Natural and anthropogenic factors influencing changes in peatland management in Poland

The main aim of this study is to identify trends in peatland management from the end of the nineteenth century to late twentieth century in the Tuchola Pinewoods (TP) located in NW Poland (young glacial zone, temperate climate). The analyses were performed based on the 1:100,000 Prussian topographic maps from the years 1876–1879 and the 1:50,000 Polish topographic maps from the years 1966–1986. A total of 744 peatlands were identified in TP (total area — 10,762 ha, 3.03% of the studied region). Smaller peatlands of up to 1–2 ha were found to be most numerous (15.32% of total number), whereas those exceeding 15 ha cover the largest area (75.42% of total area). The analysis revealed a tendency regarding land management of peatlands in the study period — large peatlands were adapted for agricultural purposes, and the smaller ones were mostly transformed into woodlands. The most important factors influencing the directions of changes in the use of peatlands include as follows: the type of use of the adjacent areas, implementation of anthropogenic drainage systems and location in a lake catchment or a catchment drained by rivers or streams. Considering that 85.7% of total peatland area had been drained by 1986, the risk arising from greenhouse gas emission from peatlands should be regarded as high.