The soil conservation service of Iceland: Restoration of peatland in Snæfellsnes peninsula

Our mission

In fall 2020, we began restoration of 100 hectares of peatlands in the Snaefellsnes Penninsula in western Iceland, which had been drained in the 1950s for future agricultural use. Working on two properties typically used by the owners as summer retreats, we filled ditches and built dams to facilitate water retention. By May 2021, our filled ditches and dams were still intact. The water level had risen to just below surface, and in some areas had already begun to flow. Finally, as a hopeful sign of biodiversity return, wetland birds were spotted and heard singing in the landscape this spring.