A project is underway in Carmarthenshire to restore important wetland habitats.
Carmarthenshire County Council has successfully secured funding from Natural Resources Wales’ Resilient Ecosystems Fund (REF) to focus on six commons in central Carmarthenshire.
The area, near Brechfa, has been identified nationally as a priority area for the rare raised bog habitat in Wales.
Wet bog habitats are one of the most important natural resources and provide us with fresh water by filtering out pollution. They act as sponges, reducing flood risk through the storage of rainwater, which is then slowly released into surrounding watercourses. They also help buffer the extremes associated with climate change by storing carbon within the peat.
Carmarthenshire’s biodiversity officer, Isabel Macho said: “In Carmarthenshire wetlands habitats have been lost or damaged though draining and burning of the commons. Bogs act like big sponges storing water and carbon, helping with flood prevention and climate regulation – ironically by keeping these sites wet we’ll help to keep our feet dry.”
Many native wildlife species depend on bogs including wetland plants such as cranberry and rare sphagnum mosses, and are habitats for declining bird species such as curlews and golden plovers.
It is proposed the project will find out as much about these sites as possible and enable long-term management that will restore resilient, robust bog habitats.
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