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The article discusses how carefully planned rewilding in the UK uplands can help reduce wildfire risks by restoring natural, functioning ecosystems. Key points include:
– **Wildfires in Britain are mostly human-started**, but whether they become catastrophic depends heavily on the landscape’s condition.
– **Rewilding is sometimes criticized** because stopping activities like grazing, cutting, and burning can lead to more accumulated vegetation fuel for fires.
– However, **effective rewilding focuses on restoring ecosystems that make landscapes wetter, patchier, and more resistant to fire**.
– Britain’s uplands and moors, often perceived as natural and timeless, have actually been shaped by human activity such as clearance, drainage, grazing, and burning over the past 150 years, increasing fire risk.
– Data shows that most peatlands in England are dry and degraded, with a reduction of water-retaining species like *Sphagnum* moss, contributing to fire susceptibility.
– To rebuild nature’s fire defenses, rewilding should focus on:
1. **Bringing back the bogs** by blocking drainage and restoring *Sphagnum* moss to keep landscapes wetter and less prone to deep peat fires.
2. **Restoring wet riverscapes and ponds** to slow water flow, re-meander streams, reconnect floodplains, and recover wetlands, acting as firebreaks.
Overall, the article emphasizes that restoring natural water retention and landscape complexity through rewilding can help make upland landscapes more resilient to wildfires, especially under changing climatic conditions
Read the full article on Positive News here: Read More
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