19th August 2025

Dartmoor is the Duchy’s largest single area of ownership, covering over 27,000 hectares, including around 10,100 hectares of deep peat and extensive areas of shallow peat. Peatland is a vital carbon store, but when degraded, it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – and around 80% of the UK’s peat is in a dry and degraded state.

The Duchy is a proud member of the South West Peatland Partnership, a collaboration of landowners, farmers, local authorities and environmental organisations working to restore and protect peatlands across the region.

The South West Peatland Partnership is gearing up to start its 2025/26 peatland restoration season on Dartmoor, continuing work to restore and protect the peat of this globally significant landscape.

On Duchy land, the SWPP has delivered significant restoration at sites like Tor Royal Bog near Princetown and the Cranmere area of North Dartmoor, where deep peat and rare habitats are being actively restored. At Cranmere, contractors working with the SWPP have installed 2,150 peat blocks, 280 timber blocks and 60 log blocks since 2024 to slow water flow and prevent further erosion.

Innovative techniques, including the use of local wool to support peat-forming mosses, are also being trialled, combining climate action with support for local farming. Peatland restoration is central to the Duchy’s net zero goals. Since 2008, the Duchy has supported the restoration of over 800 hectares of damaged peat on Dartmoor and continues to contribute significant funding and support to the partnership’s ongoing work.

This season’s work will focus on several key and remote sites across Dartmoor where degraded peatlands will have their natural hydrology improved. Blocking erosion channels that take water off the moors will help to reduce carbon loss, improve water quality, and diversify the species of birds and insects that breed and thrive on these areas.

“The past year has shown us how important peatland restoration is. It can’t wait. Fires on peatlands, and record-breaking rainfall over short periods combined with long periods of dry weather all take their toll.

We need to get Dartmoor’s peatlands as healthy and resilient to the changing climate as we can now, to benefit us all in the coming years. More and more research continues to show how peat bogs are a crucial habitat in need of restoration. This work improves wildlife habitat, helps to store water, reduces erosion and carbon loss into streams and rivers, and provides water sources for moorland livestock.

Working through the autumn and winter helps us to protect nesting bird species. We’re well prepared for the weather that a Dartmoor winter throws our way. You may spot our specialised low-pressure machines out on the moor this season, helping to stop ongoing erosion and crucially hold back water to raise that water table in the peat.”

“Healthy peat keeps a record of human interactions with our environment and the climate dating back over thousands of years; if we let the peat dry out or erode away, we risk losing that information.

In my role working with SWPP project officers and contractors I ensure that historic features are protected during the restoration works and carry out or commission surveys and studies that add to our knowledge of Dartmoor and its peatlands.”

The SWPP aims to restore hundreds of hectares of degrading peat each year across Dartmoor, Exmoor and Cornwall, supporting national targets of peatland restoration. The work is being delivered in partnership with local contractors, landowners and organisations, and is supported by funding from Natural England’s Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme, South West Water, Environment Agency and National Trust, alongside the Duchy.