We need to talk about fire: A report from the recent England and Wales Wildfire Forum conference

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By John Clarke, Director for Conservation, Policy & Uplands

Earlier this month the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation attended the England and Wales Wildfire Forum conference held in Aberdeen.

The conference, titled ‘Resilience in a changing world’, was organised by the Heather Trust and brought together 200 people involved in preventing and fighting wildfires across the globe.

Jim Fairlie MSP, the Scottish Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, gave the formal opening in which he thanked gamekeepers for their hard work in protecting Scotland’s precious habitats and landscapes.

The following two days were packed with talks, discussions and viewpoints from speakers from every corner of the globe. The main message from abroad was that the UK is wrong to not manage fuel loads. Many other countries had tried this tactic in the past and it created a more dangerous environment, causing greater loss of habitat, property and even life.

It was pointed out by more than one speaker that we spend more effort on suppression and planning for when a wildfire breaks out, than we do on actual wildfire prevention; from stopping them happening in the first place.

The current trend for minimal land and habitat management and ineffective fuel load management has caused polarisation between parties with differing opinions. Changes in land management have all added to the increased risk.

The reduction in livestock and deer numbers, land abandonment, re-wilding and pressure from the government to reduce traditional burning and fuel load management – along with the public perception that all fire is bad and should be stopped – have added to increased surface vegetation and fuel load which is putting more communities, infrastructure, landscapes and wildlife at risk.

With conservation organisations forging ahead with rewetting schemes that they say will prevent wildfires in the future, but as yet are unproven, can we really afford to step away from the traditional proven practices and wait 50 years to see if their strategy will work?

With global warming a very real threat, how will planting sphagnum and raising the water table going to stop the billions of tons of dry combustible material that stands above the damp underlayer going to stop a wildfire? There is no doubt in my mind that it may, in the right area, stop a fire from burning into the peat. But it is never going to be the golden bullet that will work everywhere.

The majority of people in the room were were in favour of carrying out prescribed burning. Unfortunately the powers that be in Defra and Natural England are still not listening, and I fear they won’t until there is serious loss of houses, infrastructure or life.

In the meantime, it is important that we carry on attending these conferences to promote the work of gamekeepers and land managers who are doing their utmost to protect our rare upland habitats, despite being constantly hampered by having one arm tied behind their backs by bureaucracy, red tape and a hidden political agenda promoted by money-hungry conservation groups.

There needs to be a realisation that the small amount of carbon that is released during a prescribed burn – which are carried out in winter and early spring when the underlying vegetation and ground is damp – is far better than the huge carbon release caused by the hot summer wildfires that not only damage our peatlands but also indiscriminately destroy habitats and kill wildlife

Hopefully conferences like the one organised for the Heather Trust and EWWF will help change the current thinking, and we can go back to protecting these fragile landscapes the way we have done for centuries.

Note to Editors:

The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation: The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO) represents the gamekeepers of England and Wales. The NGO defends and promotes gamekeeping and gamekeepers and works to ensure high standards throughout the profession. The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation was founded in 1997 by a group of gamekeepers who felt that keepering was threatened by public misunderstanding and poor representation. Today, the organisation has are around 13,000 members.
www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk