Wetlands across the globe have long served as natural repositories for humanity’s toxic legacy, absorbing and retaining hundreds to thousands of years’ worth of pollution.

These swampy vaults have quietly been trapping air and water pollution for thousands of years, protecting the world from some of the worst effects of lead, mercury, copper, nickel and other poisonous materials.

Now, however, a combination of human disruptions and ever increasing wildfires threaten to open these vaults, unleashing their long dormant toxic contents upon the world.

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Peat extraction companies have learned a lot about how to restore these vital ecosystems. But slow growth, climate change, and complexity mean conservation is an important strategy as well.

Over the years, Canadian scientists and companies have learned how to get the ball rolling to restore peatlands. A well-studied method called the moss layer transfer technique (MLTT) can put these vital ecosystems on the right track again, sequestering carbon dioxide rather than emitting it.

However, MLTT is primarily a tried, tested, and true fix for one kind of peatland degradation: peat extraction for farm and garden products. And, while the process can handily turn an impacted peatland from carbon source to carbon sink, peatlands, and their restoration, still face many challenges in Canada.

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