Innovative approaches
As the MoorLIFE project has drawn to a close, National Trust Rangers have been looking at new and better ways for continuing our moorland conservation work.
The manual planting of sphagnum plugs is very labour intensive, so in October 2021 a new machine was developed to inject sphagnum, under pressure and in solution with water, into the surface of the peat.
The specialist, towable sphagnum injector equipment - nicknamed ‘Sphago-matic’ - has been designed to work flexibly on the challenging moorland terrain - cutting a small channel into which the solution can flow and avoid being washed away. It is hoped that this tailored method will to help us restore larger areas of our re-wetted moorland, more efficiently and in a much shorter time. A great example of creative thinking at the leading edge of conservation in the uplands.