Britain recognizes benefits of rewilding

Rewilding can help reduce the risk and severity of wildfires in Britain, particularly when it restores wetlands, peatlands and diverse habitats. It does not mean simply leaving land unmanaged.

How rewilding can help
Rewetting peatlands

Many British peatlands have been drained in the past. Dry peat can become highly flammable and fires can burn deep underground. Rewilding can block drainage ditches, restore the water table and encourage plants such as Sphagnum moss, making the landscape wetter and less likely to sustain intense fires. UK government guidance specifically identifies peatland rewetting as a way to reduce uncontrolled peat fires.
Creating natural firebreaks
Rewilding produces a mixture of ponds, wetlands, streams, grassland, scrub and woodland rather than one continuous type of vegetation. Wet areas can interrupt the spread of flames and provide natural firebreaks.
Increasing vegetation diversity
Landscapes dominated by a single type of dry vegetation can allow fire to spread rapidly. A more diverse habitat mosaic can break up this continuity and make it harder for fire to travel across the landscape.
Using natural grazing
Carefully managed grazing by cattle, horses and other large herbivores can consume some grasses and vegetation that would otherwise become dry fuel. The animals can also create a varied landscape of shorter and taller vegetation.
Beavers can increase wet areas
Where appropriate, beavers can create dams, ponds and wetlands. These wetter areas can function as natural barriers to fire while also improving biodiversity and water retention.

Improving drought resilience
Healthy soils and restored peatlands hold more water. This is important as hotter and drier conditions increase wildfire danger in Britain. Recent NatureScot research concludes that peatland restoration is likely to improve resistance and resilience to wildfire, although more long-term evidence is still needed.
An important qualification

Rewilding is not automatically fire-proof. During the transition from degraded land to a healthy ecosystem, dry grasses, shrubs or leftover forestry material can sometimes temporarily increase the available fuel. Management therefore needs to be carefully planned, particularly in fire-prone areas.

So the basic principle is:

Restore water → restore healthy soils → increase habitat diversity → reduce continuous dry fuel → create natural firebreaks → make landscapes more resilient to wildfire.

This is increasingly reflected in UK policy: in June 2026, the UK government announced funding for peatland restoration specifically citing protection of rural communities from wildfire and flooding.

We hope this continues everywhere for the benefit of the ecosystem.

By Jamuna Rangachari