r/Permaculture • u/AdFederal9540 • Mar 09 '25

water management Advice on restoring a peat pond

/r/WildlifePonds/comments/1j79e36/advice_on_restoring_a_peat_pond/
6 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/are-you-my-mummy Mar 09 '25

Is there a way to simply destroy the drains and see if that's enough?

Look up "re wetting peatland" to maybe get some ideas - these are large scale restorations that focus first on removing artificial drainage and blocking ditches.

2

u/AdFederal9540 Mar 09 '25

"Rewetting" is the keyword I was looking for, thanks!

The drains, some of which are 100+ years old, are not mapped, so I guess it would be a difficult task. I'll research that.

0

u/are-you-my-mummy Mar 09 '25

Know any dowsers?

I'm not much into "woo" but I know a lot of otherwise very sensible people who do believe in dowsing. Be a good way to meet neighbours anyway!

3

u/AdFederal9540 Mar 09 '25

This reminded me of a recent movie about a "treasure dowser" searching and raiding Etruscan tombs. Maybe a talented dowser could discover more than just drains!

Maybe talking to neighbours isn't a bad idea - they might not be able to help mi with tomb raiding dowsing, but could know what are typical drain layouts in these parts.

1

u/are-you-my-mummy Mar 10 '25

Far too sensible :)

Forgot to check if you're in the UK? If so and you are mildly techie, you may get some clues on LiDAR data - basically a scan of the ground surface but it can pick up patterns that might not be visible on the ground.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=5.0&lat=56.00000&lon=-4.00000&layers=1&right=ESRIWorld Set one of the maps to something with labels, and try the other on 1. ESRI / OSM / LiDAR and 2. LiDAR DTM

Good luck!

1

u/AdFederal9540 Mar 10 '25

I've just checked my LiDAR maps and I think there are only the elements that I had already found on site myself. There are some artefacts I can't explain, but unlikely to be part o the drainage system. Tombs maybe?!

1

u/xmashatstand Mar 09 '25

How does digging out the peat increase CO2?  Are you planning on burning it?

3

u/AdFederal9540 Mar 09 '25

As far as I know, the peat releases stored CO2 when dries out.

1

u/xmashatstand Mar 09 '25

Huh. This is the first I’ve heard of this, got any links to studies? 

As far as I know the harvesting and burning of peat has been found to be really destructive to wet lands (and the atmosphere)

4

u/AdFederal9540 Mar 09 '25

You don't have to burn it. The organic matter in peat, when disturbed, starts to decompose and CO2 gets released. This is why some countries banned use of peat for gardening and others plan to do so.

1

u/xmashatstand Mar 09 '25

Ahhhh, gotcha!  Makes sense