bog can regenerate at about 15mm per year. Unfortunately, large-scale modern production has made this unlikely, because the land is drained before extraction. Not only is recolonisation by the native flora and fauna remote, but the delicate and complex water tables in adjacent undrained areas are also put under threat.

Aren’t Thorne & Hatfield Protected?

Thome & Hatfield Moors have been commercially milled for peat for about 50 years and there has been opposition of varying militancy since it started. By the early '90s the Peatlands Campaigns Consortium (PCC) had achieved a significant drop in sales of peat, which was threatening Fisons' (the then land-owners) business. The company was forced to do a deal in which the land was gifted to English Nature, although Fisons retained the lease and minerals extraction rights for 20% of Thorne & 80% of Hatfield. The rest of the land is now a nature reserve, being restored and managed by English Nature. The whole area is notified as an SSSI.

In 1995 the nature reserves were given SAC status (Special Area of Conservation) under the EU Habitats Directive, and some areas of both the reserves and the workings were given SPA status (Special Protection Area) under the EU Birds Directive. These give more protection than any British legislation.

In 1997 English Nature proposed de-notifying the workings, based on research funded by Scotts (who by then had bought out the company). They claimed that the hydrology of the site was so badly damaged by the peat working that it could no longer be restored and was not worth protecting. The Thorne & Hatfield Moors Conservation Forum (a network of local & regional conservation groups & experts) produced research to counter their evidence and SSSI status was retained. The campaign to save the moors was reinvigorated from this point.

In 1999, after being told by the EU that the UK must propose at least another 100 sites for SAC status, English Nature (under pressure from Campaigns Consortium the Conservation Forum and the PCC) proposed the rest of Thorne & the whole of Hatfield. Should the site be given SAC status, peat extraction would have to stop, so since that time The Scotts Company (UK) and the government have been batting the decision back and forth between them, via English Nature. In fact, EN had expected the proposals to have been submitted to Brussels by now, but DEFRA is delaying again. However, if and when the Moors are ever granted SAC status, it could still take up to 7 years to implement the legislation while Scotts go through the various legal appeals, etc.

Too Little Too Late

The years of lobbying by members of the Peatlands Campaigns Consortium have led to major DIY firms developing strategies to phase out peat products: B&Q (the market leader) doesn't stock any Scotts products and is committed to diluting all other products to 85% peat-free by 2006.

Homebase (#3 in DIY sector) is announcing a similar policy (probably within the next three weeks), but they're only committing to a 10 year timescale.

Focus Do It All (#2) are committed to producing a policy by Easter 2002: “Peat does not have a long term future in our business” (going all out there - Ed). Focus Group is a recent merger of Wickes, Great Mills, Focus/Do It All and several others. The policy will apply to the whole group, but at the moment they're pretty confused about what exactly their various stores do sell.

“Wyevale (garden centre chain) is actively working with compost and plant suppliers on tests relating to the availability and use of peat-free growing media and will closely monitor the results of these tests. It is our intention to promote peat-free compost alternative products wherever possible... We will not recommend the use of peat as a mulch or soil improver”.

Several supermarkets are expected to produce similar strategies in the near future. In the early 90s the Wildlife Trusts produced a “Peatland Protection Charter”, to which 66 councils have signed up and several commercial growers, pledging to limit their use of peat. However, the sad truth is that 75% of peat sold goes to domestic gardeners via retail outlets, and most of the rest goes to commercial growers, e.g. for mushrooms, lettuces or golf courses. The only way to stop peat production is to get people to stop buying it.

Useful Contacts

Craig Bennett , Friends of the Earth Living World Campaigner
www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/last__chance_see.html

Craig co-ordinates the national FoE peat campaign. The website gives an extraordinarily useful briefing, but there is loads more useful stuff on the site too, e.g. press releases, Miracle-Cone info, etc

Thorne & Hatfield Moors Conservation Forum
Autumn Cottage, Thorne Rod, Sandtoft, Doncaster DN8 5TB

A network of local groups, experts & academic institutions, has published key research helping to save the Moors, plus much lobbying.