High in the Peak District of northern England, vast stretches of peatland had been reduced to bare, eroding peat by decades of industrial pollution, repeated wildfires, overgrazing and drainage. The exposed landscape was losing soil, releasing stored carbon and sending dark, sediment-rich water into rivers and reservoirs. Restoring the damaged bog by traditional methods would have taken years because much of the terrain was too steep and inaccessible to vehicles or large teams of workers.
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