Re: sphagnum on CITES?
Liane Cochran-Stafira (lcochran@midway.uchicago.edu)
Fri, 21 Jul 1995 16:45:15 -0500
>On Fri, 21 Jul 1995, Philip Thomas wrote:
>
>> II don't think so, but the habitats from which it is collected are often
>> fragile & over-exploited. pt
>>
>
>Hence the smiley (I was referring to the recent discussion)
>
>I don't know much about sphagnum habitats, but I know that there is a big
>move in the UK for gardeners to stop using peat - Ireland is losing its
>peat bogs at a huge rate - mainly for the gardeners!
>
>Richard
Similar concerns have been voiced about the use of milled sphagnum in US
gardens since most of it comes from the peatlands of Canada and northern
Minnesota which have been seriously inpacted by the harvesting. I heard of
one harvest approach that involves stripping off the live mat of plants
which can then be replaced after removal of a layer of peat. I haven't
heard whether this has been successful or not. Anyone else familiar with
this technique?
Liane