There’s life in the old bog yet

Much is being made of the destruction of bogs and the need to protect what little remains of Ireland’s once vast peatland areas.

On an upbeat note, however, there are encouraging signs that spent bogland can be restored.

People who have for generations got their domestic fuel from the 53 Irish raised bogs on which turf cutting has been banned under an EU directive find it hard to understand why the heavy hand of Brussels bureaucracy falls on them.

There are strong environmental reasons for protecting the bogs. Unfortunately, however, the action is very late. Most of the damage has been done by the Irish state itself over the past 70 years. Bord na Mona was founded as a semi-state organisation to commercially exploit the bigger bogs, mainly in the Midlands.

In contrast to the man cutting turf in his own piece of bog with a slean each year, Bord na Móna used huge machines that gathered all before them and resulted in wholesale destruction of the bog environment.

Thousands of years ago, up to 13% of the landscape was bogland. Such areas that once had thriving populations of birds, plants and insect life are now as dead as the proverbial dodo. Grouse and snipe which provided evidence of a healthy bog habitat are rarely seen any more.

Now, Bord na Móna and the EPA plan to give life back to tens of thousands of acres of cutaway bogs. Bord na Móna manages around 200,000 acres of bogland, most of which is now useless after decades of industrial peat harvesting.

A pilot project on cutaway Bord na Móna bog in Bellacorick, Co Mayo, is proving that wildlife and plants will return if the bogs are left to fill up with water naturally.

When sphagnum mosses reappear, wetland plants start growing and retain water, while birds and insects begin to return. The mosses also protect the bog in dry periods.

There are also plans to “re-wet’’ huge areas along the Shannon. As well as having a significant environmental value, the restored areas will be attractions for tourists in the future, with benefits for areas well off traditional tourist tracks.

Bog restoration is also very cheap and is basically a question of enabling nature take over again.

Industrial exploitation of our bogs has done far more damage that a man with a slean could ever do. After all, the sleansman at least re-laid to the top sod on cutaway bog.