# data[].attributes.body
We are finalising a COP-related web-based exhibition on artistic and scientific (archaeology, palaeoecology) representation of peatlands and their cultural history: https://deargreenbothy.gla.ac.uk/exhibition/bright-edge-deep-exhibition/ (I hope Kate's work will feature too - content in progress!)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bright Edge Deep: peatlands in history, cultural heritage, and climate | Online Exhibition
Opening on Monday 27 September
The Bright Edge Deep team presents an online exhibition inspired by the history, cultural heritage and restoration of peatlands. Through a variety of media - imagery and text, film and sound, poetry readings and lectures - the exhibition examines the scientific basis of peatlands as important ecosystems, and their role in capturing climate records and acting as climate mitigators. Visitors can explore this evolving exhibition through four major themes: Wilderness and Nature; Myths, Legends and the Spiritual; Landscapes of Power and Work; The Future of Peatlands.

Bright Edge Deep is led by a group of art historians, archaeologists and palaeoecologists with a concern for peatland heritage (past), management (present) and restoration (future). They aim to bring together artistic, historical, cultural and scientific representations of peatlands as moderators of climate change to enhance understanding of their role as historic landscapes and 'wild' places of cultural and natural value for the future.
The Team
Dr Nicki Whitehouse, Dr Gareth Beale and Professor Clare Willsdon (University of Glasgow), Dr Tom Gardner (Historic Environment Scotland), Dr Althea Davies (University of St. Andrews) Dr Ben Gearey (University College Cork) & Rosie Everett (University of Warwick).
Online Exhibition presented in partnership with:

The Hunterian Art Gallery and Museum, University of Glasgow

The Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland

Historic Environment Scotland

Related Events

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Dear Green Bothy - hosting creative and critical responses to climate emergency

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Marking Glasgow's hosting of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference - COP26 - in November 2021, The Dear Green Bothy is a programme of free public events and activities demonstrating the vital role played by the arts and humanities in understanding and addressing climate emergency.

# data[].attributes.body
This is RE-PEAT’s video on Peat and Wind Turbines - including contributions by Jon Maclean about Lewis Moorland Glossary, and Lewis Coenen-Rowe from Creative Carbon, and introducing the Nomadic Art Collective Ensayos. This session was talking a lot about artists involvement with energy issues, beginning with another RE-PEAT film -

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
UK Anthology Series Episode 5, Peatlands and Wind Turbines

# data[].attributes.body
RE-PEAT’s film on Peat and Land Ownership for the UK Anthology:

# data[].attributes.headline
More resources - From Kate Flood - Assigning value to cultural ecosystem services: The significance of memory and imagination in the conservation of Irish peatlands

# data[].attributes.subject
More resources - From Kate Flood - Assigning value to cultural ecosystem services: The significance of memory and imagination in the conservation of Irish peatlands

# data[].attributes.body
Some really interesting research from Ireland...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Flood et al 2021 Assigning value to cultural ecosystem services_The significance of memory and imagination in the conservation of Irish peatlands

# data[].attributes.headline
AALERT4DM - Artists and Peatlands workshop

# data[].attributes.subject
AALERT4DM - Artists and Peatlands workshop

# data[].attributes.body
The workshop is organised by the Arts and Artists in Landscape and Environment Research Today for Decision Making project (AALERT 4DM) and it is informed by the experiences of 3 key examples: Galloway Glens/Peatland Connections, Flows to the Futures and Re-Peat. It aims to reflect on these examples and develop a clear overview of the benefits of involving artists in peatland research and restoration to inform future programme development. This will be contextualised with research into the roles of artists in interdisciplinary and climate research as well as in social-environmental contexts.

# data[].attributes.body
The project aims to explore and enhance the contribution arts research can make in informing decision-making related to landscapes, land-use, and land assets.

# data[].attributes.body
AALERT is a transdisciplinary network that facilitates dialogue and debate between artists, scientists, philosophers, policy practitioners, decision makers and the public to articulate and advocate the role of arts research in communicating knowledge, opening-up different perspectives and creating new understandings of values within wider cross-disciplinary environmental research and decision making collaborations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A A L ER T is a transdisciplinary network that facilitates dialogue and debate between artists, scientists, philosophers, policy practitioners, decision makers and the public to articulate and advocate the role of arts research in communicating knowledge, opening-up different perspectives and creating new understandings of values within wider cross-disciplinary environmental research and decision making collaborations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A A L ER T is a transdisciplinary network that facilitates dialogue and debate between artists, scientists, philosophers, policy practitioners, decision makers and the public to articulate and advocate the role of arts research in communicating knowledge, opening-up different perspectives and creating new understandings of values within wider cross-disciplinary environmental research and decision making collaborations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Rathad an Isein. A Lewis moorland glossary by Anne Campbell.

# data[].attributes.headline
More resources - Homer Drawdown (in Alaska)

# data[].attributes.subject
More resources - Homer Drawdown (in Alaska)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.

Static and dynamic content editing

A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!

How to customize formatting for each rich text

Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.

For the last several years I have been creating work which explores humankind's (often fraught) relationship to the natural world. It is my belief that we are inextricably linked to the landscape and it is the loss of this connection that has resulted in many of the problems we are facing today, such as climate change.

In the unravelling of these thoughts, I've been looking at the disappearance of natural landscapes due to human intervention, the functions of the earth's surface layer in balancing global climate health, and Carbon as a source of both planetary balance and destabilization.

In his book 'Landmarks' Robert MacFarlane describes a theory whereby humankind's separation from the land, parallels the development of language. The theory postulates that the very act of naming indicates an awareness of the 'self' as separate, and all else as 'other.'

With this in mind I've been pondering the language of landscape. The classification and naming conventions for wetlands are extensive and alive with history. Aside from trying to fathom what distinguishes Peatlands from say a Marsh, I was puzzled by the word Peat and discovered its origins routed in the action of piecing and parceling - not a description of peatland composition or terrain as I expected.

The historic practice of slicing and cutting Peatlands appears deeply embedded in the DNA of the word. When I look at city planning maps for the Homer area, Peatlands' fate seems pre-determined by a series of rectangles mirroring on paper the familiar block shapes of turf.

Along with documenting the local "peatscape" during the Artist Residency I've been pondering the role Carbon plays in planetary degradation, drawing connections to ways in which the Earth's surface layers, can mitigate or contribute to the cycle of warming.

Looking into the ways of Carbon, one is constantly tripping over the terms organic and inorganic. Organic produce sequestered in plastic is typical of a worldwide cultural shift toward large Box Stores with convenience packaging, as a primary source of nutrition.

Plastic is a petroleum derived hydrocarbon. Modern day systems for the harvesting, storage and distribution of food, call attention to fossil fuel's placement in our food chain. Oil now supplies fertilizers and preservatives, as well as the means of transportation and container. We even pay for services and goods with oil in the form of plastic (credit cards). Plastic's effects on the human body are only just beginning to be understood.

Consumer driven practices contribute to climate destabilization, the drying of Peatlands and further release of Carbon into the atmosphere.

Uniquely positioned within Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, Alaska contains 65% of the nation's wetlands and is tasked, along with other Arctic Nations, with a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to maintain balance.

Could Peatlands (wetlands) become the new currency in a world that needs to buy time and reverse the clock on climate change? Could these landscapes become a primary mechanism of defense against the slow bombing of the planet with Carbon waste?

It is my hope that as a result of the Artist Residency experiences, I will produce artwork which communicates some of these ideas quickly in a universal and a clearly understood visual language, with an emphasis on Peatlands as both a potential asset and a cause for future concern.

‍

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content. Static and dynamic content editing A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content.

# data[].attributes.headline
More Resources - Kerry Morrison’s Pendle Peat Pie 

# data[].attributes.subject
More Resources - Kerry Morrison’s Pendle Peat Pie 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Pendle Peat Pie is a new regional dish developed by environment artist Kerry Morrison and local chef Andy Dean, in conversation with Sarah Robinson, a conservationist and ecologist.

This culinary collaboration promotes

awareness of the value of peat and peat restoration on Pendle Hill, opening up a dialogue about cultural traditions and the landscape.

The idea arose from a personal curiosity Kerry had about food named after places, for example, Eccles cakes, Chorley cake, Dundee cake, Bakewell Tart, Shrewsbury biscuits, and so on. Could we raise awareness about the value of peat through creating a Pendle culinary treat with the potential to become synonymous with the area and moreover, peat restoration? And if so, what would this food look like and taste like?

They played around with ideas for sound, look, texture, story, and taste. They also discussed culture, specifically food culture within east Lancashire. All are equally important and all needed addressing if the Pendle food we were about to create was to reach out to the different communities living in the region. There is no point creating a new food if no one wants to try it or if it doesn' fit with the regional palette.

The pie is a take on curry and chips. A pastry crust base filled with a brown lentil dhal (the peat) and chips (the coir logs). The pie is topped with a layer of miso jelly and spinach to represent water retention and new plant growth.

The pud is a rich dark chocolate pudding made with dark rye bread and seeds (representing seeds trapped and preserved in the peat layers) and sprinkled with pistachio Barfi (a Pakistani milk sweet). The pudding is served warm and when served, a rich chocolate sauce seeps out. Squidgy, dark, dense, anaerobic earth: Peat, with a sprinkle of new vegetative growth.

The story of Peat as a recipe for a regional dish

​

We often overlook the value of Peat. Healthy peat holds rainwater, which helps to prevent flooding in the valleys below. Healthy peat is a unique habitat for wildlife. Healthy peat is a carbon sink and holds more CO2 than a forest.

​

There are many issues connected to exposed peat, including loss of habitat for wildlife. Laid bare to the elements, rain is washing the bare peat away the wind is blowing the bare peat away. As this happens, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere CO2: a greenhouse gas. CO2 escaping into the atmosphere exasperates climate change. Peat being washed away enters watercourses depositing peat particles that suffocate fish eggs, thus reducing the number of fishes in rives, for example, brown trout. As the peat disappears, so does its ability to hold water. Rainwater flows down the hill and in downpours can cause flash flooding.

The restoration process is currently underway on Pendle Hill. Large Coir logs (made from the outer hush fibres of the coconut) have been placed across the channels creating dams to trap peat silt as it flows downhill. In a short period of time, around a year, peat silt builds up behind the coir logs creating a new reformed layer or bed of peat. These smooth, flat, surfaces, the depth of a coir log, (50cm) are being replanted with cotton grass, mosses and heather the peat blanket. The exposed peat hags have been flattened and spread out and replanted with cotton grass, mosses and heather. The bare peat, covered with a thin planting of cotton grass and a layer of heather brash cuttings - which contains seeds and mosses - is transformed from dark brown and exposed to shades of greens and browns formed by the new vegetation.

The habitat is being restored.

With two award-winning food producers lined up to The Pendle Peat Pie is set to go into production, to be available throughout the Pendle Hill area, along with an ice cream based on the Pendle Peat Pud. The launch date for this has been postponed in the current crisis, and we acknowledge the impact on local businesses who had signed up to the project. Read about Kerry's project adapting here ...

​

​

To read more about Kerry's research and findings click here

​

​

​

Commissioned by In-Situ as part of The Gatherings. It is funded by Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery Fund and Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The idea arose from a personal curiosity Kerry had about food named after places, for example, Eccles cakes, Chorley cake, Dundee cake, Bakewell Tart, Shrewsbury biscuits, and so on. Could we raise awareness about the value of peat through creating a Pendle culinary treat with the potential to become synonymous with the area and moreover, peat restoration?

# data[].attributes.headline
More resources - Mosses and Marshes Project

# data[].attributes.subject
More resources - Mosses and Marshes Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"The Mosses unique character interweaves human and non-human stories. Not only is it an internationally important wetland, but it has played a significant role throughout human history in this area. I hope to share my own responses to this place with others, to ask questions, inspire conversation and to help raise awareness of these places at a time of huge environmental change"
Andrew Howe

Art and the Environment

The arts play a vital role in connecting people, encouraging curiosity and engagement with landscape and nature. They can help with understanding of issues of water, sustainability and their interaction with humans. The Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield NNR offers exciting opportunities as a centre of exploration and creativity.

Andrew Howe aims to be a catalyst for others to make and share their own responses to the landscape via:

Collaborations with other artists

Residency projects

Engagement projects with schools and community groups

Exhibitions and artist talks

Walks, events and workshop activities

Andrew's own research involves:

On site observations and documenting through walks, collection of materials and recordings

Reading of academic texts on local history, geology, wetland ecology and conservation

Discussions with specialists and local community

Study of water and ecological site monitoring data

Creation of artworks presenting views of the interdependent relationships between humans, the land and its ecosystems

The Mosses and Marshes project

The Mosses and Marshes project spans two countries - the UK and Australia, both with Ramsar listed wetlands of international importance. It brings together artists, land managers and scientists to reimagine the future of these landscapes and the place they have in our communities.

In 2018, artists Andrew Howe (Shropshire, UK) and Kim V. Goldsmith (NSW, Australia) came together as part of the international art programme, Arts Territory Exchange.

Both artists have also worked for decades outside their practices in the natural resources and environment sector, and with their common interest in environmental issues, Howe and Goldsmith spent over a year exploring how they might create an international project presenting the areas of the Fenn's, Whixall and Bettisfield Mosses (UK) and Macquarie Marshes (Australia) alongside each other.

On the surface, these areas are vastly dissimilar - one is a raised peat bog inundated with water, the other severely impacted by ongoing drought. In addition, the landscape, the issues and management of the Mosses and Marshes all differ in response to their respective climatic and environmental conditions. However, both are natural sites of international significance, and both have an impact on or are impacted by land uses.

The interpretation of water data for both sites, along with access to them from field trips, provides an opportunity to present these spaces creatively through a new lens, in a way not routinely experienced. This in turns gives managing bodies, and those with an interest in the Mosses and Marshes, a chance to put the spotlight on why they are so important and how they might be managed in future. As Ramsar-listed international wetlands of importance, these sites "are recognized as being of significant value not only for the country or the countries in which they are located, but for humanity as a whole." Recent events, such as the bush fires across Australia, demonstrate how fragile and vulnerable these landscapes are to climate change.

Andrew Howe (UK) and Kim V. Goldsmith (Australia) are co-leading the project . Andrew Howe is partnering with Shropshire Wildlife Trust and Natural England as they carry out their scrapyard restoration and peatbog conservation projects, while Kim has been partnering with the Macquarie Wetlands Association, as well as tapping into the knowledge of various wetland and water management specialists to explore elements of the Macquarie Marshes.

On the back of funding secured in Australia via a grant through Regional Arts NSW and a two-month crowdfunding campaign, the artists are hugely grateful to Arts Council England for project grant funding from the National Lottery. This enables Howe and Goldsmith to work with five other artists: Elizabeth Turner and Keith Ashford, Sue Challis, Kate Johnston and Lydia Halcrow, artist/curator Gudrun Filipska of Arts Territory Exchange, Mediaactive Projects CIC and local partners Wem Youth Club and Shropshire Wildlife Trust

The process of developing this project would be via a series of on-site residencies, with the lead artists, consisting of field trips and other events to gather information and material. In later project phases, it is intended that residencies may be extended to invited artists.

During 2021, the artists will utilise available water data, studies, and the expertise of those who manage the Mosses and Marshes, alongside site visits, to create works that respond to issues of the day, and the projected future of the wetlands and adjoining areas.

The resulting works may be presented in a range of formats for online viewing and in physical exhibitions within each wetland's catchment, as well as internationally. The intention is to have an exchange exhibition, showing the works, the research and documentation of the behind the scenes processes. The first exhibition will be at Qube, Oswestry. See Events for updates on what is happening.

Andrew Howe

Andrew is an interdisciplinary artist and project manager, based in Shrewsbury, working solo and in collaboration with other practitioners and community groups.

He uses walking and mapping to explore how people interact with places, informed by experience of over 30 years in engineering and environmental consulting.

His practice includes painting, collage, photography, printmaking, books, and digital media. Work has been shown in both solo and group exhibitions, and he has created commissioned work and curated exhibitions. A member of Meadow Arts' network of creative practitioners, Andrew is experienced in delivering arts engagement projects with schools, community groups and in public workshops.

Visit his website for further information: andrew-howe.com

Contact Andrew for more information or to get involved.

Arts Territory Exchange

"The Arts Territory Exchange (aTE) comprises of a global network of artists and art practices which respond to the geography of their territory of production. Beginning with a simple correspondence programme in which artists are paired up to exchange works and ideas, aTE exists to both germinate otherwise impossible dialogue between remote and disconnected practices and to bring to an audience a global artwork in the form of an accumulating library of artefacts and debate" Arts Territory Exchange website

Find out more:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"The Mosses unique character interweaves human and non-human stories. Not only is it an internationally important wetland, but it has played a significant role throughout human history in this area. I hope to share my own responses to this place with others, to ask questions, inspire conversation and to help raise awareness of these places...

# data[].attributes.headline
What are the benefits of this way of working?

# data[].attributes.subject
What are the benefits of this way of working?

# data[].attributes.body
Why do artistic approaches lend themselves to this topic?

Who are the beneficiaries?

How do we better align with climate justice?

# data[].attributes.headline
What kinds of outcomes could your art-conservation project have?

# data[].attributes.subject
What kinds of outcomes could your art-conservation project have?

# data[].attributes.body
How will its outcomes be disseminated and to which audiences?

What knowledge is most needed to make sure peatlands and communities around them thrive?

# data[].attributes.headline
What kinds of challenges might come up? How could these be overcome? 

# data[].attributes.subject
What kinds of challenges might come up? How could these be overcome? 

# data[].attributes.body
How do we address the disconnect between universities and land management decisions?

# data[].attributes.body
What changes need to be made to the way projects are funded to ensure a commitment over time?

# data[].attributes.body
What kinds of creative approaches are in the mix?

How can you empower grassroots activities through art and research?

# data[].attributes.body
Where would you find an artist to work with a peatland scientist?

What resources are required to support the collaboration?

# data[].attributes.body
Please post your answers, comments or own questions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
RE-PEAT is a youth-led collective pushing for a peatland paradigm shift through collaboration, education, and a process of re-imagining.

# data[].attributes.headline
Hannah Imlach and Caroline Eccles – Flows to the Future

# data[].attributes.subject
Hannah Imlach and Caroline Eccles – Flows to the Future

# data[].attributes.headline
Kate Foster and Emily Taylor – Peatland Connections/ Peat Cultures/ Galloway Glens

# data[].attributes.subject
Kate Foster and Emily Taylor – Peatland Connections/ Peat Cultures/ Galloway Glens

# data[].attributes.headline
Ecoartscotland blogposts - Kate Foster and Claire Pencak

# data[].attributes.subject
Ecoartscotland blogposts - Kate Foster and Claire Pencak

# data[].attributes.body
Piloting Strategies, Arts and Land Use. Kate Foster and Claire Pencak

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Kate Foster and Claire Pençak have written this article to highlight the ways that they as artists (visual and dance/choreographic), have been engaged with land use and in particular the development of Land Use Strategy for Scotland through the Borders Region Pilot. The article specifically responds to a previous piece on ecoartscotland which asks "What can the arts contribute to a Land Use Strategy for Scotland?"

Some of the really central challenges for artists working with land use issues are highlighted by Kate Foster and Claire Pençak including the discipline and practice specific languages used by environmental scientists and land managers as well as the dominance of Geographical Information Systems technologies. Kate Foster and Claire Pençak's projects demonstrate some of the best approaches that can be learnt from the past 60 years of ecoart and the longer history of art.
Introduction
Previous posts on this topic have pointed out that government policy has made an ecosystems service approach central. This opens up questions of what to place value on, and if, and when, it is helpful to monetise an ecosystem service. Too often human interests only are considered, leading to ongoing over-exploitation of 'natural capital'. There has also been concern that intangible cultural elements cannot be recognised by an approach dominated by Geographical Information Systems, and mapping only what exists on the ground.

This article provides an outline of how we (choreographer Claire Pençak and environmental artist Kate Foster, who both live in the Scottish Borders), have worked in parallel to the regional Land Use Strategy pilot that was conducted in Borders Region.

Creative practices can contribute ways of relating to place, and offer alternative meanings and insights that escape conventional appraisal. Artists can act as connectors between disparate approaches, and re-enchant what is overlooked. The work we describe below is marked by a commitment to improvisation and responding to context. Our consistent theme is finding ways for rural-based arts practice to engage with contemporary concerns, regional and international.
Some background to the Land Use Strategy
In way of background information, the government Land Use Strategy initiative stems from the 2009 Climate Change Act (Scotland). The Scottish Borders along with Aberdeenshire was selected to develop a Pilot Regional Strategy, which would ultimately inform the revision of the national Land Use Strategy, to be published later this year. In our region, the process was led by Scottish Borders Council in partnership with Tweed Forum who co-ordinated the stakeholder engagement programme. Tweed Forum is a membership organisation whose collective purpose is to enhance and restore the rich natural, built, and cultural heritage of the River Tweed and its tributaries.

The Land Use Strategy regional framework in the Scottish Borders was developed through mapping and a series of public consultations to seek the views of communities. This came to our attention as it coincided with Working the Tweed, a Creative Scotland Year of Natural Scotland 2013 project which was an artist led partnership project between Tabula Rasa Collaborations, Tweed Forum and Southern Uplands Partnership.

From our vantage point, it was obvious that the LUS pilot strategy was beckoning to artists to contribute to it, but it was a question of how?

The following sections describe different art projects that were considerations of aspects of land use, emerging during the period between the Climate Change Act (Scotland, 2009) and the conclusion of the draft consultation for the Land Use Strategy 2016-2021, in January 2016. We were aware of the pilot regional strategy taking place in our area, and engaged with it by attending public meetings and filling in questionnaires. This activity fed into our work; we were inspired by the ambition of sustainable land use and searched for a way that we could contribute to the debate in a way that was meaningful for us - both as artists and as local residents.
A catchment map as a talking point
Seeking to engage with the Land Use Strategy, we found the vocabulary and frames of reference were clearly suitable for conversing with land managers and land owners who were knowledgeable and skilled at the interface with government and agriculture. We could sense that the kind of language used could be impenetrable, and wouldn't empower the broader community to connect with the ideas, which is what Tweed Forum were keen to do. Having been to a few of the public consultations, we found it tricky to know how to engage with what seemed a very prescribed, compartmentalised and 'male' approach.

The Land Use Strategy pilot project used catchments to identify localities - an idea we had also used as a motif map for Working the Tweed (a project that is described in more detail below). Because a catchment map was not cheaply available in the public domain, we made a hand-drawn version. We found it an evocative image to engage with people. Looking at this catchment drawing moves you from the predominant perception of the Scottish Borders as a series of discrete small towns, towards seeing it as a region connected by the dense network of tributaries to the Tweed. This was an effective means for us to generate conversation and elicit local knowledge and viewpoints, for example by taking stalls in annual agricultural shows.
A Riverside Meeting concerning Resources and Land Use
Working the Tweed was an artist-led Year of Natural Scotland 2013 project that was planned prior to the Land Use Strategy pilot project. It was a nine-month programme that focussed on the diverse ways that people were working with the Tweed waters. It included a series of six riverside meeting with different themes. These meetings brought together professional creative practitioners living and working in the Tweed Catchment with scientists and environmentalists, to stimulate discussion, exchange and creative responses. They took place at different locations in the Tweed Catchment, and each meeting explored a different theme related to the Tweed Catchment Management Plan.

A first step in making the ideas behind the Land Use Strategy more accessible was to use the final Riverside Meeting to focus on two policy strategies being developed in parallel in the Scottish Borders: for culture as well as land use. The final Riverside Meeting - Mapping the Future Scottish Borders - took place at The Lees fishing shiel on the Tweed at Coldstream and explored the themes of Water Resources and Land Use. Derek Robeson, Senior Project Officer at Tweed Forum, introduced the Land Use Strategy in relation to the Tweed Rivers through the frames of Environment, Culture and Economy. It was an opportunity to look at the maps that had been created through the lens of the Land Use Strategy (e.g. Biodiversity Networks and Resilience, Sporting and Recreation, Agricultural Crops) and to consider land use in the field through a riverside walk. The meeting placed the Land Use Strategy alongside the parallel development of a Cultural Strategy for the Scottish Borders which was introduced by Mary Morrison, Director of the Creative Arts Business Network. This brought a focus on cultural landscapes to the session. The final contributor David Welsh introduced an historical perspective, with his detailed knowledge of how the line of the Border has shifted around each field and burn in its path. In the year of the Independence Referendum this had an added potency. The session as a whole provided a challenge to how artists can work with complex histories and geographies, and engage with uncertain futures. It is fully reported on this link.

At this Riverside Meeting, the point was made that the lifetime of deciduous trees defied the short time frames for which policy is made, typically a five-year period. The mature trees along the River Tweed are evidence of much older strategies of land management.
Salmon scale - a link to different places and timescales
The catchment map acted as a motif for the Working the Tweed project, and provided an overview of our region. This was complemented by looking at something close-up, a scale from the skin of a Salmon (which is smaller than a finger nail). Looking at magnified scales from migratory fish offered us another lens to perceive different rhythms of time and place that might influence daily life and work in our region.

Like a tree ring, a Trout or Salmon embodies a pattern of its growth into its scales. The Tweed Foundation collects scales from anglers, and accumulates data that helps interpret seasonal changes in the fishing catch. With a microscope an expert eye might see - for example - that a Salmon lived for two winters in the river, with a further winter at sea before returning to the Tweed to spawn.

These scales inspire a step backwards, to consider the larger picture. These fish deserve the name 'Atlantic Salmon' because they belong to a species who use ocean currents to drift to cold subarctic waters. Rich feeding to the west of Greenland allows them to mature before returning to their home river in mating mood.

There is room for speculation about future patterns that will be read in Salmon scales. Within ten years perhaps, the North Pole will become a navigable ocean, allowing seasonal passage to the Pacific. What impact will warming oceans have on their migration patterns and the patterns of their scales?

Thus a drawing of a Salmon scale became a second project motif, conveying connectedness to oceans, and hence the world. This led to the reflection that the Land Use pilot strategy was only considering land use within the administrative remit area. From such a narrow frame, events in wider geographical scales become 'irrelevant'. Conversely, impacts on areas beyond the boundaries as a result of local land use can remain unconsidered.

This is a paradox for legislation stemming from a Climate Change Act, dealing with an international problem that is hard to fix in time or place, and where the actions of people in one place are acknowledged to have distant effects. To quote from an article by the academic Timothy Clark:
Climate change disrupts the scale at which one must think, skews categories of internal and external and resists inherited closed economies of accounting or explanation. (2012, page 7)
Artists can contribute reminders of the unruliness of more-than-human timescales, explore the possible meanings and experience of climate change, and question the deranged scales in common currency.

We would argue that Salmon are integral to the identity of the Tweed Catchment, and its welfare cannot be seen as separate to the wellbeing of humans.
Approaching Choreography: A Proposal for Engagement
Following Working the Tweed, Claire Pençak began a research project funded through a Creative Scotland Artist Bursary by considering what a choreographic approach to thinking about Land Use might yield.

Approaching Choreography was an attempt to articulate an environmentally sensitive approach to dance-making and choreography through the frames of Placing and Perspective; Pathways Through; Meetings and Points of Contact and Working with Materials and Sites. It reflects on our positioning and shifts the emphasis from taking centre 'stage' towards margins and sidelines. This alternative framework emerged out of a series of riverside improvisations and conversations with dancers Merav Israel and Tim Rubidge, environmental artist Kate Foster and writer/researcher Dr. Wallace Heim. These took place on the Ettrick and Yarrow Waters in the Scottish Borders, and the East and West Allen Rivers in Northumberland.

Claire writes:

Choreography is concerned with space and I started by exchanging the idea of 'space' for that of 'habitat', and thought of the dancer as both creating and revealing habitat. Through this lens, habitat could be understood as 'action spaces' and land use became something that could be considered as performative, emerging and improvisational.

From this I developed a score as a way to proceed, a way to assist imaginative engagement, a way into playful encounters with land.

Further information is available here.

The score offers sixty examples of ways that habitat could be interpreted and worked by the diversity of species that use it - birds, fish, insects, mammals, plants and trees. It is easily understood, does not rely on land management knowledge and acknowledges multi-species. It suggests potential zones of action - on the ground, under the ground and over ground; on the water, underwater and in the air. The score can be cut up, shared, read out and passed on. Further information is available here.

This thinking was made into a small illustrated A6 booklet ( Approaching Choreography: A Proposal for Engagement) as part of a collaborative project, Speculative Ground which was conducted with Jen Clarke and Rachel Harkness of Aberdeen University.
Stone Lives
Stone Lives was commissioned by Aberdeen University as a contribution to the Speculative Ground project which also included an exhibition curated by Jennifer Clark and Rachel Harkness at the Anthropological Association Decennial Conference in Edinburgh, in June 2014.

Stone Lives developed from an investigation of riverbank ecology at the meeting point of the Ettrick and Yarrow, at Philliphaugh near Selkirk. Our arrival at the riverbank in an afternoon in late May coincided with a hatch of Stone Flies - aquatic insects emerging from the water to find a stone to air themselves, and shed their final larval form. The river was low and we could walk on the smoothed rock, ancient mudstones shaped and sifted by ice and water.

This is an extract from Kate's writing on this piece:

This set me on a trail, I collected husks for some days after - keen to find them before river levels rose. I searched online too, learning that of all the insects that live in water, Stone Flies need the cleanest water. They are ecological indicators of healthy streams, flattened and adapted to be able to cling to stones in rapid currents. Apart from Trout who devour them, they are best known to fishermen, river ecologists and entomologists. As one source remarks: "they are rather endearing little creatures once you get to know them".

The fossil record of Stone Flies stretches far back to the Permian, but their adult life is brief. A juxtaposition of Stone and Fly offers simultaneity at different timescales - a 'so-far story' (an idea that is further discussed in an article with Dr. Leah Gibbs and Claire Pençak available here).

Stone Lives became an artwork inviting anthropologists at an international conference to share a sense of stone, and life supported.

Further documentation of Stone Lives is available here.
A bioregional sensibility
We have, so far, offered examples of how visual art, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary events, field work, and improvisational dance practices might offer further ways of thinking about land use. In combination, these directed us towards an ambition of bioregional sensibility, that has been articulated by Mitchell Thomashow:

'Developing the observational skills to patiently observe bioregional history, the conceptual skills to juxtapose scales, the imaginative faculties to play with multiple landscapes, and the compassion to empathize with local and global neighbours - these qualities are the foundation of a bioregional sensibility...'
M. Thomashow, 'Cosmopolitan Bioregionalism', Bioregionalism, ed. M. V. McGinnis (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 121-32 (pp. 130-31)
Borders Sheepscapes
An earlier project by Kate Foster, Borders Sheepscapes, was an exploration of sheep farming as a major land use in the Scottish Borders. This project is highlighted because it contributed a dimension to our thinking about Land Use Strategies, which are human-centred. The artist's process of drawing in the field articulated some of the human resources of knowledge, skill and design underlying workaday pastoral scenery - as well as the part that sheep play in producing landscape. This project intended to shift humans from centre stage in landscape appreciation and reached towards a multispecies way of understanding how humans exist in the world.

A later addition to this body of work explored the widespread use of palm oil in livestock fodder through the example of an automated milk supply for orphaned lambs.

This work explored both the welcome benefit 'Lac-tek' brought to the farmers and possibly the orphaned lambs, and also the presence of palm and coconut oil in the sheeps-milk substitute (and many other animal feeds). Palm oil is an example of a highly controversial commodity, because increasing demand for this product has led to expansion of plantation monoculture in tropical countries, undermining climate change mitigation and creating further environmental injustice.
Carbon Landscapes
The Climate Change Act (Scotland) was a starting point for the Land Use Strategy. Atmospheric pollution by greenhouse gases is a complicated science, but there are straightforward ways that the movement of carbon can be inferred. These are not widely understood. Kate is piloting collaborative work that explores what artists can add to the environmental science of Carbon Landscapes.

The project Flux Chamber created a guide to carbon riverscapes with Dr. David Borthwick and Professor Susan Waldron of Glasgow University.

You need to have thought about what Carbon Landscapes consist of before you can start to see where carbon exchange between different reservoirs (terrestrial, marine, atmospheric) is taking place. If people are to protect naturally stored carbon, we need to develop sensibility to see how carbon is gained, lost and recycled.

For Peatland Actions, Kate worked with Nadiah Rosli on another pilot project exploring carbon landscapes, that brought together different experiences of the use and exploitation of peatlands in Scotland and South East Asia. The name of the work was derived from a government programme of peatland restoration, and this piece was shown at the exhibition Submerge, as part of the ArtCOP 2015 programme at the Stove Network, Dumfries.

Nadiah Rosli used social media communications to convey how the toxic haze, that now frequently spreads from Indonesia to other countries in South East Asia, has come to feel normal to her family and friends in Malaysia. The haze from illegal fires makes blue sky something to exclaim about.

Here is an extract from Kate's description of this collaborative work:

Until recently Mosses have not been valued for their 'ecosystem services' but peatbogs are the most effective carbon sinks known. Conversely, peat releases greenhouse gases when it is exposed. Damaged Scottish peatlands are being restored using public money for climate mitigation - but at the same time, peat extraction is pursued privately, for example at Nutberry Moss. I see this, passing by on the A75 to Carlisle. For me (Kate), this grim landscape of carbon emission is a glimpse from the car window. Nadiah Rosli has had to breathe far more damaging airs - the thick toxic haze from fires raging in Indonesian carbon-rich peatlands. Nadiah has courageously communicated about the situation in which Indonesian rainforest is burnt to allow commodity production (including palm oil and paper pulp for western markets). Her approach insists on a focus on environmental justice, including the idea that land abuse should be understood as a crime whose victims include humans exposed to the consequences of atmospheric pollution, amongst many other species.

Summarising thoughts
These are ways in which we as artists have worked to open out political attention to land use, to include more-than-human and intangible cultural viewpoints. Short-term economic gain for humans is often the main consideration within our globalised economy. However artist-led projects can explore how different kinds of land use bring both benefits and loss to different parties, by adopting an ecocentric viewpoint and juxtaposing different timeframes and geographical scales. In common with other strands of contemporary art, this work seeks to shift humans from centre stage in landscape appreciation. The anthropocentric idea that extraction of commodities is endlessly possible is challenged by eco-artwork that refuses to work within the deranged scales that are endorsed elsewhere.

Academic work informs our practices in different ways, for example there is a trend in the study of international relations that takes ecology into account. Also, the environmental humanities are producing multispecies perspectives: as Deborah Bird Rose argues, if we fail to grasp the connectivities between human and nonhuman, we cannot have insight into the ramifications of anthropogenic extinction and miss 'our entangled responsibilities and accountabilities.'

Artists can work with these pioneering and inspiring influences to produce multi-layered understandings of place, which can also be thought of as developing a bioregional sensibility. This feeds into a process of shifting aesthetic appreciation, and being able to recognise patterns of land use - as well as land abuse - within global processes. We would also wish to take the more complex step of helping develop the relationships to place and its inhabitants, humans and others, that a contemporary land ethic requires.
Kate Foster and Claire Pençak, February 2016
ecoartscotland would be interested in hearing from other artists who have undertaken regionally specific and durational work that addresses land use and strategy. Please comment below.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Kate Foster and Claire Pençak have written this article to highlight the ways that they as artists (visual and dance/choreographic), have been engaged with land use and in particular the development of Land Use Strategy for Scotland through the Borders Region Pilot. The article specifically responds to a previous piece on ecoartscotland which asks "What...

# data[].attributes.body
Scroll down   https://peatcultures.wordpress.com/category/event/

Mending the Blanket

As a film (also as booklet and postcards) (2020):

https://peatcultures.wordpress.com/2020/10/28/mending-the-blanket-2/

# data[].attributes.body
Crichton Carbon Centre: ‘Turning Research into Action’

https://www.carboncentre.org/

Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership

https://gallowayglens.org/

Peatland Action: ‘delivering peatland restoration across Scotland’

https://www.nature.scot/climate-change/nature-based-solutions/peatland-action-project

Scotland’s Climate Change Plan: a link to the framework within which peatland restoration operates. Please note how it is sector-based.

https://www.gov.scot/policies/climate-change/

# data[].attributes.headline
Peatland Connections: ‘Connecting us back to our beautiful peatlands.’

# data[].attributes.subject
Peatland Connections: ‘Connecting us back to our beautiful peatlands.’

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Connecting with our beautiful peatlands | Peatland Connections

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Peatland Connections is connecting people back to their local peatlands through arts, science and culture. We consider and ask "what do peatlands mean to us and what value do they hold?" Posing this question through our project workshops and activities we can help inform land use in our local area and further afield.

# data[].attributes.body
Introduction by Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership

# data[].attributes.body
Artist's project highlighting diverse cultural values of peatlands

# data[].attributes.headline
More resources - The blog from the Sexy Peat project 

# data[].attributes.subject
More resources - The blog from the Sexy Peat project 

# data[].attributes.headline
More resources - Reiko Goto and Tim Collins 'Deep Mapping Lough Boora Sculpture Park'

# data[].attributes.subject
More resources - Reiko Goto and Tim Collins 'Deep Mapping Lough Boora Sculpture Park'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
with additional writing by Gill Fremantle

Tim Collins and Reiko Goto Collins have spent the past year visiting the Midlands of Eire undertaking a Deep Mapping of Lough Boora. The thing they were invited to visit is a twenty-year old Sculpture Park looking for a new direction. The resulting publication By Collis and Goto is intended to contribute to the goal of an "exceptional and sustainable artistic vision" which will inform the future development of this Sculpture Park in the Land and Environmental Arts facility in Lough Boora Discovery Park.

Below you will find some key points on why peatlands are a current focus of policy intervention, and then you'll find some examples of other artists and writers drawing attention to peatlands, working with scientists and communities, and representing peatlands to distant communities.

Collins and Goto describe 'deep mapping' as, "an attempt to become conscious of a place and its multiple layers of experience, meaning and value." They say that is ideally a collective exercise which requires, "a commitment to lived histories and current discourse, walking and talking with a wide mix of people wherever possible."

The land of Lough Boora Sculpture Park has a long and varied story to be interrogated. 10,000 years ago, with the end of late Devensian Glaciation, the depositing of fen plants, forest, heather and sphagnum started a process of forming the raised bogs.

This landscape became the focus of resource extraction which "heated irish homes for centuries" and created jobs, prosperity and communities. Eventually, however, the move from resource extraction to renewable energy and land management became the new driver of change.

The development of the award-winning Sculpture Park in the new millennium brought a different animation to the landscape as aesthetic and community values became of greater importance. This transformation of the land was both a success and a struggle. Just as the choices to previously experimentally reinvent the land with a variety of planting techniques was never straight forward, so it was with how to best make art which "opens a space to imagine new social, ecological and economic relationships."

Read more on Tim Collins and Reiko Goto-Collins on Deep Mapping, 'A dialogue about bogs, energy, art and landscape futures' and listen to a narrative of the project...

You can download the Collins + Goto Deep Mapping book as a pdf or order a physical copy.

Why peat?

Peatlands are currently a focus at international, national and regional levels including in global environmental policy, UK and other national policy, and in Scottish Government policy and strategy.

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, along with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Wetlands International and other institutions launched the Global Peatlands Initiative at the UNFCCC COP22 in 2016. This highlights,

"Peat is partially decayed plant material that accumulates under water-logged conditions over long time periods. Natural areas covered by peat are called peatlands. Terms commonly used for specific peatland types are peat swamp forests, fens, bogs or mires. Peat is found around the world - in permafrost regions towards the poles and at high altitudes, in coastal areas, beneath tropical rainforest and in boreal forests.

Peatlands store large amounts of carbon. Although they cover less than three per cent of global land surface, estimates suggest that peatlands contain twice as much as in the world's forests."

And goes on to highlight threats,

"The major threat to the peat carbon stocks globally is drainage. Drained peatlands are mainly used for agriculture and forestry, and peat is extracted for horticulture and energy production. Drainage of peatlands and poor management can result in a variety of problems, the most obvious of which are large and persistent peat fires, such as those in parts of Southeast Asia and Russia in recent years.

In addition to the often reported recent loss of tropical peatlands, degradation remains a significant source of emissions in many temperate and boreal countries after decades of non-sustainable use. In boreal areas, permafrost is thawing, causing land subsidence and potentially leading to high greenhouse gas emissions. Further degradation and loss of peat ecosystems, regardless of their location, could seriously hamper climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts and the achievement of the Paris Agreement."

The UK Government's Office of National Statistics (ONS) Natural Capital Account has a section on Peatlands which highlights,

around 12% of the UK land area.

provides over a quarter of the UK's drinking water and

stores a significant amount of carbon making it an

important habitat for providing both provisioning and regulating ecosystem.

major tourist destination and provide cultural history

form some of the UK's most extensive wild spaces and are

rich in rare and endangered wildlife boosting the UK's biodiversity.

Key UK challenges identified include:

peatlands form both the highest and lowest value agricultural lands

agriculture on lowland peats, mainly in the east of England, include areas of high cropping value. However, this activity on peatlands has a negative impact on the peat from drainage and ploughing activities. It is estimated croplands on peat emit a total of 7,600 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents per year (kt CO2e yr-1) in the UK.

Key drivers of peatland restoration programmes:

conservative estimates of the benefits of meeting the committee on climate change objective of having 55% of peatland in good status were of the order of £45 billion to £51 billion over the next 100 years.

Further detail can be found here https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/uknaturalcapitalforpeatlands/naturalcapitalaccounts

Artists and Writers

Robert Macfarlane's essay on 'counter-desecration' challenges the assumption that the Brindled Moor on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides is a 'wet desert'. He draws together the arguments for understanding the moor as a lived in place with a deep cultural history and not merely terra nulis to be used for a wind farm. His essay re-frames our understanding of the landscape with the explicit intention of affecting landscape decision-making. Macfarlane on the essay which appears in his collection Landmarks.

In Situ and The Gatherings - part of the Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership

The Gatherings is a strand of work developed by arts organisation 'In-Situ' http://www.in-situ.org.uk/ as part of the £2.4m Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership scheme, managed by Forest of Bowland AONB. In-Situ characterises itself as 'embedding arts into everyday life'.

The Gatherings is described as follows,

" The Gatherings came about because of the recognition for the need to open up access to the Pendle Hill Landscape and introduce artists and creative processes to explore the hill and its past, its ecosystems and the way people connect with it. As In-Situ, we are able to bring to the project our experience of working with people in place connecting people and re-positioning how we experience a place through art or artists interventions and processes, which often involve conversation, listening and working in response to these.

Through The Gatherings we are aiming to find longer term approaches and collaborations with artists and embedding artists into longer term programmes. Through differences in the way we commission artists, support the artistic process and encourage a slower, more embedded way of working in place, we are challenging the traditional ways that artists are commissioned to work in the landscape.

Rather than bring something to a place and say "this is art", we aim to find better or more embedded ways to work with artists in the landscape that lead to more unexpected, subtle or meaningful interventions - and there is likely not be a visible permanent end result. This is challenging because it involves risk on both sides, as it is not always clear what the result or methods will be from the outset, and is a slow process involving investment of time in getting many people on board and talking and revising, honing ideas in a collaborative way." https://pendlehillproject.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-gatherings-what-its-all-about.html?m=1

In Situ have delivered a number of elements within the Partnership, including:

1. commissioning a bespoke mobile hut, a touring art space, to be used as part of engagement across the project https://www.in-situ.org.uk/pendle-hut

2. artists Daisy James and Hannah Kay, aka Lunchtime Practice have been working on an archaeology commission called 'Beyond the Dig' https://www.in-situ.org.uk/lunchtime-practice

3. a full-scale touring performance based on Five Verses on Six Sacks of Earth, a micro opera by artists Nastassja Simensky and Rebecca Lee. https://www.in-situ.org.uk/5-stacks

4. 'Pendle Peat Pie' is a new regional dish developed by environment artist Kerry Morrison and local chef Andy Dean, in conversation with Sarah Robinson, a Conservationist and Ecologist. https://www.in-situ.org.uk/peat-pie

5. Working with peatland ecologists to engage public in restoration processes (by asking people to carry small bags containing Cotton Grass up the hill with them for planting at the top), potentially to be developed into large scale performative work;

6. Isabella Martin will be exploring the Pendle landscape and learning about the heritage of its drystone walls and hedges working with rural business partners.

Peat Cultures, Kate Foster's work in the context of the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership. She worked with the Crichton Carbon Centre to pilot aspects of a wider project, Peatland Connections (2020-2023), which has a twin focus on restoration and engagement.

Foster's approach draws on 'citizen science' approaches opening up the work of ecologists and hydrologists to wider participation. A future series of workshops will enable those living in and around the Galloway Glens to understand the scientific processes of data gathering, measurement, etc, underpinning the peatland restoration project through hands on participation.

You can read a more detailed summary in Creative Carbon Scotland's Library of Creative Sustainability. And joint blog post between Kate Foster and Kerry Morrison here.

Foster has also undertaken a residency in Wageningen University in the Netherlands with a creative investigation, Veencultuur, concerning entwined Dutch peatland histories. She supports the work of Re-Peat, including participation in the 24 hour Global Peat Fest. RE-PEAT is an international youth-lead organisation registered in The Netherlands, with members in the United Kingdom, Germany, Estonia, Sweden, and Chile. Re-peat's creative campaigns include members studying peat at a university level, working with peat in a scientific field, and also simply amateur enthusiasts.

'Mending the Blanket', pantea and Kate Foster, 2020.

Kate says,

"We made this short animated film to show how wetlands are now being valued across the world. An example from a remote part of Southern Scotland pays tribute to the commitment needed to restore a 'blanket' peatbog. Our Iranian - Scottish creative collaboration seeks to find new ways to say why wetlands benefit people, wildlife and landscape."

Hannah Imlach, Cryptic and Flows to the Future

Flows to the Future, a Landscape Partnership led by RSPB and focused on the peatlands in Caithness and Sutherland, involved a number of artists residencies including by Hannah Imlach. The following film introduces Hannah's approach.

You can read Hannah Imlach's thoughts about working with Flows to the Future here.

Cryptic, a Glasgow based internationally-renowned producing art house, brought the Flow Country Blanket Bog to the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh in 2019 with the installation Below the Blanket, https://www.cryptic.org.uk/portfolio/below-the-blanket/

Note

A previous version of this was prepared for Art and Artists in Landscape and Environmental Research Today (AALERT) Landscape Decisions (AALERT 4DM) project and we are planning to develop further resources on this subject. Please contact ecoartscotland if you have other examples of arts, design and creative approaches to working with peat and peatlands that you think contribute to landscape decision-making.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Deep Mapping Lough Boora - artists and peatlands

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
with additional writing by Gill Fremantle Tim Collins and Reiko Goto Collins have spent the past year visiting the Midlands of Eire undertaking a Deep Mapping of Lough Boora. The thing they were invited to visit is a twenty-year old Sculpture Park looking for a new direction.

# data[].attributes.body
series of videos

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As preparations commence for the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP26) and the World Congress on Soil Science (WCSS22), the whole world will be looking to the UK for climate & ecological ambition and action. And, while the UK politicians are still (re)writing policy after leaving the EU, the possibilities for local transformation and more radical decision-making seem well within reach. 2021 may be one of the most crucial points in history to "Zoom" into peatlands in the UK.

​

The UK Anthology Series is a 10 episode webinar series running from March to December 2021, which connects peatlands to a number of intertwined topics; such as social justice, environmental issues and specific UK or international policies. The series will bring together perspectives from a variety of disciplines and angles and every episode will include some kind of artistic responses that can help us feel the issue as well as think about it. This may take the the form of poetry, dance, music, comedy, puppetry or something else. Throughout the series, the focus is on amplifying voices that are not traditionally given a platform, including young people, people of colour, working class, and other voices that are often marginalised . The UK Anthology Series links to a number of larger initiatives, and thus encourages a wider engagement around why UK peatlands matter!

​

Each of the 10 sessions is relevant for newcomers and experts alike.

info@re-peat.eath

Note that sessions are donation based, you can sign up on our Eventbrite

As such we will explore:

why both peatlands and forestry are important tools against the climate crisis

the history of planting trees on peatlands and why this is detrimental to the natural world and to environmental aims

why only planting trees should not be treated as a panacea

some campaigns that have advocated for peatlands not be planted on

some forest-to-bog restoration projects

As usual there will be plenty of visuals and creative elements involved - sure to be a fascinating session!

19.00-19.10 - Mentimeter activity: What words come to mind when you think of peatlands? What words come to mind when you think of forests? Submission and discussion of these - you can enter your words here already!
19.10-19.15 - Introduction of facilitator and short introduction to the series + session
19.15-19.20 - An animated video about the connections and differences between forests and bogs
19.20-19.40 - The history and challenges of planting on bogs - Thomas Sloan
19.40-20.00 - Sphagnum Splat and Bog Splotting! Creative support for sustainable forestry practice in south-west Scotland
20.00-20.20 - Forest to bog restoration project with Renee Kerkvliet-Hermans
20.20-20.30 - Question time!
20.30-21.00 - Open discussion time
​

​

Structure

18.00-18.10 Introduction

18.10-18.30 Khairani Barokka will be discussing the connections between Indonesian peatlands and capitalist consumerism

18.30-19.00 Artist Duo Myths for a Wetland Imaginary will present their work and artistic practise through a framing of settler colonialism and decolonisation.

19.00-19.30 Discussion

Trade routes, policy gaps, european role, and the impact on peatlands

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As preparations commence for the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP26) and the World Congress on Soil Science (WCSS22), the whole world will be looking to the UK for climate & ecological ambition and action. And, while the UK politicians are still (re)writing policy after leaving the EU, the possibilities for local transformation and more radical decision-making seem well within reach.

# data[].attributes.body
Flows to the Future Conference  https://www.theflowcountry.org.uk/assets/Uploads/Linking-Science-and-Art-Hannah-Imlach-and-Roxane-Anderson-Flows-to-the-Future-12-September-2019.m4a

# data[].attributes.body
As artists, we (Kerry Morrison and Kate Foster) have discovered a common purpose of embedding ecological artistic practice and research within peat landscape restoration projects. This post invites readers to ‘watch this space’ for how we are, and will be, involved in restoration work on blanket peatland and raised bogs that will be carried out by three Landscape Partnerships that have been recently funded by the Heritage Lottery Landscape Partnership Fund.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As artists, we (Kerry Morrison and Kate Foster) have discovered a common purpose of embedding ecological artistic practice and research within peat landscape restoration projects. This post invites readers to 'watch this space' for how we are, and will be, involved in restoration work on blanket peatland and raised bogs that will be carried out by three Landscape Partnerships that have been recently funded by the Heritage Lottery Landscape Partnership Fund.

The significance of peatlands in terms of wildlife, climate action and hydrology is increasingly recognised by government policy which is leading to artists' opportunities, such as with the Peatland Partnership in the Flow Country. For anyone interested in the cultural values of peatland, there is much artwork to draw inspiration from, such as Sexy Peat ; ongoing work by postgraduate students of Art Space and Nature at Edinburgh College of Art; the respective work of Laura Harrington or Lionel Playford, both based at the University of Northumbria; and Wind Resistance by singer-songwriter Karine Polwart.
Within this wider context, our respective artistic aims include profiling existing community culture, skills and knowledge - the living heritage. We will be developing artwork during the stage of ecological restoration, contributing further ways to how peatlands can be culturally valued. We see this as an opportunity to reflect on art practice with others (artists and non-artists) who have similar interests, over a three-year period.

The Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership programme

As director and lead environment artist at In-Situ, Kerry had been working with the Forest of Bowland during the development stages of their Landscape Partnership Heritage Lottery bid for Pendle Hill. This included developing and managing a pilot arts programme which informed the final, and successful, bid. Working closely with Cathy Hopley (Development Officer at Forest of Bowland AONB) to embed art into the landscape restoration strand of the Pendle Hill four-year programme, In-Situ have become one of the partners and will lead an art strand called The Gatherings which includes a two-year artist residency during which Kerry will work alongside the team restoring the upland peatlands of Pendle Hill Summit.

The Gatherings programme integrates arts practice and research into a number of the Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership themes, including: Pendle Hill Summit, Archaeology, High Nature Value, Traditional Boundaries, Woodlands, and What's a Hill Worth?

The Gatherings strand has been designed/curated as a coherent programme consisting of temporary interventions, events, residencies, films and public gatherings. The art projects, beginning in 2018, will evolve in partnership and collaboration, developing and responding to the project strands as they progress over the 4-year delivery period. The role of the artist will be multitudinous: to shed light on the landscape restoration programme, to outreach and engage communities including audiences that have been identified as the most infrequent visitors to the Pendle landscape, and to contribute to new knowledge. The creative processes, outputs and new knowledge gained will be shared in year 4 (2022) at a 3-day conference.

The image below is of a group of young people from Brierfield Action in the Community, celebrating, having achieved the steep climb to Pendle Hill Summit. Their day out was part of a series of workshops to test the Pendle Hill Engagement Kit, developed by In-Situ in partnership with The Forest of Bowland and artist Amy Pennington.

The Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership programme

"The Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership aims to connect people living and working in the area with its heritage and landscape in a drive to secure a prosperous future for the communities around the Water of Ken and River Dee, right from their source to the sea."

source: http://www.gallowayglens.org/about/

Further details of the scope of the proposed programme can be seen here. Peatland Connections is one component, led by Dr. Emily Taylor of the Crichton Carbon Centre and to be jointly funded by the Scottish Government programme, Peatland Action. Peatland Connections aims to:

... highlight the significance of Galloway peatlands and, using a demonstrator site beside the Southern Upland Way, trial a new framework to be used to revert areas of forestry back to peatlands, highlighting the resulting water quality, biodiversity and carbon balance benefits. These capital works will be supported by a suite of public engagement/artistic activities highlighting the importance and relevance of peatlands. Source: http://www.gallowayglens.org/projects

Kate's art practice is concerned with different kinds of land use, focussing on wetlands. Various projects prepared the way for making links to Peatland Connections. For example, in 2016 she co-ordinated an event themed Wetlands, Flow, and Questions of Scale, at the Stove in Dumfries. The range of inspiring and thought provoking presentations revealed the depth of existing interest and also the possibilities for further connections.

The image above shows a group with a demonstration peatcore at a workshop on Kirkconnel Flow, led by Dr. Lauren Parry of the University of Glasgow.

Kate proposed Peat Culture as an element of the Peatland Connections in consultation with Emily Taylor. As lead artist, Kate intends to profile the biocultural heritage of Galloway Glens Peatlands by creating an anthology; by developing original artwork as artist-in-residence to the restoration; and by jointly creating material for an exhibition.
Recognising synergies in their practice and collaborative approach with landscape Partnerships, Kerry and Kate began to discuss the potential of connecting Galloway Glens and the Pendle Hill Partnerships to widen the scope, reach and impact of ecological art and peat restoration. Both Landscape Partnerships embraced the idea of connecting and partnering, and to also work with the Carbon Landscape Project (another Heritage Lottery Fund Landscape Partnership with a peatland focus), which is in the early stages of delivery.

The Carbon Landscape Project

The Carbon Landscape Project is a Landscape Partnership based around Salford and Warrington, and draws on the area's importance in the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. A short informative video Taking a Round View of the Carbon Landscape can be seen here.

The Carbon Landscape Project is changing the way in which we approach landscapes and communities in Wigan, Salford and Warrington. Twenty-two interlinked projects will provide a forward-thinking and effective programme that will have lasting benefits for local communities and wildlife.

Source: http://www.lancswt.org.uk/carbon-landscape-project

The scheme is in its first year of their 5-year delivery phase, with work getting underway.

Peat Meets

People involved in developing peatland projects of the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership, the Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership, and the Carbon Landscape Project travelled to a Great Peat Meet in New Galloway last November, in order to exchange information about their programmes. The proposed peatland restoration projects will offer varied ways of engaging communities. Once the projects are all underway, further exchange visits are planned.

The image above was taken during a site visit to Clatteringshaws Visitor Centre Galloway, allowing informal discussion during a walk over deep peatland. Glens Development Officer, McNabb Laurie, said:

"We were proud to welcome these other Landscape Partnerships to Galloway and to hear how the condition and use of peatland sites varies across the UK. It is great that a number of schemes are coming together to highlight the importance of peat on factors such as water quality, biodiversity, flood management and also the global significance as a carbon store. We can contribute to a national approach to these issues." Source: http://www.gallowayglens.org/2017/11/

As artists, we attended and have both been proactive in making proposals and connections between the Landscape Partnerships. The aim is to profile the many and varied ways that peatlands are already valued culturally, as well as contribute new creative work. Plans include a seminar series, to create a network with people involved in similar projects elsewhere and to encourage reflection on interpretation and creative practice.
This article has been prepared by artists Kate Foster and Kerry Morrison in consultation with colleagues in their respective Landscape Partnerships projects.
Contacts for further information:
Kerry Morrison - kerry@in-situ.org.uk
Kate Foster - art@meansealevel.net
Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership:
Cathy Hopley: cathy.hopley@lancashire.gov.uk
Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership:
McNabb Laurie: mcnabb.laurie@dumgal.gov.uk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kate Foster: Engaging with peatland restoration - Embedded Art practices within Landscape Partnerships

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As artists, we (Kerry Morrison and Kate Foster) have discovered a common purpose of embedding ecological artistic practice and research within peat landscape restoration projects. This post invites readers to 'watch this space' for how we are, and will be, involved in restoration work on blanket peatland and raised bogs that will be carried out...

# data[].attributes.headline
Library of Creative Sustainability - Peat Cultures by Kate Foster

# data[].attributes.subject
Library of Creative Sustainability - Peat Cultures by Kate Foster

# data[].attributes.body
Initiated by environmental artist Kate Foster, Peat Cultures supported the physical restoration of peatlands by drawing attention to the roles they play in a living cultural heritage. It was a minimal low budget pilot project for the scheme Peatland Connections, which seeks to restore peatlands in Galloway and emphasise local benefits and community engagement - from Library of Creative Sustainability https://www.creativecarbonscotland.com/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Project Description

Peat bogs are important for wildlife, climate action and hydrology. In Galloway, as in other parts of the country with high rainfall, peat soils have developed over thousands of years on hillsides and in river valleys. Peatlands are Scotland's largest terrestrial carbon store and cover one fifth of Scottish land area. Most bogs are degraded, but even so there is many times more carbon held in peat than in all UK forests.

Damaged peatlands in the Galloway area urgently need restoration to keep stored carbon in the ground and to help wildlife and water management. When peatlands are disturbed, carbon is released into the atmosphere but when the bogs are re-wetted, bog mosses and other plants can grow again to protect the carbon store embodied in the peat beneath.

The reasons for peatland restoration are often poorly understood. Peat bogs are usually in remote areas and have long been thought of as unproductive land that should be brought into cultivation. For many people, bogs are unfamiliar landscapes and have negative connotations. In the past, peatlands figured more in social and cultural life. They were often common land, which provided fuel, and could be places of refuge or foraging.

The Scottish Government has recognised their role in mitigating climate change with its restoration programme, Peatland Action. The new policy reverses earlier practices of draining peatlands for grazing, for commercial forestry, or to extract peat (in some areas large scale extraction continues for horticultural use). Subsequent research has highlighted the issues with converting peat bogs for forestry. Much previous conifer planting on deep peatbogs is now regarded as unproductive and to have caused unanticipated problems such as acidification and erosion.

Environmental artist, Kate Foster already wanted to contribute to a progressive forthcoming restoration project. Her previous experience included coordinating a two-day networking event on the theme of wetlands in 2016. In the same year, Crichton Carbon Centre proposed Peatland Connections as part of the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership (GGLP) programme. Kate submitted a proposal to GGLP, which was selected from among others. As the project took shape it became more embedded in the Crichton Carbon Centre, who already had experience of collaborating with artists.

The eventual aim of Peatland Connections is large-scale restoration work to revert areas of the Galloway Forest Park to peatland. GGLP wants to celebrate the role of peatlands within Galloway's working landscapes, with an emphasis on local benefits such as water quality, the health of wild fish populations, and resilience against floods and droughts in a changeable climate.

Peat Cultures was envisaged as a companion project and became a pilot for some aspects of Peatland Connections. It comprised a suite of community engagement and artistic activities seeking to engage people to consider peatlands as valuable in their own right as well as of wider significance for climate action and wildlife protection. Its overall aim was to support a range of local stakeholders in their work of restoring degraded areas of peatland for diverse local benefits.

Field Workshops that took place in the peatlands themselves were an important strand of Peat Cultures. Kate Foster herself was inspired by an early Galloway Glens workshop held at Beggers Moss, a small island raised bog within forestry plantation. The project developed to support other workshops advertised via websites and social media, giving local residents a chance to experience them first-hand. Emily Taylor, of the Crichton Carbon Centre, had overall responsibility for the substantial task of gaining permission and planning for contingencies of such field trips to remote places. She was also responsible for introducing the issues of sustainable land management into these workshops.

The workshops included visits to Silver Flowe, the best-preserved peat bog in the area. This was initiated by Annan Museum to highlight this internationally recognised site, which is one of the least disturbed mire systems in Europe. The workshops were popular as the area is well known in local imagination but hard to reach without a guide. The event reflected on historical and literary associations, and several participants proposed images for a Silver Flowe postcard.

Kate Foster and Emily Taylor collaborated for a further workshop at Knowetop Lochs (a Scottish Wildlife Reserve) for interested creative practitioners in the locality. This combined scientific and artistic perspectives and encouraged participants to think about peatbogs as places of aesthetic, cultural, and historical interest. Emily Taylor pulled up a column of peat to help conceptualise the depth and dampness of the bog. A peat core manifests thousands of years of peat growth, which forms at a rate of roughly one metre per thousand years. Bogs in Galloway are frequently six metres deep or more. As an object of visual interest, a peat core can also be valued in aesthetic terms. Feedback indicated that this workshop helped generate different senses of connection to the peat bog, giving ideas for creative practice as well as information about the wider significance of peatlands in an era of climate emergency.

Sphagnum Splat was the finale of these field outings, where a group of families, environmentalists and musicians took part in a symbolic, enjoyable and educational event. The aim was to encourage growth of Bog Moss (Sphagnum species) in a peat bog that was already in the process of being restored. The group walked to the area with banners and piloted a satisfying and tactile method of hurling moss-laden peat-balls into the bare patches of the deforested peat bog from the safety of a small dry hillock. A video by Jayne Murdoch is available here.

Kate Foster documented ongoing peatland restoration by producing an illustrated booklet, Mending the Blanket. This responded to a visual written by Emily Taylor and colleagues. Kate Foster's booklet responded to the theme that seeing bare peat is a sign of degraded land and set out to show how a living layer of bog moss has been restored in a site in the Southern Uplands. The drawings for the booklet were made using peat as a print-making material, specifically 'squagy' peat from the lowest layer of a bog in restoration. Large scale peat prints provoked a strong aesthetic response, but Kate Foster decided to move away from a fine art approach towards authorial illustration to create A5 booklets which could be made available at low cost. Six key images within the booklet were adopted by Galloway Glens as postcards to raise the profile of peatland restoration at events such as agricultural shows.

Recognising that she was working in a complex multidisciplinary setting, Kate Foster honed skills and knowledge by means of a research degree which contextualised her work as a socially engaged approach within an ecological art practice. This provided insight into the social processes of ecological restoration and a critical consideration of different modes of working. Her practice-based final project, Developing Peat Cultures, can be read as a dissertation.

As an artist, Kate Foster worked to reframe the restoration activities and created new visual languages for communication. A WordPress website included blogposts, information and a resource section. A Twitter account acted as a microblog and helped connect with activity elsewhere. The project and related issues were communicated through presentations and exhibitions, for example by ecoartscotland at the 2018 New Networks for Nature conference, within the University of Edinburgh, and at a Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership symposium, funded, developed and delivered in partnership with In-Situ Arts, in Brierfield, Pendle.

The programme Peatland Connections was delayed due to an external match funding issue. This had the unexpected benefit of allowing a more detailed exploration of collaborative possibilities and learning from other projects. Peat Cultures had strong similarities with Kerry Morrison's work with Pendle Hill Landscape Partnership and In-Situ (see 'related projects' below), and these two artists found a common purpose of embedding ecological artistic practice and research within peat landscape restoration projects. They found they had complementary skills and Kerry Morrison's experience with socially engaged practice helped shape the project. This was documented in a blogpost.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Peat Cultures | Creative Carbon Scotland

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Project Description Peat bogs are important for wildlife, climate action and hydrology. In Galloway, as in other parts of the country with high rainfall, peat soils have developed over thousands of years on hillsides and in river valleys. Peatlands are Scotland's largest terrestrial carbon store and cover one fifth of Scottish land area.

# data[].attributes.body
A summary of Hannah's practice and peatland artwork as part of Fife Contemporary Art & Crafts Artists' Environmental Sharespace https://www.fcac.co.uk/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hannah Imlach

Hannah Imlach is a visual artist-researcher working predominantly in sculpture and photography. Her transient and site-specific artworks respond to particular ecologies, exploring sites of environmental conservation and renewable energy transition. These projects are research-led, initiated and sustained by opportunities to work within communities of specialist environmental knowledge, including scientific research groups, conservation charities and community organisations. Her sculptures focus on sensory interaction and are often foldable, faceted, or kinetic.
(Image: Hannah Imlach in her exhibition From the dark ocean comes light, 2017; photo Alex Ingle)

Hannah is currently completing a uniquely-structured practice research PhD within Human Geography at the University of Edinburgh. The project, titled Close Encounters; art, presence and environmental engagement at Loch Lomond, is conducted in partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and supported by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities' Collaborative Doctoral Award. Uniquely situated within the School of Geosciences' interdisciplinary research community and supported by supervisory expertise from the fields of ecological art practice, cultural and more-than-human geographies, ecocriticism, and conservation, the studentship asks: What role can site-specific artwork, in the context of a nature reserve, play in strengthening multispecies connection?

In this short film Hannah introduces her Close Encounters research, which seeks to explore environmental perception through the creation of a series of site-specific sculptures within RSPB Loch Lomond, informed by on-site experiences of conservation practice, ecological research on species patterns of presence and absence and human-animal encounter.

Flow Country Sculpture Series

The following images document Hannah's ecologically engaged process and one of her most significant projects to-date. Initiated in 2017, Hannah undertook an 18-month artist residency with the Flows to the Future peatland restoration project, commissioned by the Peatlands Partnership. The role saw her spend extended periods at the Forsinard Flows Field Centre in the far North-East of Scotland observing peatland restoration and engaging with the complex ecologies of blanket bogs through collaboration with researchers at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Thurso.

The outcome of this residency is the Flow Country Sculpture Series, nine sculptural works that draw on, and synthesise, different aspects of peatland plant life with meteorological instrumentation used to measure the atmospheric conditions and carbon capture of the bog. These pieces were temporarily installed within the Flow Country during July 2018, then exhibited in the Flow Works exhibition at Thurso Art Gallery, as part of Beneath the Blanket at the Royal Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, and at the Royal Scottish Academy (forthcoming, September 2021).

Enjoy this short film as Hannah shows pages from her various Flow Country sketchbooks.

The artist film Fieldwork(7:20, 2018) documents the return of the Flow Country Sculpture Series to the peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland. Focusing on the adjustment and orientation of the sculptures, the film mirrors the labour of peatland scientists to monitor and maintain their instruments, in order to better understand and protect the unique and fragile ecology of the bog.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hannah Imlach is a visual artist-researcher working predominantly in sculpture and photography. Her transient and site-specific artworks respond to particular ecologies, exploring sites of environmental conservation and renewable energy transition. These projects are research-led, initiated and sustained by opportunities to work within communities of specialist environmental knowledge, including scientific research groups, conservation charities and community organisations.

# data[].attributes.body
Fieldwork documents the return of the Flow Country sculpture series to the peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland. It was created with as part of the Flows to the Future artist residency, commissioned by the Peatland Partnership in 2018 (7:20). Cinematography: Daniel Warren Sound: Thomas Butler

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fieldwork documents the return of the Flow Country sculpture series to the peatlands of Caithness and Sutherland. It was created with as part of the Flows to the Future artist residency, commissioned by the Peatland Partnership in 2018...

# data[].attributes.body
Flows to the Future that took place from 2014 to 2019, funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund and many other supporters. It restored large areas of blanket bog in the heart of the Flow Country that had been damaged by forestry planting. It also worked to involve and connect people everywhere with this precious habitat, delivering real economic benefits for one of the least densely populated areas in Scotland.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Flows to the Future was a major project that took place from 2014 to 2019, funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund and many other supporters. It restored large areas of blanket bog in the heart of the Flow Country that had been damaged by forestry planting. It also worked to involve and connect people everywhere with this precious habitat, delivering real economic benefits for one of the least densely populated areas in Scotland.

The project was delivered by the Peatlands Partnership with the lead partner being RSPB (Scotland).

Project Details

The project has restored approximately 7 square miles of blanket bog habitat - removing forestry blocks, crushing brash and blocking furrows in areas where forestry has already been felled, and drain blocking, on RSPB Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve. This has involved removing 837.4 hectares of non-native trees from deep peat, blocking forestry furrow and drains over 1747 hectares and clearing regeneration non-native conifers over 564 hectares.

We have built an award-winning viewing tower - the Flows Lookout - and boardwalk on the Dubh-lochain Trail at Forsinard.

We have completely replaced and updated the information in the Visitor Centre at Forsinard, put in an extra car park and put in new interpretation on the Dubh-lochain Trail. We have also put in new displays about the Flow Country at Strathnaver Museum and Caithness Horizons.

We have put in four roadside viewpoints across the Flow Country to give panoramic views of the peatlands. These are at Crask, Cnoc Craggie, Moine House and Loch Rangag. At Moine House there is a short trail for visitors to experience and learn about the peatlands. We have also signposted five walking trails. See our interactive map for details.

We have increased the volunteering opportunities both at RSPB Forsinard Flows Reserve and elsewhere in Caithness and Sutherland by providing new volunteering accommodation in the new Field Centre that we have built at Forsinard. Over 270 volunteers were trained and carried out conservation, people engagement and office work during the project. The Project also successfully pioneered the first working holidays at Forsinard. The field centre accommodation is available at a small charge for visiting groups or individuals who are doing work connected with raising awareness and understanding or conservation of the Flow Country. For more information contact the Field Centre office on 01463 571225 or email Forsinard.admin@rspb.org.uk

We have established a peatland science centre of excellence at the Flows Field Centre at Forsinard, through provision of a small laboratory and accommodation within the new Field Centre to facilitate further research on the role of peatlands as a carbon store and on peatland restoration and biodiversity. This will develop linkages with a number of universities to further research and international collaboration.

We have delivered learning opportunities for people across the Flow Country, including through a schools programme and community activities both at Forsinard and throughout Caithness and Sutherland. The schools programme included 151 outreach visits to 35 schools and 61 school visits to Forsinard. Overall this enabled 4246 interactions with school children across Caithness and Sutherland. 151 events were held locally including walks, talks and workshops, with over 4000 attendees, and many events further afield including in London, Edinburgh and Orkney.

We have provided remote learning/awareness raising opportunities - an interactive website, film, online landscape model of the Flow Country and carbon capture game, creative community arts commissions to encourage people to engage with the Flows through the arts, a travelling exhibition about carbon and peatlands.

The project has enabled approximately £4.3 million to be spent with Caithness and Sutherland businesses.

The project started on 4 July 2014 and finished on 31 October 2019. Although the project has finished, the Peatlands Partnership partners are continuing to work in the Flow Country to promote wider awareness and understanding and to support its sustainable management.

See our project newsletters here:
2016 newsletter 2017 newsletter
2018 newsletter
2019 newsletter

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Flows to the Future was a major project that took place from 2014 to 2019, funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund and many other supporters. It restored large areas of blanket bog in the heart of the Flow Country that had been damaged by forestry planting.