Muirburn and Peatland

See Supplementary Information – Muirburn and Peatland

Peatland plays a valuable role in supporting a range of land uses and providing natural services. It needs to be managed carefully in order to continue that role.
When in good condition, peatland will have a high water table, a high cover of Sphagnum bog-mosses, and slow heather growth, which rarely becomes rank.
Techniques are available to improve the condition of some degraded peatland resulting in the restoration or improvement of the multiple services that peatland provides.

Burning

Burning should not take place on peatland unless it is part of a habitat restoration plan approved by SNH.
Such a restoration plan will almost always include drain blocking, or other actions to raise the water table. Although cutting will normally be preferred, burning may have a role in:
- reducing dense vegetation which may shade out mosses and thus hinder recovery, and
- exposing drains and facilitating dam installation.
More information about a habitat restoration plan is in Supplementary Information – Muirburn and Peatland.
If burning is to take place, a low severity fire should be used, normally burning with the wind, when the litter under the canopy is moist.
Peatland areas should never be burnt in very dry conditions, as this can cause significant damage and lead to serious peat fires.

Cutting

As part of habitat restoration, where ground conditions permit, cutting can be used to open up the canopy and allow a range of bog species to recover and re-establish.
On wet peatland, lightweight cutting equipment, mounted on low ground pressure vehicles, should be used to minimise the amount of compaction.
Care needs to be taken to avoid scalping hummocks.

Peatland can be damaged easily by incorrect management.
Fires that ignite peat can be very damaging and difficult to extinguish.
Many peatland areas form part of drinking water catchments. Inappropriate management can lead to impurities in the drinking water, which are expensive to remove.
Bad burning practices can produce bare peat, which is easily eroded by wind and water, allowing it to enter watercourses.
Badly managed cutting can damage the surface of the peat.

Reducing a heavy vegetation fuel load on peatland may reduce the risk of lasting damage should a wildfire occur.
In some circumstances, burning and cutting can break up dominant heather and grass cover, which may increase the diversity of the vegetation and create space for peat-forming Sphagnum mosses to re-establish or expand their cover.

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