Deep Peat Practice Guide

Forestry Commission Scotland has published a new practice guide for managing afforested deep peatland. The guide explains how timber, greenhouse gas, biodiversity, landscape and water quality interests can be balanced in these complex and vulnerable habitats.

Deep peat is soil with a peat layer greater than 50cm. The guide outlines the process of assessing a site’s potential for restocking, which is not always appropriate for deep peat sites because the greenhouse gas and wider environmental implications of future management are more significant than on other sites. As well as restocking potential, it looks at alternative options for restoration or the development of a new woodland type called peatland edge woodland.

A copy of the guide can be downloaded below.

‘Deciding future management options for afforested deep peatland’ (PDF)