Members’ Briefing - Heather Management

I have been aware of a shift in the balance between heather management by burning and cutting in recent years, and I believe that the amount of management taking place by cutting is increasing. On some moors managers have gone the whole hog and have started to manage their heather by cutting only. The decision not to burn may have been taken for a range of reasons, such as water catchment restrictions, concerns about damage to peatland, lack of manpower or even personal preference.

As a result of this change, I thought it was more than appropriate that we carried out a review of some of the developments in thinking from a Heather Trust standpoint. Patrick Laurie has been working on this for two years and has been to visit many areas where this new thinking is developing. He has collected a large amount of information and we have decided to start publishing this.

The first step is a Members’ Briefing, which is now available from the Reading Room on the HT website. Although it is called a Members’ Briefing, we make this available to everyone and hope that anyone who is not already a member will take the appropriate action if they value the information this briefing contains.

There is much more to be done on this subject and Patrick and I will be working on this.  We will publish more information from time to time.

It is clear that many people feel passionate about their heather management, and we accept that our briefing may challenge some sensitivities. However, before anyone accuses us of going over to the dark side, you should note that we start the Members Briefing with a statement in support of heather burning, but we are keen to explore all the ways to manage heather to make sure that we use the available tools, to the best advantage.

If you agree, or disagree, with our thinking, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please use the comment box below.

Heather management: burning and cutting

Richard May on cut heather (Patrick Laurie)

The merits of burning and/or cutting heather have been debated in bars, houses and on moors since the management of moorland began.  Cutting is perhaps the new kid on the block, as fire has been managing heather since time began and as a result, heather is described as a fire-adapted plant.

At the Heather Trust, we have revived interest in this debate, as we have been made aware of the work that Richard May, a member of the Board, has been doing in the Peak District.  It was time to investigate further, and Patrick Laurie set off last week with this as an objective, in addition to catching up with the work that has been taking place on the moors that are contributing to the restoration trial after heather beetle.  Patrick has set out his thoughts from his visit on his own Blog.

Starting with Patrick's thoughts, I have started to list out the issues we could consider as part of this review and it has quickly become extensive.  There will be more issues, but these are the first ideas:

• Does burning aid regeneration of heather from seed - the smoke is thought to condition the seed to increase the rate of germination?
• Cutting does not work where the ground is unsuitable - too steep, on broken / rocky ground, where there is no access, or where the ground is too wet.
• Cutting can achieve a fine mosaic that would be difficult to replicate by burning.
• What are the impacts of a fine mosaic on grouse and other species?
• What are the merits of cutting and leaving the brash, against cutting and removing?
• What is the effect of age of heather on the relevant merits of the different techniques?
• How is the impact on the landscape assessed?
• The impact of burning on water quality, especially on peat soils, has been extensively researched, but is there an impact from cutting?
• The relative costs should be considered - burning requires a team of people, while cutting can be carried out by one person and one machine - "burn heather or burn diesel".
• Cutting does not carry a risk of wildfire.
• How can cutting can be best used in support of burning?
• How do we cater for the fact that 'every moor is different'?

I plan to work up these ideas into an article, or even a series of articles, that we will publish in our Annual Report.  To make this work as well-informed as possible, I hope to harness some other sources of information that include Professor Rob Marrs, our President; Richard May for input from his work in the Peak District; and possibly other organisations such as GWCT and British Moorlands.

Dick Bartlett of British moorlands is a member of the Trust and is based near Aberlour in Morayshire.  During the Cairngorms Land Management Forum meeting, last week (see separate post) he was expounding an approach to moorland management for grouse that  involved cutting a network of narrow strips through heather.  This could provide some useful input to our review.