UK Wildfire Conference: 10-11 November

I represented the Moorland Forum at the UK Wildfire Conference, last week.  This conference was the latest in a series of UK conferences that started in 2003.  Previously, the conferences had been organised by an independent company, but this year the decision was taken that the Scottish Wildfire Forum should team up with the England & Wales Wildfire Forum and the Chief Fire Officers' Association Wildfire Group to run the conference.  The Scottish Fire & Rescue Service agreed to host the conference at their state-of-the-art conference centre at Cambuslang, south-east of Glasgow, and it proved to be a fantastic venue.

After a slow start, the number of bookings increased to just short of 180 and it was great that this included people from Sweden, the Netherlands, USA and New Zealand.  The international audience justified the presence of the key-note international speakers from USA, New Zealand and Italy, who shared their considerable wildfire experience with the conference.  The level of preparedness for wildfire in the UK is low compared to other countries, but then so is our threat level.  Arguably, the threat level is too low; if it were higher, we would be forced to get more organised but it is difficult to justify this when we only have a bad wildfire season every few years, which is unlikely to affect every part of the UK.  During discussion at the conference, the comparison was made with snow clearance; if we had regular, predictable heavy falls of snow, we would be prepared to invest more heavily in snow clearing equipment.  However, just because our wildfire threat level is low does not mean there is no risk to people and property and that we should not be planning ahead.  This was the theme for the conference: "Prevention Better Than Cure".

I am the Vice Chairman of the England & Wales Wildfire forum, and also on the Executive Committee of the Scottish Wildfire Forum, and in this dual capacity I was asked to provide an introduction to the conference, to help set the scene.

On the second day, I ran a workshop about the proposal to introduce a Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS) for the UK.  The starting point for this is that the two wildfire forums and the Chief Fire Officers' Association Wildfire Group, should come together to draw up a specification for what is required; jointly, these organisations should be the customer.  As part of developing a specification, all existing systems will be reviewed, as well as the option to develop a bespoke system for the UK.  Any costs will need to be justified.  Experience of introducing a better co-ordinated response to wildfire in the Peak District has indicated that there will be cost savings, but it will no doubt be difficult to obtain any funding for this work.  However, the first step is to quantify what the industry wants a FDRS to achieve and then provide different options, with associated costs for how this might be achieved.

Wildfire is often seen as a poor relation when considering the management of our open land, but with forecasters indicating that climate change is likely to result in hotter and drier summers, I believe it is essential that we become better prepared for wildfire incidents so that we can reduce their impact.  The worst case scenario is a summer wildfire burning into peat - not only will this result in severe damage to vegetation, it will cause an enormous loss of stored carbon.

Wildfires are a potential environmental disaster; we must do everything we can to reduce the amount of damage they cause.

Peatland Action - Team Meeting - day 2

After some late night informal discussion, day 2 of the Team Meeting, on Friday 6 November, took place indoors.

I provide some support for the project by coordinating and advising on the demonstration events that the project officers are running; these promote the work of the project, and allow discussion of peatland restoration and management.  

Demonstration Events

While some larger demonstration events will continue to be held, where it is appropriate, some project officers have found it effective to take one or two people with them when inspecting work in progress.  This involves little extra effort and is a good way to engage with people who want to know more about peatland management.  Project Officers have been encouraged to use this approach.

A more strategic event is being planned the end of February, and this will be held near Lanark.  The target audience will be senior staff from Forestry Commission Scotland, and from other organisations within reach of Lanark.  

Some discussion took place about having a team meeting at the end of this phase of the project, in March 2016, and this will probably be held near Edinburgh.  This might provide an opportunity to host an evening reception to present the achievements of Peatland Action to a wider audience.

Peatland: Management vs Restoration

I was encouraged by the increasing reference to peatland management, as I believe this represents the peatland story moving into a more mature phase.  It is easy to get carried away by all the excitement associated with hordes of large machinery moving across moorland, and it can be forgotten that this is a long-term game.  

Restoration work is required in areas where the peat is eroding fast, and the worst cases are where the vegetation has been removed to leave bare peat.  In other areas, where the vegetation cover remains, a more subtle approach is required to manage the vegetation more sympathetically and perhaps shift the balance between dry heath species and mosses to make it more resilient in the future.

We need to integrate peatland management into best practice management of our upland and moorland areas.  To do this the Peatland Action project must be able to engage with farmers as well as estates.  Recognition of the changing importance of peatlands will inevitability take a long time and the 'peatland community' must be patient; we are making progress but there is still a long way to go.

Barriers to Adoption

The project is aware that there are some barriers, perceived and real, that are preventing some people for embracing the message about peatland.  An example is the concern of livestock farmers that re-wetting will increase the incidence of fluke and increase the amount of Bog asphodel, which is associated with photo-sensitisation in sheep.  It may be possible to address some of these concerns by producing some guidance, but other issues may require further research.  I will be establishing from project officers where such barriers are thought to exist, and I would welcome input from others.

Peatland Action - Team Meeting - day 1

Part of Inshriach Restoration Site, near Aviemore

I had an interesting day with the Peatland Action team in Aviemore, yesterday, that included a visit to nearby peatland restoration sites.

Seeing this work first hand confirms my conviction that the restoration of peatland is long overdue.  In the past our treatment of these areas as waste land has been to ignore their value in so many ways.  Their impact on water quality is the most obvious; when you can see how much peat material gets washed away when the protective layer of vegetation is removed you can begin to understand why our rivers turn brown after heavy rain.  We should also not forget the eroding effect of wind on peat that has dried out.

One of the areas we visited yesterday had lost about a metre of depth, since concern was first expressed about the condition of the area in 1986.  While there maybe between three and five metres of peat on this site still, it will not last long at this rate of erosion.

Some of the Peatland Action Project Officers

The first task for restoration work must be to restrict erosion by restoring the vegetation cover.  If the water table is then raised, this surface layer will become self-sustaining.  The ideal is then for  sphagnum mosses to colonise the area which will then start to form more peat.

This is all long-term stuff.  The Peatland Action team have been tasked with spending £3m in the 9 months that ends on 31 March 2016.  When compared with the scale of the problem caused by our lack of sensitive management in the past, this is a drop in the bucket, but it is a good start.  More funding and more awareness of the challenge we face is required.

Moorland Forum meeting - 30 October

We had a good turnout for the meeting yesterday; thank you to all those who attended.  Here is a snap shot of the discussion.

Rural Skills and Careers was the lead topic and, with the very valuable input from the Scottish Countryside Alliance, Scottish Land & Estates, Lantra Scotland and the Cairngorms National Park, we had a very good discussions of the issues.  The key question was, "Can the Forum add value to the initiatives that are already in place?" This is a big topic and not surprisingly we did not reach any conclusions, but we agreed that the Forum would organise a meeting to discuss the options in more depth and we will invite other key players, for example the colleges, to attend.

BTO provided an update on the progress of the Understanding Predation project.  The first of three review seminars was held on Tuesday, 27 October, and this had gone very well (see the report on the UP blog).  A striking issue from the seminar had been the diversity of the people who had attended and their willingness to engage in discussion.  The briefing that has been produced for delegates attending the seminar is recommended reading.

We considered the other ongoing and planned work.  I received the invitation to tender for the review of the Muirburn Code on Thursday morning, 29 October, and I will be asking for support with providing the response to the tender.

We discussed the Sustainable Moorland Management Review that had recommended the involvement of the Forum.  Lord Lindsay will write to the Minister for Environment to express the Forum's willingness to support this work, covering: the production of a Moorland Vision and a strategy to deliver it; and the design and delivery of large-scale and long-term experiments to support the  understanding of moorland ecosystem health.

The Forum supported the suggestion that the summer meeting should take us north and west of the Great Glen.  A proposal to visit the Sleat peninsula on Skye was put forward, but other suggestions will be welcome.

A draft of the Annual Progress Report had been circulated and I am keen to get any comments on the text.  I will be working on the presentation of this to provide a bit more impact and move on from the rather predictable presentation.

Environmental projects - how to run a better project

SNH is running a Sharing Good Practice Event to provide an opportunity for participants to share and learn from others the project management skills required to successfully run ‘on the ground’ environmental projects and projects within environmental organisations.

Environmental projects have their own challenges which Project Managers overcome in their own way.  It is envisaged that past, present and future Project Managers and Project Executives / Senior Responsible Owners will attend, as well as others with an interest in the delivery of environmental projects.

The event aims to draw in speakers from outside the environmental sector to give a broader perspective on how to successfully utilise project management techniques.

There is more information and a booking form on SNH's website.

Land Reform (Scotland) Bill

I suggest that anyone wanting a 'handy' summary of the Land Reform Bill should have a look at the briefing contained in the papers published for the meeting of the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee on 2nd September.

The briefing is six pages long and starts on page 4 of the document.

A landmark day for the Forum

It feels like today has been a bit of a landmark day for the Moorland Forum. Some of the buses we have been waiting for have come round the bend on the same day, and we have held two important meetings.

Review of Sustainable Moorland Management

The long-awaited report to the Science Advisory Committee of SNH from the Review of Sustainable Moorland Management was published today, and this is of great interest to the Forum. The Report, and supporting documents, can be downloaded from the SNH website.

There is a lot of detail in the Report that will need to be sifted through, but the ten recommendations are summarised on p5 of the Report and more details of the key issues (and supporting recommendations) are provided on pp30-37. As a taster the recommendations contain:

• Scotland’s Moorland Forum, working with its members and wider stakeholders, is asked to produce a shared vision for Scotland’s moorlands founded on environmental sustainability and critical ecological thinking and to devise a strategy for delivering this. 
• SNH is asked to work with Scotland’s Moorland Forum to design and deliver large-scale, long-term experiments to support our understanding of moorland ecosystem health.

However, this is not yet a call for action. Discussions are taking place between SNH and the Scottish Government about how this work is to be resourced, and I will provide an update about any action that we can get on with at the Forum meeting, on 30 October.

Understanding Predation - Steering Group Meeting

The Project's Steering Group met and received a presentation from the Research Group about the working draft report that has been circulated to them. Discussion took place about the management and presentation of the data that have been collected from the review of the science, the questionnaire and the workshops. There was complete agreement about how the Report could be refined. 

We also discussed the Project Review Seminars, which will take place on 27 Oct, 3 Nov and 12 Nov, and how these will be structured. See the Understanding Predation blog for more details.

I will provide more detail about this meeting, next week, on the Understanding Predation blog and there will be a progress update at the Forum meeting on 30 October.

Chairman's Working Group Meeting

This meeting was held after the Steering Group meeting, and we discussed the agenda for the Forum meeting on 30 October. An important part of the meeting will be a discussion on Rural Skilling. I will circulate an Agenda for the meeting, next week, and this will include a briefing about the Rural Skilling part of the meeting.  

I will ask that members come to the meeting with a clear understanding of what their organisations do already towards providing skills for people in rural areas and what training is provided for the next generation. 

Muirburn Code Review

On the way back from the meetings, I was in discussion with the Scottish Government about the Invitation to Tender for the next phase of the review of the Muirburn Code. I expect to receive the Invitation next week, and I will be aiming to provide a response no later than the end of November, with a view to work starting on the agreed process, early in 2016. Again, more about this on 30 October.

I look forward to working with Members to take forward all these initiatives. It has indeed been a bit of a landmark day, and in preparation for tackling all this, I am heading for three days on the west coast for quiet contemplation and an injection of reality!