Is Peatland Edge Woodland an appropriate management option for afforested peatlands after harvesting?

Peatlands provide a range of ecosystem services including being a globally important carbon
store. During the 20th century large areas of northern peatlands were degraded by afforestation,
compromising their capacity to provide ecosystem services. There is increasing interest and
investment in the restoration of afforested peatland but also debate and uncertainty as to how
and when to restore peatlands. In 2014 and 2015 the Forestry Commission Scotland published
new guidance for the management of afforested peatland in Scotland which included the novel
proposal that some afforested peatlands should be converted to low density, low intensity,
predominately native woodlands – termed Peatland Edge Woodland (PEW). This thesis
investigates the concept of PEW, specifically focusing on:

1) How stakeholders with a professional interest in afforested peatlands and peatland
restoration in Scotland have responded to the concept of PEW. The investigation shows
that the concept of PEW has been interpreted differently by stakeholders of differing
ideological viewpoints. Stances range from complete opposition to the concept, to
identifying PEW as an innovative and useful approach to managing certain peatland areas;
individuals interested in establishing PEW were found in varied stakeholder groups
including public/private forestry and conservation NGOs.

2) How PEW impacts on carbon storage and greenhouse gas balance. The thesis explores
different aspects of how PEW may impact on carbon storage and greenhouse gas balance.
A PEW proxy habitat is shown to be capable of storing carbon in above-ground biomass,
but much less than in conventionally restocked plantations indicating that relying on
carbon sequestration in PEW trees may be ineffective. Another PEW proxy habitat
showed a plot with stunted tree growth had lower overall greenhouse gas emissions
relative to a treeless plot due to lowered peat surface methane emission without
significantly affected carbon dioxide fluxes, while the trees themselves were only a weak
source of methane.