New Research Confirms: Controlled Burning is Vital for Heathland Health

Rob Beeson
7 minutes ago
3 min read

✅ KEY TAKEAWAY: Active management through controlled burning is scientifically proven to restore healthy heather, support insect biodiversity, and reduce dangerous fuel loads, ensuring our moorlands remain vibrant for future generations.

For generations, those of us living and working on the moors have understood a fundamental truth: our landscapes are not static. To keep them healthy, diverse, and safe, they must be actively managed.

A new scientific paper from Poland published by the Forest Research Institute has provided fresh evidence supporting what moorland managers have practiced for decades. The study, titled "Controlled burning as an active method of protecting heathlands," investigates the ecological effects and methodology of prescribed fire.

The findings offer strong scientific backing for the use of controlled fire as a crucial tool for nature conservation and wildfire prevention.

The Threat of Doing Nothing

The researchers highlight a critical issue that threatens heathlands across Europe: abandonment. The study explains that without active management, open heathlands are quickly lost. They become overgrown with scrub, trees, and invasive grasses in a process known as "succession."

When this happens, the unique biodiversity of the moor is lost. The paper notes that traditional alternatives to burning, such as mechanical mowing or grazing, are often insufficient on their own or prohibitively expensive to implement on a large scale.

Without intervention, we don't get a "wilder" landscape; we simply get a degraded one with less biodiversity and a higher risk of catastrophic damage.

Key Findings: Regeneration and Biodiversity

The most encouraging aspect of this research is the data regarding how nature responds to fire. Critics often claim that burning destroys habitats, but this study suggests the opposite.

The researchers conducted environmental monitoring over a five-year period following controlled burns. Their findings include:

Rapid Recovery: The study recorded an average heather regeneration rate of 85% in just the first year after burning.
Biodiversity Safety: The monitoring showed no negative impact on the biodiversity of flora (plants) or fauna (animals) associated with the heath habitat.
Invertebrate Health: The study specifically looked at spiders, beetles, and other insects. It found that burning helps maintain a "mosaic" of habitats - patches of different ages and heights - which is optimal for these species.

By removing the old, woody layer of heather and moss, the fire exposes the soil, allowing seeds to germinate and new life to spring up. This creates the varied structure that ground-nesting birds and other wildlife require to thrive.

Reducing the Risk of Wildfires

For our rural communities, the threat of summer wildfires is a constant worry. As vegetation builds up year after year, it creates a dangerous "fuel load" of dry, combustible material.

The paper identifies controlled burning as a cost-effective preventative method. By burning off this excess biomass during the wetter, colder months, land managers create fire breaks and reduce the overall intensity of any potential summer wildfires.

This is active stewardship in action - managing the land today to protect it for tomorrow.

A Skilled Practice

The report stresses that this is not about setting fires at random. It emphasizes that controlled burning is a highly technical procedure that requires skill, planning, and deep knowledge of the land.

The researchers outline that burning must take place during the "dormant season" (typically late autumn or late winter) to protect wildlife. It requires precise weather conditions - specific humidity levels and wind speeds - to ensure the fire remains low-intensity and controllable.

This mirrors the best practice standards our members adhere to. It confirms that professional land management is essential. The study concludes that when done correctly, burning is an "effective and cost-efficient alternative" to preserve these valuable ecosystems.

Conclusion

This research serves as a reminder that traditional knowledge and modern science often walk hand-in-hand. Controlled burning is not just a tradition; it is a sophisticated conservation tool that maintains the unique character of our moors, supports biodiversity, and protects our communities from devastating wildfires.