CHRIS CHAPMAN
Cut Hill
Summit of Cut Hill, August 2021
The Dartmoor Society is a charity well-known for hosting events that bring together experts to discuss subjects relating to Dartmoor and this year the focus is on how best to conserve blanket peat. How do you conserve peat? What restoration work is planned and how is it carried out? Water companies, farmers, archaeologists and nature conservationists have differing priorities. Can they find ways to achieve the same goal of conserving the peat and protecting the landscape?
This conference features speakers who are directly involved in the project or who have specialisms that can contribute to our understanding of an undertaking on this scale.
Richard Brazier heads the University of Exeter research team behind the Peatland Partnership’s project and will talk about the science that has informed the restoration programme. Adrian Colston reflects on how different stakeholder interests make the project so complex and sometimes controversial, and Morag Angus from SWW will talk about the logistics of this complex work and how it is carried out on the ground.
Kevin Cox is chairman of the UK RSPB and will talk about the impacts on birds and nature conservation in the areas subject to re-wetting. Martin Gillard, Environment Officer for the South West Peatland Partnership, will give the audience some insights into how archaeological sites are considered and the potential for new finds in the peatland restoration programme. Geoff Eyres, a farmer and agricultural businessman from the Peak District, has for 30 years, on his own initiative, developed his own methods to regenerate peat and associated flora on his land. It will be interesting to hear how one person’s initiative has persisted and what the results have been. Could his ideas be of use to us on Dartmoor?
All are welcome to attend this event which includes refreshments and a buffet lunch. For more details and to book, see the Dartmoor Society website: www.dartmoorsociety.com/events
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