Scotland is out of step with the rest of the world on wildfires — as Australia, Portugal and California recognise and reinstate traditional burning practices to prevent catastrophic wildfires, Scotland is abandoning the most effective method we have to control wildfire risk.
From 1 January 2026, a licence will be required to practice muirburn in Scotland, adding a pointless bureaucratic barrier to a crucial tool which has been undertaken for centuries to protect our moors.
Muirburn refers to a series of small, controlled burns carried out in the winter to remove the most dense and woody heather on Scottish moorlands. It creates firebreaks and, crucially, drastically reduces the quantity of flammable material which fuels a wildfire to spread and spread.
Earlier this month, a massive blaze took hold north of Carrbridge, now confirmed as Scotland’s worst ever wildfire. The vast area covered – almost all the way to the village of Dava – is around 11,800 hectares, or more than 45 square miles. Gamekeepers put their own health at risk to battle the towering flames, bringing specialist equipment and their experience of muirburn to the table, and, working with the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service, eventually the fire was extinguished after an immense effort.
Unlike muirburn, wildfires set the ground itself alight, resulting in catastrophic carbon emissions, destroyed habitat, and often killing the birds, reptiles and mammals in the area which are unable to find their way out of the blistering fire and smoke.
This fire is by no means the exception and experts have warned time and again that wildfires are becoming increasingly common and increasingly likely.
So far this year the UK has seen a greater amount of land burnt than Greece, Spain, Italy and France did in the entirety of 2024 combined, according to Associate Professor of Environmental Geography Dr Tom Smith of the London School of Economics. Most of this devastation has been in Scotland. To reduce the environmental damage caused by wildfires, Dr Smith recommends “burning off some of the vegetation in the early Spring and late Winter” as they do in Mediterranean countries. This is an accurate description of muirburn.
A thought-provoking article written by Magnus Linklater of The Times, recounts his experience of a horrendous wildfire two years ago in Perthshire, and pays credit to the ‘more than 30 people’ mostly gamekeepers, who arrived from nearby farms and estates to put the fire out in less than one day. (Article here – requires subscription).
We now have three questions for policymakers:
- Are wildfires getting worse?
- Is Scotland affected by wildfires?
- Do we have the means to reduce the impact of wildfires?
If the answer to these questions is YES, we urge the Scottish government to think again about muirburn licensing now, before more catastrophic damage is inflicted on the moors which are loved and visited by so many people, from near and far. We can protect this landscape, if we listen to those who have been actively looking after it for generations.
Image Credit – Bright Spark Burning Techniques