Why the trees are not coming back?

Guests are often alarmed by the sight of large areas of felled woodland as we travel through the northern peatlands. Branches, stumps and roots lie across the ground, slowly turning silver, with little to suggest that anybody intends to tidy up. Having understood that planting trees helps tackle climate change, they quite reasonably ask why these have been removed and when they will be replaced. What appears to be the destruction of a natural forest may actually be the difficult business of restoring peatland beneath a commercial plantation.

These densely planted trees were grown as a crop, often on ground drained and ploughed to make forestry possible. Beneath a closed canopy, light is limited and the low vegetation can be sparse, while drainage and the trees’ demand for water change the conditions in which peat survives. Those effects can extend into neighbouring peatland where the movement of water connects the ground. Restoring the bog therefore requires attention to what happened beneath and around the trees, as well as removing the plantation itself.

Old drains and forestry furrows can continue carrying water away after felling, so restoration teams block them and, where necessary, reshape the ridges left by ploughing. Timber and branches are removed where practicable, while other material may be crushed or mulched, depending on the site. The work can initially look more disruptive than leaving the plantation standing, but its purpose is to recover conditions in which water remains near the surface and bog vegetation can return. Planting another crop of conifers would defeat that purpose.

Even then, the trees may attempt a return, with seeds from remaining sources producing young conifers across the cleared ground. Teams must monitor recovery and may need to remove that regeneration while the bog vegetation re-establishes. The scars guests notice are therefore the beginning of a much longer undertaking, rather than evidence that the job is finished. In the audio blogcast, we explore how planting became financially attractive, how a plantation can affect neighbouring peatland, and why young trees keep returning after the mature ones have gone.

To learn more, listen to the blogcast or book one of our North Coast Explorer private tours.