Scrub fires — a burning issue that must be quenched

WILDFIRES have burned thousands of hectares of Ireland’s countryside this year.

The impact on birds has been particularly severe as thousands of nestlings will have perished in the fires or will face slow starvation as their main foraging areas have been destroyed.

Populations of birds such as stonechats, wrens and song thrushes, already decimated by the cold weather in January, are amongst the worst affected by these clearances, and returning migrants such as whitethroats, a specialist of this type of habitat, will also have been badly affected.

Aside from the impact on birds and wildlife, the land is eroded by heavy rainfall on soils exposed by these fires.

The burning contributes to carbon emissions and is illegal under the Air Pollution Act 1987 as it is “injurious to public health”, has a “deleterious effect on flora or fauna” and may “damage property, or impair or interfere with amenities or with the environment”.

Burning was a traditional management tool used to keep lands open which we now know has serious adverse environmental impacts.

But a recent “health check” of the single payments scheme made to farmers resulted in a new requirement for farmers to include only “utilisable areas” for payment.

While hedgerows are protected, areas of scrub and even any part of hedgerows growing into fields must be removed or marked on the farmer’s application and excluded from payments.

Aside from burning, a “clean-up” of scrub land has taken place across the country, often by farmers who previously worked off farm in construction but have now returned to farming full time — with access to idle machinery.

We are asking the Minister for Agriculture to have the Forest Service and the Department of Agriculture single payments unit to work together to provide a scheme to promote the management of these scrub areas, transferring them from single payments to forestry premiums.

Scrub is a transitional woodland that is recognised as part of the national forestry inventory, occupying as much as 15% of some counties’ forestry areas.

It provides a vital sanctuary for wildlife, a carbon store and a potential source of renewable fuel.

These scrub woods are composed of broadleaf trees which do not burn and can in fact protect dwellings from these devastating conflagrations.

While there may be many reasons for this year’s wildfires, the economic incentive for using burning as land management tool can and must be ended — while still protecting farmers’ incomes as custodians of the land.

Tony Lowes on behalf of An Taisce Bat Conservation Ireland

Bird Watch Ireland

CELT Feasta

Forest Friends

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Irish Environment

Grian Hedge Layers Association of Ireland

Irish Natural Forestry Foundation

Irish Seed Savers

Irish Wildlife Trust

Just Forests

Native Woodland

Trust VOICE Woodlands of Ireland Sonairte