MoorLIFE 2020 is a project which aims to conserve and protect Active Blanket Bog (ABB) within the South Pennine Moors Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and the ecosystem services it provides. The project is run by the Moors for the Future Partnership acting through the Peak District National Park Authority with funding from the EU LIFE fund, which supports environmental, nature conservation and climate action projects across Europe.

Environment Systems has been contracted to deliver:

● A series of land cover maps for moorlands
● Land management issues maps for land located within the SAC’s water catchments
● Land cover maps for land located within the SAC’s water catchments

The maps will be generated from multiple datasets including a mix of 6.5m Rapid Eye and 10m Sentinel satellite data and aerial photography. The finer resolution imagery is used for the segmentation of areas of interest with the coarser resolution satellite imagery to identify what the land cover is within those segmented areas.

The maps will be used to inform the planning of the land management capital works and serve as a baseline for monitoring the impact or the outcomes of the project. Typically these works might include:

● Stopping the erosion of the peat body by re-vegetating bare peat
● Raising water tables by blocking grips and erosion gullies
● Reducing wild re risk and increasing habitat resilience by diversifying homogenous vegetation
● Improving the hydrological integrity of the blanket bog by delivering and further developing Sphagnum (peat moss) reintroduction
● Increasing the resilience of ABB by increasing the diversity of speci c plant species
● Engaging with landowners, managers and local communities and visitors through a programme of events to promote appropriate land management