A ban on heather burning could cause devastating wildfires

In the age of global warming, the idea that setting fire to things can be good for the environment seems counterintuitive. But a new report reveals that the practice of heather burning in the uplands could help protect one of England’s largest carbon stores.

Heather burning is one of the traditional means by which keepers ‘manage’ heather moorlands. By burning off old, woody heather in planned ‘cool burns’ (small, carefully controlled burns that pass quickly over the ground surface) young shoots are encouraged, and the peat below is undamaged.

The review of the science behind heather burning, carried out by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), comes in the wake of Natural England banning the practice of rotational burning on deep peat. The trust is concerned that such simple ‘no-burn’ policies will have unintended consequences. They point to the results of similarly well-intentioned regulation in the US. There, regulation stopped managed burning from the 1930s resulting in declines of bird life and the devastating wildfires experienced in recent years.

Wildfires might sound like something more likely to occur in the warmer climes of Australia or Spain, but drier summers such as the one we are experiencing now have led to a stark rise in the number of wildfires in England.