During 2009 and 2010 the Friends, in partnership with Bradford Council, will be carrying out woodland conservation, Upper Tarn restoration, access creation and restoration, building stone walls and much more.

Tracy Gray, Ilkley Moor Project Officer, said: “Ilkley Moor contains diverse and extensive upland heath and blanket bog vegetation communities, and supports a moorland bird assemblage which is of international importance.

“However, like many other upland areas the ecology has degraded. “This is in part due to past management practices, in particular over grazing and drainage of the blanket bog.”

Ilkley Moor also suffered from a fire in 2006 which caused extensive damage to 250 hectares of the moor.

“Upland habitats provide important services, in parti-cular as a carbon store and retention of water in the uplands,” added Ms Gray.

“Well functioning upland systems – in particular bogs with sphagnum – reduce flood risk in the lowlands.

“The restoration of peat lands could play a major role in mitigating against atmosph-eric CO2 rises. These volunteer days will go some way to helping to restore the moors ecological functioning.”

Ilkley Moor volunteer days will be held on a regular day every month: the first Saturday and the third Tues-day of every alternate month starting on Saturday, August 1, and Tuesday, September 15. They run from 10am to 1pm.

The meeting point is the car park adjoining Darwin Gardens.

Volunteers are advised to wear suitable clothing and footwear and to take a packed lunch with drink.

For further information, contact Tracy Gray by email at projectofficer@ilkleymoor.org.