Sir, – While I agree with your correspondent John Fitzgerald about the wanton illegal burning of gorse in the Blackstairs mountains (Letters, Tuesday), he must also know that controlled burns are necessary to maintain the health of the gorse moors and uplands.
Far from destroying habitat, controlled burns break up dense old gorse and encourage fresh new growth for wildlife, including grouse, small wildlife and insects that the birds he talks about consume.
By controlling the burns, firebreaks are created that can control larger uncontrollable summer wildfires.
What he says is correct about illegal fires and I would never condone these, and the perpetrators need finding, but we need to also educate people about the need of managing the uplands.
RM Block
We can be emotional about preserving and protecting, but we must acknowledge that, to maintain the land, burns correctly and legally done are necessary and a structured plan to manage the uplands is needed that disincentivises those who indiscriminately burn so that we can, as he says, maintain this national and natural heritage. – Yours, etc,
JOHN BERGIN,
Wirral,
England.
