The role of fire in UK peatland and moorland management: the need for informed, unbiased debate

Abstract

Fire has been used for centuries to generate and manage some of the UK's cultural landscapes. Despite its complex role in the ecology of UK peatlands and moorlands, there has been a trend of simplifying the narrative around burning to present it as an only ecologically damaging practice. That fire modifies peatland characteristics at a range of scales is clearly understood. Whether these changes are perceived as positive or negative depends upon how trade-offs are made between ecosystem services and the spatial and temporal scales of concern. Here we explore the complex interactions and trade-offs in peatland fire management, evaluating the benefits and costs of managed fire as they are currently understood. We highlight the need for (i) distinguishing between the impacts of fires occurring with differing severity and frequency, and (ii) improved characterization of ecosystem health that incorporates the response and recovery of peatlands to fire. We also explore how recent research has been contextualized within both scientific publications and the wider media and how this can influence non-specialist perceptions. We emphasize the need for an informed, unbiased debate on fire as an ecological management tool that is separated from other aspects of moorland management and from political and economic opinions.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'.

Keywords: Calluna vulgaris; UK; management burning; moorland; peat; prescribed burning; wildfire.

Figure 1.

(a–c) Examples of moorlands managed through forms of prescribed burning typically associated with grouse moor management. Fire can, however, be used as an ecological tool for much more than just grouse and sheep production. Even grouse moor burning practice varies widely across the UK as can be seen here. Prescribed burning drives a variety of changes in peatland ecosystems including a range of ecosystem benefits and impacts according to the temporal and spatial scale one considers. Depending on how fires are managed, the ecological, visual and aesthetic impacts can be greater or lesser. All images were from geography.org.uk. (d) A low-severity prescribed burn moving through the lower canopy of a stand of Calluna, the moss and litter layer covering the peat surface is left more-or-less untouched. (Online version in colour.)