A Letter to The Times Editor, from the Chairman of the RMG

The Regional Moorland Group’s Chairman, Andrew Gilruth, submitted a letter to the editor in response to an article published by The Times, ‘National Trust failed to prepare for wildfires, say grouse chiefs’, by Poppy Koronka and Isobel Frodsham. See below for the original article and the letter.

The Times article ‘National Trust failed to prepare for wildfires, say grouse chiefs’, by Poppy Koronka and Isobel Frodsham

Letter to the editor:

Sir, It is bizarre that National Trust staff in the south of England use controlled winter burning to reduce vegetation, and so fuel load, yet in the north they refuse to do so (National Trust failed to prepare for wildfires say grouse chiefs, June 13). The suggestion that controlled burning is damaging our moors is highly contested and overlooks the fact that open heather moorlands, some of the rarest habitat on earth, was formed through being frequently burnt for over 6,000 years. If the National Trust wishes to embark on an experiment in protecting its moors from wildfire through rewetting it should also let the public know that the concept is not supported by evidence. It should also explain that the other element of its plan, to increase vegetation cover, will dry its moors out and increase the fuel available in the event of a wildfire. Conversely, if it were to manage its vegetation, including controlled winter burning, it would make the peat wetter and simultaneously reduce the fuel load to help avoid a catastrophic wildfire. 

Andrew Gilruth

Chairman

Regional Moorland Groups

An additional letter to the editor by Moorland Association representative for the North York Moors, George Winn-Darley