Officials from Defra, the Home Office and Natural England visited moors in the Peak District last week.
The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Peak District Moorland Group and the Moorland Association hosted the visit, with wildfire expert Steve Gibson and Richard Hawley, lead wildfire officer for West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, also attending.
The purpose of the visit was to underline that moorland managers can see the extremely dangerous wildfire risk but our statutory bodies are preventing them from taking action.
The first comprehensive wildfire risk assessment report in the UK was produced by an independent group of researchers and land managers covering part of the Peak District, with support from a steering group including Natural England, the Incendium Group, the Peak District National Park Authority and Fitzwilliam Wentworth Estate.
Published in May 2022, the report, commissioned by the Peak District National Park Authority, set out the major risk of a catastrophic wildfire that would devastate internationally important habitat, release vast amounts of carbon and pose a real threat to the lives of fire fighters.
The Moorland Association believes it is not acceptable to expect members and fire fighters lives to be put at risk though the inability of state regulatory bodies supporting mitigation plans. After years of discussion and buck passing, the Moorland Association will be putting Ministers on notice of their liability in the event of catastrophic loss. Such an acute situation would never be allowed in the urban environment.
Natural England calculations show the moorland habitat of the Peak District scores six biodiversity units per acre; six times that of lowland pastures. The area studied in the wildfire report has a biodiversity value of £2.5 billion.
Carbon losses from moorland wildfires are also catastrophic. The wildfire on Saddleworth Moor in 2018 spread across 2,400 acres with a loss of some 40,000 tonnes of CO2.
To date, no action has been taken by Natural England or Defra to create a wildfire management plan for the Peak District or any other area of England.
The group in the Peak District last week visited areas of moorland where the approach to vegetation management differs. Areas where the heather has become impenetrable are devoid of wildlife and the combustible vegetation represents a disaster waiting to happen. Traditional methods of cutting and controlled burning to create a patchwork of vegetation of different heights is being prevented by Natural England and Defra – at what will be a huge cost to our members and the nation.
Grouse moors are havens for some of our rarest native species, including red grouse, lapwing, curlew, golden plover, merlin, peregrine, hen harrier, redshank, adder, emperor moth and mountain hare.