Fen Management Handbook - Scottish Natural Heritage

Protocol for burning standing reedbeds and other types of tall fen
vegetation
– Flames can reach considerable height and fire can spread rapidly in
standing reed, so adjoining landowners should be informed of intention
to burn, proposed time and date.
– Create a fire-break around the plot to be burnt, which should consist of
a cleared area of a minimum width of three to four times the height of
the standing reed. Breaks may be cut either using a reed harvester or
brush cutter to gain better control of the fire. Reed-free ditches that are
more than three metres wide may also sometimes be effectively used as
firebreaks.
– Burn directly into the wind for greater control and a slower, but deeper
burn.
– Control fire margins with beaters/water.
– Where more control is desired, the reeds may be flattened (to reduce
flame height) prior to burning.
– Avoid block-burning of sedge beds.
From: Heather & Grass Burning Code 2007. Best Practice Guide 5:
Use of Fire to Manage Reedbeds and Saw-Sedge. Defra, 2007
The Broads Authority have established the following policy on sites
where burning is considered acceptable:
– Sites that have been managed traditionally through burning for a long
period of time to maintain them in an open condition.
– Small-scale restoration burns to restore mixed fen or to rejuvenate
commercial reedbeds and sedge beds.
– Where an area has been cleared of scrub and is destined to be turf
ponded.
– Mown material may be piled and burnt on recognised fire sites in all but
the most sensitive areas.
6.4.3 Safe burning of cut vegetation (incineration)
Burning or incinerating heaps of cut material is generally safer than burning
standing vegetation, but the above principles should still be followed to create
sufficient firebreaks to prevent fire spreading to neighbouring vegetation or
landholdings. The effect of nutrients released by burning (including those which find
their way into local watercourses or underlying aquifer), destruction of vegetation,
fauna and peat beneath the bonfire sites and the persistence of the ash, also need
to be taken into account.
Unless the burning takes place in a sump or hollow (not recommended), the
products of combustion should flush out over the course of time. Burning on metal
sheeting will help contain ash, but the heat will still affect what lies beneath. The
ideal is to burn in a trailer or skip, which is raised above the ground, contains
any leachate and in which the ash can be removed. However the risk of damage
caused by repeated passes to remove ash must be weighed against that from
nutrient enrichment from a bonfire.
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