When harvested from the bog, peat moss dries out quickly and is turned into amendments meant to improve drainage and retain moisture in soils.

As soon as we start tinkering with it, carbon is released.” “It’s a huge storage unit for carbon dioxide. “Bogs represent 5% of the earth’s surface and yet they contain more carbon than all the planet’s forests combined,” Brewer said. Harvesting peat moss also destroys a native habitat essential to the survival of many birds, reptiles, insects and small mammals. As it’s harvested, the carbon is released the carbon back into the atmosphere, contributing to a warming climate. These water-logged bogs have taken carbon from the atmosphere and sequestered it for 10,000 to 12,000 years, according to Linda Brewer, soil scientist in the Department of Horticulture in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Peat moss is harvested from bogs and fens around the world, but primarily in Canada and Russia. – The harvesting of peat moss used by gardeners and the nursery industry to improve drainage and retain water in soil contributes to climate change, according to an Oregon State University Extension Service soil scientist.

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