By restoring nature and working together we can create more fire-resilient landscapes

Every summer another precious area of Scotland falls victim to wildfire, with devastating impacts on people, wildlife and landscapes.

Few places, from drained moorlands to nature reserves, are immune. In 2025, a ‘megafire’ the size of Manchester affected 45 square miles of mostly moorland at Dava and Carrbridge. This summer, a fire the size of Dundee burnt through RSPB Abernethy and iconic Glenmore in the Cairngorms.

Wildfires are almost always caused by irresponsible people, through campfires or discarding cigarette butts on tinder dry ground, or other behaviour. Drier, warmer summers, due to human-caused climate change, are increasing the likelihood and severity of fires too.

Yet, while the fire raged in the Cairngorms, and firefighters – including over 100 volunteers – heroically worked together to bring it under control, cynical attacks were launched across elements of mainstream and social media in an attempt to blame the blaze on ‘rewilders’.

Now that the flames are out, it’s time for calm reflection. Scotland must wake-up to the growing threat of wildfires – one of the most obvious life-threatening consequences of climate breakdown.

So, what can be done?

I recently visited the site of the Cairngorms fire and heard firsthand from those who fought it so impressively and who were directly impacted by it.

While the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service leads the response to wildfires, incidents on this scale and of this type require specialist skills, equipment and local knowledge, making close cooperation with land managers and communities – who did so much to help put out the Cairngorms fire – essential.
The Cairngorms fire also demonstrated how fires require resources like bulldozers to create firebreaks, and helicopters to drop water from the air. It took 30 hours for helicopters to attend the Cairngorms because the ones based in Scotland were fighting fires in England and Wales. This can’t happen again. More investment is needed, now.

Community preparedness for wildfires is vital too. Some have called for a ‘mountain rescue’ approach – putting local people who know the terrain and understand the landscape at the heart of any wildfire response. Local experts, such as gamekeepers, have a key role here.

But to be effective, people need the tools to do the job. Scotland should learn from the Cairngorms National Park’s Climate Adaptation Fund. It has granted £300,000 to 14 business and community groups this year. Twelve grants were for firefighting machinery and equipment, much of which was deployed to fight the recent fire.

While effective and coordinated action to fight wildfires once they’ve begun is needed more than ever, preventing them from starting in the first place must receive renewed emphasis.

Remembering that it’s people that start fires, the byelaw banning campfires in summer in the Cairngorms is an important first step. Should this ban be extended nationwide?

Ignorance of reckless behaviour cannot be an excuse either. It is currently impossible to drive into the national park without seeing signs about the byelaw. National awareness campaigns are essential now too.

None of this is new. It’s shocking that lessons from previous fires have not resulted in much-needed change to how we respond. Arguably, the worst thing that could happen is yet another inquiry into the Cairngorms fire to ‘learn lessons’. The lessons have been learnt, a plan is in place, but too little done. What is needed now is a rapid response from government, with serious action and investment.

This brings me to the recent attacks on rewilding. While the Cairngorms fire did rage across habitats being restored for nature, we must remember that the Dava mega-fire took place on land managed for sheep and shooting.

The reality is that intensively managed landscapes are hugely vulnerable because burning and draining moorland for grouse shooting creates dried out conditions and highly flammable monocultures. And if underlying peat catches fire, it turns into pure fuel which keeps on smouldering for weeks or even months.

Meanwhile, evidence suggests that restoring nature is one of our best long-term defences against wildfires.

Because the fact is, water stops fire. Rewetted peatlands, beaver wetlands, woodlands of moisture-rich less-flammable native broadleaf trees, re-wiggled rivers and reconnected floodplains all put water back into the landscape – stored where it should be naturally, creating resilience against flooding, drought and wildfire.

Natural grazing by cattle – another rewilding approach – can reduce fuel load too, especially where rewetting is not possible. It is notable that rewetted peatland and naturally grazed areas seem to have escaped the worst of the most recent fire.

Sometimes land still being ecologically restored may prove flammable in the short-term, but that is an argument for good stewardship – including fire breaks or natural grazing, for example – not against nature recovery.

If we want to build more resilient, safe landscapes then we need to move beyond finger-pointing towards cooperation for wildfire prevention and management.

Gamekeepers have much to teach rewilders when it comes to fire-break creation and wildfire suppression. Rewilders can help gamekeepers restore diverse, resilient habitats. This will benefit nature too – when the country is on fire, it’s easy to forget that we are in a biodiversity crisis, with one in nine Scottish species threatened with extinction.

The Scottish Rewilding Alliance is calling on the Scottish Government to show leadership at this crucial time. The government should bring together land managers from every sector – alongside emergency services, communities and scientists – at a Landscape Resilience Summit, to discuss how we can use all the tools we have to create fire-resilient landscapes, and urgently establish a joined-up strategy for the future.

The terrible Cairngorms wildfire has shown that we can come together to tackle these crises. Now we need to pool our knowledge, and work together, for a safer future.

Steve Micklewright is chief executive of Trees for Life and former convenor of the Scottish Rewilding Alliance. Add your voice to the Alliance’s call for a Landscape Resilience Summit at: www.rewild.scot

A shorter version of this article was originally published in The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday, September 2026.