Executive Summary

For generations, growers and gardeners everywhere have used peat or peat moss for a variety of applications. Since the 1940s the Canadian peat harvesting industry has emerged as a significant rural employer and user of peatland resources.

Peat, mainly derived from Sphagnum moss, but also from reed and other sedge deposits across the country, is marketed among many uses as a soil supplement to enhance gardening and as a soil base for greenhouse production. It is one of nature's truly green products offering a large potential of horticulture uses and at the same time can be disposed of without causing any damage to the environment. Peat, in various sizes of compressed packages and bales, has become a readily available product at our local hardware and garden centres. What would spring gardening be like without a few bales of peat moss to dig into your flowerbeds or to plant with some new shrubs or roses? However, consumers of peat moss want to know whether this important soil additive is being harvested and applied in ways that protect the overall resource and the environment.

In 1999, 1.2 million metric tonnes or about 10 million cubic metres of peat were produced in Canada. This volume of peat harvested each year is small in comparison to the estimated 70 million tonnes or more of peat that accumulates naturally each year in Canada. On a volume basis, there are an estimated three trillion cubic metres of peat deposits in Canada. Peat is accumulating nearly 60 times faster than the amount harvested. In 1999, this production was valued at approximately $170 million f.o.b. production site. Canadian Sphagnum peat, regarded as among the best quality peat in the world, is sold to markets in the United States and Japan as well as across Canada. However, Canada has only a very small share of the world market accounting for approximately eight percent of global peat moss used.

The need to protect natural resources and to ensure wise, sustainable use of the environment is greater today than at any point in our history. Like other natural resource sectors, the harvesting of peat moss around the World has attracted the interest of concerned environmental groups, governments and the public.

In early 1991, the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA), the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy, and the Secretariat to the North American Wetlands Conservation Council (Canada), representing the combined interests of industry, government and researchers, initiated the production of the First Edition of this report. This Second Edition updates the status of peat harvesting and environmental issues concerning the use of peat and peat moss in Canada.

At present, less than 17,000 hectares of Canada's 113 million hectares of peatlands are being used for peat or peat moss harvesting. The majority of companies involved in this industry, through their association with the CSPMA, have articulated a policy for the preservation of environmentally sensitive peatlands use and for site restoration or reclamation of harvested sites. The industry, in association with government and non-government interests, environmental groups and universities, has developed a national peatland research strategy to promote awareness of peatland restoration technology and science. On-going research indicates that new and many existing peatland development sites can be revegetated successfully by Sphagnum moss. Sphagnum moss is, with proper site management during and after use, the key peat-forming plant in Canadian peatlands. The CSPMA Preservation and Reclamation Policy urges peat producers to manage peatland after-use, including restoration of harvested bogs to a functioning peatland when harvesting is finished (see policy in Appendix). Older sites can also be reclaimed to valuable agricultural, forestry or wildlife habitat uses.

It is very evident that Canadian peat moss harvesting is not contributing to a decline in peatland functions or values on a national or regional scale in Canada. Site management issues are being successfully addressed by the industry and government regulations. There is room for further growth of the industry in a co-operative, consultative manner with regulators and environmental interests to ensure a balance between the needs of the environment and sustainable development.

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