Peatland ACTION - Peatland Restoration and Management Guidance

Undertaking management and restoration work on Scotland’s peatland habitats will have long-term benefits for supporting a rich biodiversity as well as improving water quality and carbon storage.

When undertaking restoration work, all parties involved must ensure that there are no negative impacts on protected species. Our species guidance notes set out protocols that all parties involved in peatland restoration are required to follow to ensure that they stay within the constraints of the law.  

• Peatland Restoration and Breeding birds
• Species survey guidance and templates for field ecologists 

How do I learn about the techniques used in peatland restoration?

• Peatland ACTION - technical compendium - Overview of the procedural and technical requirements for peatland restoration in Scotland.
• Peatland ACTION - installing peat and plastic dams
• Peatland Learning Module - Discover more about peatlands in general, including their restoration, in the 15 minutes it takes to complete the Peatland Learning Module.
• Peatland ACTION - Scotland's Peatland Standard (coming soon)

The Peatland ACTION team have also put together a suite of technical restoration demonstration videos to help land managers and contractors learn about the techniques and their successful implementation on-the-ground.

View our Peatland ACTION playlist on our YouTube channel for a full list of techniques (ditch blocking, bunding, reprofiling, and surface smoothing).

Managing peatlands sustainably is important as healthy peatlands provide many benefits to people and nature. 

• Guidance for land managers - grazing peatlands
• Assessing herbivore impact for NatureScot Peatland ACTION applications
• Burning (Muirburn code)