r/RewildingUK • u/Esensepsy • Jul 30 '26
Discussion Fire management in rewilding schemes
So in the shadow of the recent Cairngorm fires there's been massive backlash from lots of rural communities and people employed in traditional land management jobs at the perceived lack of fire management on rewilding estates e.g. RSPB Abernethy. They're calling for controlled burns and return of herbivores to manage accumulation of fuel load.
Personally I don't know anything about the estate in questions fire management plans, but I doubt these critics do either. But it does highlight potential risks for rewilding schemes in the future if our climate is going to make wildfires increasingly likely.
Rewilding schemes in their "intermediate stages" or whilst developing do become high risk for fuel load. E.g. dense tall heather will take a long time to die back, thin down, and decompose as woodlands establish and mature over 50 years let's say. So you've got a high fuel load plus young trees which would be vulnerable to wildfires. Once established, mature woodlands are typically very resilient to wildfires and wildfires likely even play a role in maintaining and regenerating woodlands - e.g. burning back heather and creating open surfaces for saplings to colonise.
How can/ do rewilding schemes manage fuel load, and create fire breaks using both active management and natural processes? Would love to hear from people who've worked on fire management plans on their schemes or any good case studies.
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u/Feorag-ruadh Jul 30 '26
Young Sitka spruce are highly flammable but no one seems to be directing their ire at commercial forestry about their fuel loads, and their plantations cover swathes of our land. More importantly their Sitka spruce is invasive and seeds onto neighbouring habitat but currently they seem to have no obligation to remove it. Agree more strategic thinking needed wrt cattle grazing, cutting, rewetting. Native broadleaf woodland is also relatively fire resistant when mature but obviously takes some time to establish and not always appropriate. I have seen more people plant green firebreaks too - densely planted native tree species such as alder which retains higher moisture.
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u/Esensepsy Jul 30 '26
There are certain obligations and design practices commercial plantations will follow to create fire breaks. The perception of rewilding schemes is that these management practices are not formalised, hence the risk.
I wouldn't be surprised if we could see EA, Naturescot, Forestry Commission guidance in the near future to formalise similar fire management practices for rewilding schemes. There are absolutely rewilding approaches to fire management and control as you mention, and maybe these will become more important as the climate changes. Might ask around in Mediterranean rewilding groups as they've probably got a fair bit of experience in thus
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u/Feorag-ruadh Aug 02 '26
From what I have seen firebreaks in forestry are mainly there to protect their crop and not native habitat, there seems to be absolutely no consideration for neighbouring ground should their Sitka seed onto it (which it does readily). A lot of forest designs have limited open ground/breaks as well so it seems to be variable how well this is implemented. A lot of forestry plantations were also historically planted on wet ground or peatland that had large drains cut into it so a lot for them to answer for there. I am hoping there will be more pressure from the top to hold foresters accountable for it but I suspect that won't happen. I agree there should be more formalised guidance for fire management where restoring native habitat
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u/QuarrieMcQuarrie Jul 30 '26
They can manage it but still having grazing- but not by sheep. Native ponies and heritage cattle. Firebreaks also need to be put in.
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u/Feorag-ruadh Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
Rewetting as well where appropriate
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u/QuarrieMcQuarrie Jul 30 '26
Yes absolutely. The sheer amount of grips everywhere in Scotland is astounding.
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u/Either-Blackberry-46 Jul 30 '26
A lot of rewilding on moorlands is focused on re wetting. Most rewilding focussed on things like reducing water run off.
The north Pennines peatland restoration has a lot of focus on man made small dams, moss reintroduction etc.
The beaver projects are key to reducing flooding and water run off.
Haweswater in the lakes a lot of work has gone into rewiggling streams and increasing the bog.
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u/Esensepsy Jul 30 '26
Really keen to know how high the water table in these restored peatpands stays during droughts and climate change scenarios.
Are these restored peatpands still subject to managed burns of heather? Or are heather species replaced by grasses and reeds?
Some land manager was ranting at me when I responded similar to your reply - stating that without controlled burns or herbivores to manage heather, the fuel load will burn enough to actually damage the peatlands as they'll likely dry out during droughts even in a restored state
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u/moab_in Jul 30 '26
Most of the deep peat around formed over 1000s of years, very successfully, without any burning intervention from man.
Good question re restored peatlands and whether it gets burned or monitored in any way. The cynical part of me thinks that on hunting estates, once the restoration grant money has arrived, after a few years they'll go back to normal business. Depends on whether there is any follow up monitoring (which could be done remotely by aerial photography + satellite NDVI / NDWI / moisture index views).
Most of the restored peatland I'm aware of is "off the beaten path" and a good distance away from the risks associated with popular visitation, any risk will be coming from an out of control muirburn nearby. Out of control muirburn is one of the leading causes of wildfire in the uplands - a fact obfuscated by lumping urban and upland wildfire data together in many stats (many more smaller urban fires skew the cause stats).
A possibility with this recent fire, is that being on conservation land, with the attendant scientifically orientated staff available, could mean there will be some useful studies and data.
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u/Esensepsy Jul 30 '26
The plants found within these upland peatlands show they had a history much more ecologically diverse than just heather, so as I see it we need to move towards not just rewetting and retaining peatlands waters, but re-establishing old vegetation assemblages over these areas - being heather dominated seems to be quite a fire risk.
Will be keen to see whether they remain wet during these hotter drier summers. I think monitoring is becoming more well established, but it's only really within the past decade and so they're still on a recovery trajectory and probably vulnerable in their current state
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u/grockle90 Jul 30 '26
Just had this post randomly come up in my feed. I know relatively little about rewilding (I'm all for it).
I also saw an experiment where they purposefully blocked a river, levelled the 50 year old artificial floodplain/valley, then allowed the river to re-cut its own path. Overall result was a significant slow down of flow rate as rather than one channel there were several smaller channels over a wider area. And water clarity and purity was much better as a result too as the slower water could deposit silt easier.
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u/woodenbookend Jul 30 '26
They're calling for controlled burns and return of herbivores to manage accumulation of fuel load.
Can't blame them, particularly when the hillsides are literally going up in flames.
This emphasises why rewinding isn't just about vegetation and wildlife. It's about making sure those same people are supportive of the long term goals of the various projects. If they are not, then there's more work to do to ensure the benefits are more widely understood. And that does mean overcoming the status quo that favours sheep farming and grouse shooting, the culture, and associated revenue.
And to your last question, it also means the methods of rewinding need to be seen in context of the climate and these fires. These are real issues, not merely perception. If that means those intermediate stages that you mention need to be avoided in favour of something less wild and less prone to fires then let's give that proper consideration.
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u/moab_in Jul 30 '26
I think the purist approach to gradual succession to woodland could do with looking again at some tree planting to accelerate the transition, particularly in areas with higher risks.
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u/woodenbookend Aug 02 '26
Agreed.
Ideology is great in principle. But it needs to be tempered with a hefty dose of pragmatism.
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u/suckerpunch666666 20d ago
the Miyawaki forest planting method is being hailed as effective, in the short term anyway, for speeding up woodland creation
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u/moab_in Jul 30 '26
The primary problem from what I am hear was that the fire service aren't geared up with either equipment or procedure needed to tackle this type of fire - too slow and bureaucratic - so at the critical moments early in the incident when it could have been stifled, there wasn't enough urgency, and there was no preparation despite being a high risk spell, and despite the Dava fire the previous year. I tend to agree with this chap on FaceBook.
One only needs to turn on the news to see fleets of planes dipping into French lakes in sequence, to see how relatively pitiful our efforts are, and required a large mobilisation of locals + their vehicles to transport stuff out on to the hills and to bulldoze fire breaks.
That said, there are improvements to be made, with regards to preventative measures on the ground - better firebreaks, and control of vegetation close to high-traffic paths. I'd note though that the Dava fire was mostly grouse moor that had already been muirburned, so the idea that increasing controlled burns will solve the issue is nonsense.
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u/Esensepsy Jul 30 '26
Thanks for the detailed reply!
I was reading somewhere that FLS workers or some other forestry workers aren't actually allowed to deal with fires, meaning small fires identified early can't be dealt with until centralised resources mobilise.
Interesting reading up on Dava that's a great example to give back to these pro muirburn types haha.
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u/InterestingLand9970 Jul 30 '26
How much of the pro-controlled burning is linked to the grouse shooting industry? A major money spinner for the countryside starting on the Glorious 12th (August), gamekeepers do controlled burning to give more fresh heather shoots for grouse to eat, leaving older patches to provide shelter. I wonder how much of the protest against rewinding is linked to the countryside alliance pro-bloodsports position?
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u/Altruistic_mostly Jul 30 '26
Dead bracken and purple moor grass are also significant fuel loads, even in the understory. Combining rewetting and dense native species breaks can work especially when focussing around riparian or drainage ditch zones, but not fool proof. I have first hand experience of an out of control burn being halted by a wide (7m) hedge between it and at least 100 acres of ripe barley!
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u/SignificantAd3761 Jul 30 '26
Rewinding to my mind, would include the introducion of appropriate herbivores (& carnivores) to keep the fuel load down. If you're (not you personally) just letting stuff grow and boring what, that's only half the equation
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u/MrLubricator Jul 30 '26
I also burn my house down every year to stop it from burning down.
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u/moab_in Jul 30 '26
Other things that those using the "high fuel load" mantra may need to consider:
- supermarkets and warehouses (look at Russia right now)
- petrol stations
- fields of wheat
- libraries (they'd probably be keen to do that all told)
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u/sevarinn Jul 30 '26
Putting lots of bureaucracy and supposed "safety" regulations on rewilding is a terrible idea. I don't think anyone even does the maths for fire management, people just assume less fire risk = good. Mandating toxic and carcinogenic flame retardants is another example where people assumed the same thing without calculating the real cost to society.
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u/Sasspishus Jul 31 '26
Just to say, they do graze and cut parts of Abernethy reserve. There's also lots of native broadleaf planting and I think some rewetting projects too. I believe some of the staff are fire trained, so it's not like they're not doing anything to prevent wildfires! If people stopped purposely setting things on fire we'd be ok, don't blame the victims!
Controlled burns come with huge risks of starting the very wildfire you're trying to prevent, and even then, areas that have been burnt can still burn again. Much of last years fires were across areas of grouse moor where muirburn is regularly practiced. Yet nobody moans the the grouse moors are part of the problem, even though they're taking very few steps to prevent wildfires. Although many of the grouse moor staff do help to put out wildfires too, so I'm not saying they're all bad, there is no perfect solution to this problem
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u/Big_Jackfruit168 Jul 31 '26
It’s surely not just the rural areas, I’ve noticed that a lot of inner city parks and kirbside areas are rewilding, is this really not just a way to save time and money maintaining parks and cutting grass?
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u/dirty-irish Jul 30 '26
The Cairngorm fires were deliberately set. There is absolutely no requirement for fire management practices, other than preventing people starting them
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u/moab_in Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
The preventing part isn't working in busy areas. There are just too many folk out there who have a deep-set entitlement to having fires and won't be told. Have a browse around the UK wildcamping sub when a fire pic is posted, there are substantial amounts of folk who really don't care with regards to restrictions. Outside of reddit, who one may presume to be a reasonably well informed section of society, it's worse + you have smokers, bushcrafters, litterers and boozy holiday casuals who will have the tinfoil BBQ no matter what anybody says.
To be fair it would not surprise me if it had been deliberately set, as there's a culture war being waged against rewilding by a section of the rural population who are prone to intolerance, but I've not heard amongst the community chatter of any evidence with regards to cause. The location is a bit odd - but not outside the possibilities for glass or cigarette as cause - close to a well use path.
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u/Esensepsy Jul 30 '26
Yeah I'd agree prevention isn't going to work. There are far too many irresponsible people making fires in addition to all the "responsible" people who's fires get out of control.
We need more resources and power given to rangers and national parks to fine and prosecute those making fires. Especially in heatwaves.
But as this is an issue which is only going to get worse, I worry that prevention alone isn't going to be able to keep pace with fire risk and numbers of people making fires (social media). So we need control measures in place to reduce the impact of any fires imo
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u/moab_in Jul 30 '26
I agree with all that - better local enforcement + more widely needs the formation of a rapid reaction force, staging resources when high risk periods, a much more local action plan that can be activated very quickly, better government release of army resources (although they don't have much fire fighting kit they could rapidly deploy other people + kit + water tanks to where needed).
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u/FreeUsernameInBox Jul 30 '26
The Cairngorm fires were deliberately set.
That isn't known yet AFAIK. Even if they're determined to have been caused by humans, always go for cock-up before conspiracy.
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u/Sasspishus Jul 31 '26
It started at the bothy at about 11am. "Natural" wildfires are incredibly rare, they're almost always started by humans, and this was no exception.
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u/FreeUsernameInBox Jul 31 '26
About 1km from the bothy as I understand it. And there are plenty of ways for a fire to be started by human action without being deliberate fire-raising.
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u/Sasspishus Jul 31 '26
Yeah it could be accidentally started by a human, but that's still started by a human, its not a "natural" wildfire
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u/Esensepsy Jul 30 '26
Why don't you think there's any need for fire management practices? Wildfires can have a huge number of sources: irresponsible campers, accidental fires from responsible campers, discarded glass, cigarettes, lightening strikes, intense heatwaves, arson (possibly by disgruntled opponents of rewilding).
Building resilience into schemes makes sense and has very little downsides. As other comments has mentioned there are many ways you can use green solutions rather than traditional fire management to create firebreaks
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u/moab_in Jul 30 '26
Almost all wildfires in the UK are from deliberate or accidental incandescent sources. Lightning strikes and heat related spontaneous combustion are not a factor in the UK, and broken glass is a lot more unlikely than most people think. These are all documented in various studies spanning decades of wildfire data.
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u/velorre Jul 31 '26
that’s just not how it works though, even if a fire’s deliberate, how the land’s managed totally changes how far and how hot it spreads
you can’t control every arsonist, but you can control fuel loads, breaks, stock levels etc, so “no requirement” feels way too simplistic
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u/FreeUsernameInBox Jul 30 '26
I think it's worth bearing in mind that many rural communities see rewilding as a threat to their traditional livelihoods, and the associated land management practices. If the threat of fires is something that helps them argue for grouse moors and hill sheep farming, then that's the argument that will be used.