 There is some ongoing loss of moss habitat from cattle grazing, but the most significant threat is from ongoing land development pressure; in fact, half of the Portlethen Moss has been lost to urban (low density) land development by the town of Portlethen during the period 1985 to 2005.Trampling is considered an insignificant threat due to the small animal or human presence in the existing nature reserve area; furthermore, cattle grazing, while ongoing, is deemed a much lesser current threat than population expansion pressure.Enrichment (addition of grazing animal manure) is not a major issue due to the low density of animals.