Case study:Peatland restoration project: Rivers Alport and Ashop

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Location: 53° 24' 15.15" N, 1° 50' 11.15" W

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Project overview

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Status	Complete
Project web site	http://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/peatland-restoration-project-rivers-alport-and-ashop
Themes	Economic aspects, Flood risk management, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Monitoring, Water quality
Country	England
Main contact forename	Richard
Main contact surname	Vink
Main contact user ID
Contact organisation	The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
Contact organisation web site	http://www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk/peatland-restoration-project-rivers-alport-and-ashop
Partner organisations	Moors for the Future
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

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Project summary

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The funding obtained from CRF will be used to implement a programme of moorland restoration aimed at improving the water quality in two river catchments within the Dark Peak SSSI. Many river catchments of the Dark Peak SSSI contain significant areas of bare and eroding peat, which is the dominant reason for failure of various waterbodies. There are significant correlations between levels of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), colour and organic phosphorus, and particulate organic carbon (POC) and metals in the water.

Works included: Timber and stone dams creation; aerial spreading of lime/seeds/fertiliser; supply and spread bags of heather brash.

This project is one of 3 Multi-objective Flood Demonstration Catchment Projects funded by Defra in response to the Pitt review of the 2007 summer floods. The project aims to gather evidence on the impact of the stabilisation of bare and eroding peat on upland blanket bog habitat in the South Pennine Moors Special Area of Conservation (SAC). An ecological restoration toolkit used to 'restore' blanket bogs for Natural Flood Management (NFM) benefits was tested within 1ha experimental headwater catchments and attempts were made to identify the mechanisms through which NFM benefits are realised. The restoration method included blocking deep erosion gullies using timber and stone dams and revegetation of bare peat with a facultative grass crop that provided temporary stabilisation of the peat mass. The developing vegetation, in addition to several years of lime and fertiliser, helped to ameliorate environmental conditions and facilitate the subsequent diversification to a community typical of blanket bogs, including Sphagnum mosses. Modelling was carried out in the project both to upscale the results and to indicate how gully blocking techniques could be optimised for NFM benefit. An earlier study had found that water flow velocities were slower through Sphagnum than through grass/sedge vegetation (Holden et al. 2008), meaning that additional benefits are likely to be realised as Sphagnum becomes established. To 'fast track' this evidence, 36,000 sphagnum plants were planted in 2014 into one of the 1ha experimental catchments. Monitoring is ongoing with funding in place to continue until 2021, 9 years post stabilisation and 6 years after Sphagnum application. Evidence from data collected for 3 years following bare peat stabilisation (involving revegetation with a facultative nurse grass crop) resulted in: • statistically significant: reductions in peak storm discharge (37%) • increases in storm-flow lag times (267%) • increases in water tables (35mm) • increases in overland flow production (18%) There were no statistically significant changes in percentage run-off, indicating limited changes to within-storm catchment storage. Although there appeared to be some additional benefits of gully blocking, these were not statistically significant compared with the impacts of revegetation of bare peat alone. Stormwater moved through stabilised catchments more slowly, attenuating flow and storm hydrograph responses. The most important hydrological process response to stabilisation was a reduction in flow velocities associated with increased surface roughness following the establishment of vegetation cover, with these benefits largely realised within one year of intervention.
https://www.therrc.co.uk/sites/default/files/projects/35_moorsforthefuture.pdf

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Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Edit the catchment and subcatchment details (affects all case studies in this subcatchment) Catchment River basin district Humber River basin Derbyshire Derwent Subcatchment River name River Ashop from Source to R Alport Area category 10 - 100 km² Area (km2) Maximum altitude category 500 - 1000 m Maximum altitude (m) 627627 m <br />0.627 km <br />62,700 cm <br /> Dominant geology Siliceous Ecoregion Great Britain Dominant land cover Bog Waterbody ID GB104028057930 Site Edit site Name WFD water body codes GB104028057930 WFD (national) typology WFD water body name River Ashop from Source to R Alport Pre-project morphology Reference morphology Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body No National/international site designation UK - Site of Special Scientific Interest Local/regional site designations Protected species present No Invasive species present No Species of interest Dominant hydrology Dominant substrate River corridor land use Average bankfull channel width category Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) Project started 2012/08/01 Works started Works completed Project completed 2015/03/31 Total cost category 1000 - 5000 k€ Total cost (k€) 2,7052,705 k€ <br />2,705,000 € <br /> Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Defra Catchment Restoration Fund Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Riparian development Hydromorphology Channel pattern/planform Biology Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Landscape enhancement Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Large woody derbis dams Floodplain / River corridor Planform / Channel pattern Other Agricultural/Farming improvements Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Other Monitoring and survey projects Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents RRC Monitoring table - Alport and Ashop Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents CRF Project briefing note - Alport and Ashop Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information