Ensuring Responsible Peatland Management for Generations to Come
For decades, the Canadian Peat industry has been committed to collaborating with the scientific community to advance the responsible management of peatlands. Since 1992, the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA) and its members have contributed over $20M to research projects focused on the ecological restoration and sustainable use of peatlands.
A key partner in this effort is the Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG), led by Dr. Line Rochefort at Université Laval, Québec, Canada. Supported by funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canadian Peat industry, PERG brings together researchers from universities across Canada. PERG's mission is to develop knowledge about peatlands and wetlands, with a focus on ecological restoration, to guide society in making informed choices about their responsible management.
Through its partnership with CSPMA, PERG has led numerous research projects on topics such as:
- Development of restoration techniques for post-extraction peatlands
- Peatland biodiversity, including plants, arthropods, amphibians, and birds
- Carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas balance
- Hydrology, geochemistry, and microbiology of pristine, extracted, post-extracted, and restored peatlands
In addition to PERG, the Canadian Peat industry collaborates with a wide range of researchers from universities across Canada and internationally. These partnerships bring diverse expertise in areas such as hydrology, geochemistry, carbon dynamics, and biodiversity, enriching the understanding of peatland ecology and restoration practices.
Peatland Science in Action
Eddy covariance tower installed in Bois-des-Bel restored peatland to measure GHG emission
Monitoring of plant establishment and biodiversity (cover, species, biomass) in a restored peatland
Measurement of the depth of the new accumulated moss carpet
Meet Dr. Line Rochefort: Pioneer of Peatland Research and Ecological Restoration in Canada
In 1992, CSPMA and the Peat Research Centre in New Brunswick co-hosted a workshop on peatland restoration, attended by a young doctoral graduate and assistant professor at Université Laval, Line Rochefort. This event sparked decades of research investment, positioning Canada as a global leader in peatland restoration.
Dr. Line Rochefort is now a leading expert in peatland restoration and has been a professor at Université Laval since 1991. She holds degrees from Université Laval (B.Sc.), the University of Alberta (M.Sc.), and the University of Cambridge (Ph.D.). In 1992, she founded the Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG), pioneering research on restoring post-extraction peatlands and shaping responsible management practices within the Canadian Peat industry. Over the years, her work has expanded to include restoring fens, swamps, and other degraded ecosystems.
A globally recognized authority, Dr. Rochefort has evaluated wetland restoration projects in over 40 countries and has been a visiting researcher at Harvard University, the University of Helsinki, and Cornell University. In 2019, she was appointed as Canada’s National Focal Point for the Ramsar Convention’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel. Her research continues to drive science-based solutions for peatland conservation and sustainable management.
Meet Some of the Scientists Whose Work Advances Understanding of Peatland Restoration, Carbon Dynamics, Biodiversity, and Ecosystem Health
Industry–academic partnerships driving peatland science forward.
The science that supports responsible peatland management is shaped by researchers who study these ecosystems from many angles. Explore the tabs below to learn about scientists whose work informs restoration practices and long-term stewardship:
Dr. Mélina Guêné-Nanchen
Dr. Maria Strack
Dr. Pete Whittington
Dr. Ian B. Strachan
Dr. Nigel Roulet
Dr. Marc‑André Bourgault
Dr. Mélina Guêné-Nanchen, Assistant Professor,
Department of Plant Sciences, Université Laval
Researcher with the Peatland Ecology Research Group (PERG)
Area of Expertise: Plant Ecology, Ecological Restoration, Sphagnum farming
Mélina specializes in peatland ecological restoration, with a particular focus on how plant communities recover in sites disturbed by extraction, fire, or mineral disruption, including research on key moss species essential to peat formation. She also investigates improved approaches to Sphagnum moss cultivation and the re-establishment of functioning peatland ecosystems using the Moss Layer Transfer Technique.
Her work contributes to refining restoration practices and provides insights for responsible extraction techniques so that disturbed peatlands can regain both vegetation cover and ecological function.
Her position was created through the Canadian Peat industry support of the Partnership Research Chair in Ecosystem Restoration at Université Laval, strengthening the industry–academia collaboration that underpins Canada’s leadership in peatland science.
Learn More:
Dr. Maria Strack, Professor,
Canada Research Chair, University of Waterloo
Leader, Wetland Soils & Greenhouse Gas Exchange Lab | Can‑Peat Project
Area of Expertise: GHG
Maria’s research explores the complex interactions among ecology, hydrology, biogeochemistry, and soil properties in wetland and peatland ecosystems. She focuses particularly on greenhouse‑gas (GHG) exchange, including carbon dioxide and methane, in natural, disturbed, and restored peatlands.
Maria’s work evaluates how disturbances such as peat extraction, drainage, resource‑extraction (e.g. oil sands), or other land‑use changes affect peatland carbon dynamics, and how restoration or reclamation efforts can help return peatlands to a carbon‑accumulating systems.
Maria is the Principal Investigator of the Can-Peat: Canada’s peatlands as nature-based climate solutions project — a national initiative to quantify the potential of Canadian peatlands to contribute to climate‑change mitigation via nature‑based solutions.
Learn More:
Dr. Pete Whittington, Professor,
Department of Geography & Environment, Brandon University
Area of Expertise: Hydrology
Dr. Whittington studies water fluxes and hydrological processes in peatlands, with a focus on how drainage, extraction, mining, and other disturbances influence water–peat interactions. He is particularly interested in how the soil hydraulic properties of moss/litter differ from peat, including the saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivities; and how these vary between species of Sphagnum. He integrates this knowledge into restoration techniques to re‑establish hydrology, water balance, and ecological functions in disturbed or extracted peatlands.
His work spans from micro-scale soil and moss hydraulic properties to landscape-scale hydrology and ecosystem restoration. This combination helps bridge the detailed physical understanding with applied peatland management. Dr. Whittington is currently leading a long-term restoration project in south‑eastern Manitoba that tests and adapts peatland restoration methods (including rewetting and fen‑restoration approaches) for prairie‑climate conditions. He is also co-investigator on an NSERC grant based out of Sudbury looking at the restoration of metal contaminated peatlands.
Learn More:
Dr. Ian B. Strachan, Professor,
Department of Geography & Planning, Queen's University
Leader, Atmospheric and Environmental Research Lab (AER lab)
Area of Expertise: GHG
Dr. Strachan studies carbon exchange in managed, human‑modified, and restored ecosystems, with a strong emphasis on peatlands. His work investigates greenhouse‑gas (GHG) fluxes including carbon dioxide and methane in actively harvested, restored, and natural peatlands, using field‑based techniques such as eddy covariance to measure ecosystem‑scale gas exchange.
He further explores how factors like water table depth, drainage, extraction duration, and restoration influence peatland carbon dynamics, helping to clarify under what conditions peatlands may shift from carbon sinks to sources and how restoration can help re‑establish their carbon storage potential.
He leads the AER Lab at Queen’s University, which investigates how managed and restored ecosystems, including harvested peatlands, influence carbon and greenhouse‑gas exchange at the landscape scale.
Dr. Nigel Roulet, Distinguished James McGill Professor of Biogeosciences, Emeritus
Department of Geography, McGill University
Area of Expertise: GHG
Nigel Roulet recently retired after a distinguished career as a leading researcher in biogeosciences at McGill University. Over four decades, he advanced foundational knowledge on carbon, water, and greenhouse-gas dynamics in northern ecosystems, including peatlands.
He led a multidisciplinary research group investigating peatland responses to disturbances, restoration, and climate change. Nigel also led the five-year Carbon Emissions during Peat Production, Use and End-use research program, which measured and modelled greenhouse gas emissions across the peat industry value chain, providing key data to support sustainable management and national inventory reporting.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of Science), in part for his over 200 publications in peatland, ecohydrology, and climate science and his work on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Ontario Far North Act Science Advisory Panel, and his service to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grants, Strategic Grants, and Vanier Scholarship grant selection committees.
His work continues to deepen the industry understanding of peatland carbon and ecosystem processes, supporting evidence-based best management practices within Canadian peatlands.
Learn More:
Dr. Marc‑André Bourgault, Assistant Professor,
Department of Geography, Université Laval
Area of Expertise: Hydrology
Dr. Bourgault specializes in wetland and peatland hydrology and hydro‑climatology. His work combines numerical modelling and field data to examine how peatlands and wetlands regulate water storage, groundwater recharge, flood attenuation, and carbon‑cycle interactions under natural conditions, extraction, and restoration.
He investigates how water flow, storage capacity, and hydrological connectivity influence carbon and dissolved organic‑carbon exports and overall ecosystem recovery — key elements in assessing peatland function and long‑term sustainability. His research strengthens the evidence base on how peatland hydrology responds to extraction and restoration, informing best‑practice peatland management for water regulation, flood mitigation, and carbon dynamics.
Current Collaborative Research Programs
CSPMA's scientific research partners have built internationally recognized expertise in peatland biology and ecological restoration over decades of dedicated research. Their contributions, reflected in more than 400 publications between 1992 and 2024, have greatly advanced the understanding of peatland ecology and restoration practices. This science-driven approach has been instrumental in shaping industry Best Management Practices, positioning the Canadian Peat industry as a global leader, with science at the heart of its stewardship efforts.
The research was financed under various funding programs, but all under the umbrella of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and in partnership with the Peat industry. The current programs are as follows:
Partnership Research Chair in Ecosystem Restoration
In June 2024, Université Laval in Québec City established a new Partnership Research Chair in Ecosystem Restoration, appointing Dr. Line Rochefort, professor in the Department of Plant Sciences to this esteemed position.
The five-year Chair role is dedicated to advancing the science and practice of ecological restoration in disturbed environments. Through innovative research and the training of highly qualified personnel, the Chair aims to:
- sustain biodiversity,
- enhance resilience in a changing climate,
- re-establish an ecologically sound relationship between nature and communities
A key outcome of this work will be the effective transfer of knowledge, ensuring that research findings are successfully communicated to stakeholder communities and translated into practical actions.
This Chair is a continuation of the ecological restoration research carried out by the PERG over the last three decades.
The creation of this Chair was made possible by a $1.3 million contribution over 5 years from the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association (CSPMA) and its industry members.
NSERC Alliance Grant: Nature-based Solutions for Peatland Restoration
Aligned with the mission of the U-Laval Research Chair partnership, the Chair has successfully obtained the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance Grant, titled "Nature-based solutions: Restoration of peatlands for biodiversity recovery and climate change mitigation". Co-applicants on this grant include Dr. Maria Strack from the University of Waterloo, Dr. Ian Strachan from Queen’s University, and Dr. Marc-André Bourgault from Université Laval, alongside Dr. Rochefort.
Additional funding partners, including Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Government of Manitoba, have also contributed, bringing the total investment for these two research programs (Chair + Alliance) to nearly $2.6 million.
The Alliance program addresses the following topics:
- Fens ecological restoration
- Bogs ecological restoration
- Success indicators of managed peatland ecosystems
- Carbon sequestration
- Outreach and Engagement - Sharing peatland restoration knowledge across sectors and languages through media and public collaborations
Carbon Emissions during Peat Production, Use and End-use
A five-year collaborative research program was launched with lead researcher Dr. Nigel Roulet (McGill University), alongside co-applicants Dr Maria Strack (University of Waterloo, ON), Dr Ian Strachan (Queen’s University, ON), Dr David Olefeldt (University of Alberta, AB) and Dr. Tim Moore (McGill University, QC).
This research evaluates carbon emissions in Peat industry operations and the value-chain and enables process improvements to reduce emissions wherever possible.
The objectives were to:
- Conduct multi-year GHG emission measurements on and estimate Peat in-use and post-use
- To develop GHG emission factors (EFs) for the extractive, in use, and end-use stages of the Peat industry cycle; and
- To develop parameterized models to simulate the net change in emissions for peatlands that result from Peat extraction.
This work will enable us to have a clear picture of the Canadian Peat industry’s GHG footprint, and results will be highly relevant to provincial and federal agencies responsible for reporting national inventories.
Fen restoration and ecotone creation in South-East Manitoba
This 5-year research program started in 2021 with lead researcher Pete Whittington (Brandon University, MB) and co-applicant Maria Strack (University of Waterloo, ON), to complement the existing research programs and look more specifically at fen restoration in Manitoba. Most of the post-extracted peatlands in Canada can be restored to a bog peatland, however, sometimes it makes more sense to restore these sites to a fen peatland given the properties of the remaining Peat and the surrounding landscape.
This research aims to promote resilient landscapes by addressing two topics: large-scale fen restoration and ecotone creation, to link the restoration with the surrounding landscape. Different approaches are tested to retain water, and the hydrologic and carbon cycles are measured to see how effective these approaches are.
