Plea to Sturgeon over muirburn
Gamekeepers in Scotland have called upon Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, to back the continued use of muirburn as an effective and environmentally sound method of managing upland habitats.
The keepers, who represent Scotland’s regional moorland groups, said that controlled burning was essential to managing how moorland stores carbon. The controlled burning creates firebreaks, which help to prevent uncontrolled blazes spreading. Scotland has suffered a number of wildfires recently, most notably in the Flow Country, which doubled the country’s greenhouse gas emissions for the six days that it burned.
Meanwhile, the GWCT has launched a Muirburn Advisory Service to coincide with the beginning of the muirburn season this month. The issue has become a ‘hot political potato’ in light of the Scottish government’s review of grouse-moor management.