The future of our moors are secure

have led to Yorkshire’s peatland habitats being degraded”.

Over the next four years Yorkshire Water will conserve and enhance 43 square miles of Yorkshire’s peat moorland, much of it owned by the water company and designated as SSSI.

The conservation project at Snailsden and Thurlston Moors is expected to be completed by next month.

Unmanned aircraft have been used to map erosion features in order to identify areas for improvement.

Restoring the landscape will boost local biodiversity and also improve the quality of raw water in several moorland catchments.

The project on Snailsden and Thurlstone Moors will involve re-vegetation of eroded bare peat using local species including sphagnum mosses which will help reduce peat loss and maintain the natural water table. Moorland gullies and ‘grips’ man-made drains dug to improve the land for agriculture - will also be restored.

A Yorkshire Water spokesman said dams would be created over the coming years to slow the water flow on the moors.

The spokesman added: “About 4,000 peat turf and stone dams will be created in these ‘grips’ and gullies to slow the water flow and also restore the water table.

“These will also trap peat sediment and help prevent it getting into water destined for customers’ water supplies, meaning it’s easier for Yorkshire Water to treat.”

Michael Toy, Yorkshire Water’s project manager, said the the mosses would be delivered by helicopter.

“Because the moors are so remote we are using a helicopter to deliver the materials and the mosses to site,” he said. “We’ll use an area to the south east of Winscar reservoir car park to store materials and there will be times when we need to close this car park to allow the helicopter to take off and land safely.”

The project at Snailsden and Thurlstone Moors will be completed in March - weather permitting - with the whole programme of work complete by the end of 2020.