Humberhead Levels and Moors

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Humberhead Levels and Moors

• Thorne and Hatfield Moors
• Jeff Lunn, Natural England

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Location
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History of the Moors and why they are important

• The Moors were originally 9m deep raised mires
  which formed in the basin of Lake
  Humber after the last Ice Age
• The mires captured millions of tons of carbon
  over thousands of years
• These mires have been mined for peat over
  hundreds of years resulting in the release of
  thousands of tons of carbon.

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Thorne Moors
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Hatfield Moors
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Peat milling took place on the moors until 2004
when there was a 17million buy out by the UK
government
English Nature (now Natural England) took over
responsibility for restoring the Moors
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Is the problem now the solution?

• Peat soils represent a unique opportunity in
  terms land-based carbon storage because they show
  the phenomena of triple win, i.e. they can store
  carbon in three stages
• Avoided loss
• Transitionary gain
• Perpetual gain
• The Thorne and Hatfield Moors represent over 3000
  ha of severely damaged peat soils and therefore
  an excellent target to gain from triple win and
  thus sequester carbon by restoration of the area
• A recent study by Durham University has shown
  that over a 20 year period the potential carbon
  sink would be over 13414 CO2 equivalent/km2.

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Restoration Works
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Biodiversity
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Recreation