Rehabilitation of industrial cutaway Atlantic blanket bog in County Mayo, North-West Ireland

Bord na Mona (the Irish Peat Development Corporation) began peat extraction at Bellacorick, in County Mayo, in the north-west of Ireland in 1961. The peat production area comprised 8000 ha of Atlantic blanket bog. To date, about 25% of the area has been taken out of production as the peat resources were exhausted. The cutaway landscape is heterogeneous, with some intact bog remnants among gravel hills bared through peat erosion, shallow acid highly-humified peat deposits overlying relatively level glacial till, and occasional pockets of mineral-enriched peat in depressions. The aims of the work described here are (a) to provide a baseline vegetation survey of the cutaway, (b) to test potential management tools for accelerating re-vegetation, and (c) to promote the re-establishment of peatland characteristics where possible. Thirteen plant communities were recorded on the cutaway bog at Bellacorick. Extensive areas of cutaway are colonised by Juncus effusus. Peatland communities have developed where the drainage of cutaway has been impeded and the water-table remains at or above the surface. Remnants of intact Atlantic blanket bog within the production area provide a local source of propagules for colonisation of adjacent bare cutaway. They also constitute locations for plants with restricted distributions within the production area. Experimental plots were used to show the positive impacts of (a) re-wetting of cutaway surfaces in promoting the colonisation and spread of Sphagnum, and (b) ridging of exposed gravel till that provides waterlogged and sheltered furrows in which accelerated plant colonisation takes place. A management plan is currently being devised for the rehabilitation of the Bellacorick cutaway. Bog remnants should be maintained as an essential part of rehabilitation management. Rehabilitation will include restoration of peat-forming conditions facilitated by waterlogging, which has been shown in experimental trials to be enhanced by dam construction, infilling of drains and surface ridging. At Bellacorick, it is evident that, with time, peat-forming conditions can be restored with minimal management and economic cost.