OF 285 LARGE UK REWILDING PROJECTS, ONE WAS HIT BY FIRE THIS YEAR.
The advocacy-group analysis also found burned areas from 2016–2026 were concentrated in acid grassland, heather, bog and other simplified landscapes rather than restored habitat.
A survey and spatial analysis from Rewilding Britain pushes back on a viral-sounding claim: restoring wetlands, woods and mixed grazing landscapes did not make its project network a wildfire hotspot.
WHAT HAPPENED
The group reviewed all 285 Rewilding Network projects larger than 40 hectares and reported that one was affected by wildfire during 2026. A separate map analysis of UK burned areas from 2016 through 2026 found acid grassland, heather grassland, heather and bog made up most of the area burned.\n\nThe report argues that wetter ground, native broadleaf woodland and varied vegetation can interrupt fire spread and reduce intensity compared with drained or simplified landscapes. Its strongest conclusion is about resilience, not immunity: rewilded land can still burn.
WHY THIS IS HOPESLOP
This is the kind of correction hope needs. The answer to fire risk is not a romantic belief that nature is untouchable; it is better land structure, more water and fewer continuous fuels. A large project network now offers a checkable counterexample to the idea that rewilding automatically creates tinder.
ORIGINAL SOURCERewilding BritainRead the original report
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