Photo: Sunpix Travel | Alamy
Peatland restoration in northern England is a Cinderella story, says Dr. Tim Thom. Bogs have been doing hard work - flood control and carbon sequestration - but they've been badly treated. "Finally it feels like this last couple of years Cinderella has come to the ball." While 92% of England's blanket bogs are under threat, that is slowly changing thanks to the Yorkshire Peat Partnership. It has built hundreds of dams out of stone, wood, or coconut husks on 5,048 hectares of blanket bog, and the benefits are visible. Silt building up behind the dams is filling in miles of deep channels and sphagnum moss, which can hold 26 times its weight in water, is thriving. Owls, frogs, foxes, and weasels are now regularly seen and there are signs of otters, too.
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