Feature Assessment: Cultural landscapes / Managed moorland
# Managed moorland
Overall vulnerability |
# Feature(s) assessed:
- Managed moorland Special qualities:
- Landscapes that tell a story of thousands of years of people, farming and industry
# Feature description:
Moorland refers to unenclosed land in the uplands made up of a mosaic of vegetation types including wet heath, dry heath and blanket bog. For the purposes of this assessment, managed moorlands refer to those managed via rough grazing and rotational burning. These managed moorlands cover several thousand hectares within the PDNP and are particularly prevalent along the eastern side of the Dark Peak.
These landscapes have been used by humans for thousands of years, from early post-glacial hunting and gathering to establishing settlements and agriculture when the climate allowed. Later when the climate made these areas uninhabitable they were used for livestock grazing. Since the early 19th century most open heather moorlands have also been managed for grouse shooting. Whilst shooting and grazing rights are held separately, the management of the land involves all tenants. In addition, the peat and soils underneath these managed moorlands are valuable archives of information about their history, for example historic pollution or buried archaeology, and land use from prehistoric times to the present day.
# How vulnerable is managed moorland?
Managed moorland in the PDNP has been rated ‘high’ on our vulnerability scale. This score is due to high sensitivity and exposure to climate change variables, coupled with a variable current condition, and a moderate adaptive capacity.
Managed moorland is in an insecure condition in the PDNP, subject to numerous pressures and often dependent on agricultural payment schemes. It will be particularly sensitive to increases in wildfire and changes in annual precipitation regimes. This is due to the huge detrimental impact that wildfire can have on these landscapes and the sensitivity of the plants to water availability. Managed moorland has some capacity to adapt, but is reliant on funding to facilitate this.
Overall potential impact rating | |
Overall adaptive capacity rating |
# Current condition:
Farming sheep in the uplands is largely reliant on agricultural payment schemes without which it would be financially unviable. The planned changes in the emerging new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) (‘public money for public good’) may cause major changes to moorland management. Even without such changes, evidence shows a marked decline in the number of people employed in agriculture over the past decade alongside increasing diversification to support farm income.
Both heather beetle and Phytophthora are present in the PDNP. Heather beetle larvae feed on the leaves of heather stripping them bare. Phytophthora is a fungus-like organism, which causes damage to a wide variety of plants, with bilberry being of particular concern in moorland environments.
Red grouse are susceptible to Cryptosporidium 'bulgy eye’, which has been present in the PDNP since 2010. Additionally, Louping ill is a tick borne viral disease present in England, which affects both sheep and grouse.
Until recently, hundreds of hectares of highly erodible bare peat covered some of these moorlands. While many of these areas have been revegetated, erosion channels still exist and some pockets of bare peat remain, making some areas unsuitable for sheep or grouse management. The peat of the PDNP is also highly contaminated from historic industrial pollution, containing high levels of heavy metals.
Traces of human activity on the moorland span the last 12,000 years, with the lower upland shelves and the high moorland fringes being key areas of activity. Moorland management itself has left its own archaeological signature.