Peat bogs – a national treasure
Protect our peat bogs as nature intended!
At Heigre Vest in Sandnes there is a brown patch of land surrounded by monochrome green fields. This is a damp wetland bog dotted with pools and seeps that has lain untouched from time immemorial. Sandnes municipality and the landowner have agreed that the bog shall be conserved and used for education. You can still hear skylarks on the site, as well as curlews, meadow pipits and snipe. There is also a diversity of plant and insect life.
The Heigre Nature Park is an unspoiled peat bog in Sandnes.
Photo: Erik Thoring
Rather a peat bog than a plantation!
In the winter 2012-2013, the Norwegian Friends of the Earth and Stavanger municipality joined forces to clear trees and vegetation from Vedemyrå bog in Tasta. The bog was used as pasture until the 1960s, and later planted with dwarf pine. The southern part remains boggy with pools and seeping water. It is nutrient-poor and has no rare plants, although common heather, bog asphodel, purple moor grass and bog cotton are common. Vedemyrå is the last remaining of seven peat bogs identified in Tasta.
Vedemyrå in 2010, when it was dominated by dwarf pine and birch.
Photo: Erik Thoring
To the left: Before clearing. Vedemyrå in 2011. To the right: After clearing. Vedemyrå in 2021.
From peat bog to open water
For several decades, inmates at Åna prison have dug their local bog empty of peat as part of a forced labour regime. In recent years, shallow ponds have been established on the original site of the peat bog. The ponds have been beneficial for birds, which now have new sites for nesting and feeding. The new pools have also helped to promote flood prevention in the area. There is also a species-rich coastal heather moorland on the large prison estate, together with natural pastures, tarns, streams and rivers. The project is being coordinated by the County Governor’s Office.
Snipe flourish in wetlands.
Photo: Roy Mangersnes
Dug-out peat bogs at Åna prison have been transformed into shallow pools.
Photo: Endre Grüner Ofstad