How Practical Moorland Management Can Stop the UK’s Wildfire Crisis

✅ KEY TAKEAWAY: To solve the UK wildfire crisis, policymakers must abandon flawed anti-burning policies and empower local managers to reduce vegetation fuel loads through controlled winter burning and targeted livestock grazing.

The UK is facing a wildfire emergency. In 2025 alone, a record-breaking 46,000 hectares of land burned across the country, at an estimated cost of more than £460 million. These fires destroy wildlife, release carbon, damage peat, and threaten rural communities.

As the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee rightly asks: how can land management techniques be best used at a regional level to prevent and control wildfires?

The answer is already actively working on our hillsides, though it is increasingly threatened by misguided national policies. To stop devastating wildfires, we must listen to the rural workers who manage the land every day.

The most effective way to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk is to manage the highly flammable vegetation - the “fuel load” - that builds up across our uplands. Restricting traditional land management practices has turned our moors into tinderboxes.

To protect our landscapes, we must empower regional gamekeepers and farmers to use proven, science-backed tools.

As Moorland Association Chief Executive Andrew Gilruth warns:

"Wildfires in 2025 surpassed anything we’ve seen before, both in cost and in the scale of damage. These fires are destroying habitats, releasing vast amounts of carbon and leaving communities to pick up the bill. Unless we change course, this will become the new normal."

The Science of Prevention: Techniques That Work

Wildfire risk comes down to a simple equation: weather plus fuel. We cannot control the weather. But we can reduce the amount of dry vegetation available to burn.

Controlled "Cool" Winter Burning

For generations, moorland managers have used controlled "cool" burning to manage the landscape. Conducted during the wet winter months, this practice skims off the older, woody canopy of heather without damaging the vital, carbon-rich peat soil beneath.

The science is clear on what happens when we stop this practice. Studies show that without management, fine-fuel loads increase four to six-fold within 15 to 20 years, jumping from a manageable 2-4 tonnes per hectare to a highly dangerous 10-15 tonnes. When fires hit these unmanaged "Fire Highways," flame lengths can reach 7.6 metres - far beyond the 1.5-metre threshold where firefighters can safely tackle flames with hand tools.

Targeted Livestock Grazing

Traditional sheep farming is another critical nature-based solution. Sheep act as natural firefighters, grazing down flammable vegetation. However, government policies incentivising the removal of livestock have caused the English sheep flock to fall by 7.2% over the last two years. This reduction means an estimated 600,000 tonnes of excess vegetation is now being left on the countryside every single year, adding literal fuel to the fire.

Regional Frontline Defence: Trusting Local Expertise

Wildfires cannot be managed effectively from a desk in London. They require a "bottom-up" approach that relies on regional application and local expertise.

Operating in remote areas, gamekeepers act as rapid first responders. Equipped with all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and mounted water "fogging" units, they routinely extinguish accidental fires - often sparked by disposable BBQs or campfires - before the Fire and Rescue Service is even called.

When major incidents do occur, gamekeepers guide fire crews through treacherous terrain, providing the local knowledge necessary to fight the blaze safely. Centralised policies that marginalise these rural workers actively weaken our national wildfire resilience.

Balancing Needs: Protecting People, Nature, and Climate

Proactive fuel management is the ultimate balancing act. It protects multiple national interests simultaneously:

• Protecting the Climate: Wildfires are carbon bombs. A severe wildfire burning deep into dry peat can release up to 100 tonnes of carbon per hectare. In contrast, a controlled winter burn releases just 1-2 tonnes, protecting the deep peat carbon sink below.

• Safeguarding Public Health: The smoke from uncontrolled wildfires is highly toxic. During the 2018 Saddleworth Moor fire, PM2.5 particle levels were thousands of times higher than safe limits, exposing millions to dangerous pollution. Controlled burns, carefully managed on specific days, produce manageable, short-lived smoke.

• Economic Reality: Uncontrolled wildfires cost the taxpayer anywhere from £5,000 to over £20,000 per hectare in firefighting, infrastructure repair, and habitat restoration. Spending thousands on preventative fuel reduction saves millions in emergency response.

Evidence Gaps & Flawed Policy: Why "Rewetting" Isn't Enough

A significant evidence gap exists in the UK's current regulatory framework, primarily driven by Natural England. The prevailing policy assumes that "rewetting" bogs - blocking drainage ditches to raise the water table - is the sole answer to wildfire prevention.

While restoring hydrology is important, rewetting alone is not a silver bullet. The recent wildfire at Danes Moss - the largest lowland raised bog in Cheshire - proved that even wet environments will burn ferociously if the surface vegetation is left overgrown and dries out in summer heat.

Furthermore, rewetting without managing surface vegetation can result in massive spikes in greenhouse gases. New scientific evidence reveals that a "burn-to-rewet" approach - using a controlled fire to clear surface vegetation before raising the water table - cuts harmful methane emissions by 95% compared to rewetting alone.

There is a glaring gap between the UK's restrictive domestic policies and global scientific consensus. The White House, the G7, and the European Union all endorse prescribed burning and targeted grazing as essential tools for climate adaptation and wildfire prevention. Yet, the UK continues to ban and restrict these proven practices.

As Andrew Gilruth rightly points out:

“Like Los Angeles, our politicians have ignored the build-up of vegetation which their own red tape has created.”

The Path Forward

To stop the cycle of devastating, costly, and highly polluting wildfires, the EFRA Committee must recommend a return to practical, evidence-based land management. We must close the gap between ideological anti-burning policies and international fire science.

By supporting regional gamekeepers, enabling controlled winter burning, and valuing targeted grazing, policymakers can reduce fuel loads, strengthen wildfire resilience, and protect our uplands for future generations.

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