BY BERT BURNETT
Why Gamekeepers Are Refusing to Endorse the New Muirburn Code
Scotland’s gamekeepers have issued a stark warning: they will not endorse the Scottish Government’s new Muirburn Code, a decision they claim is born not of defiance, but of a desperate need to prevent catastrophic wildfires. They argue that the new regulations, designed to protect peatlands, will ironically create a tinderbox, stripping them of the very tools needed to manage fuel loads and keep communities safe. In an era of “red warnings” and severe summer heat, the outcome of this policy, they assert, will be a disaster waiting to happen.
At the heart of the matter is a centuries-old land management practice. Muirburn, the controlled burning of vegetation, is a traditional tool used by gamekeepers to create a patchwork of habitats for wildlife, improve grazing, and crucially, to prevent wildfires by reducing combustible material. The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), which represents these professionals, says that the new Code, set to accompany a licensing regime coming into place, makes the practice “almost impossible” to carry out.
Gamekeepers point to several specific provisions they say are unworkable and dangerous. The most contentious is the new requirement for licensing to burn on peatlands, defined in the Act as land where peat exceeds 40cm in depth. To apply for a licence, gamekeepers must first probe and measure peat depth across the area they intend to manage. The SGA claims the prescribed methodology from government advisers, NatureScot, is so complex that it could take up to 60 days to survey a single estate, at a vast financial cost, with no guarantee a licence will even be granted.
One estate reported facing the prospect of having to probe 12,000 individual points.
The SGA has not minced words. They accuse the government and its advisers of ignoring “centuries of practitioner knowledge” and treating their expert input “disdainfully” as detailed in their official response. The new rules, they argue, will take vast areas of land out of active management. “The Government is making it harder and harder to do controlled burning, which is proven to help mitigate against wildfire, and this is happening more and more,” said gamekeeper Harris Meekham. Gamekeeper Ed Jaundrell issued a chilling warning: “Sadly, I think it might take someone to lose their life before Government listens.”
This is where the prospect of a severe summer heatwave, as we are now experiencing, becomes a critical factor in this dispute. Gamekeepers have long been a first line of defence against wildfires in Scotland. They possess the local knowledge, specialist equipment, and manpower to respond rapidly. When the record-breaking Carrbridge/Dava wildfire, the biggest in Scotland’s history, swept through the Highlands, gamekeepers were on the front line. Nearly 100 of them volunteered to help the Fire Service, deploying everything from tractors and Argocats to high-capacity water tankers to protect communities.
According to a survey by the SGA, the gamekeeping sector can mobilise between £5 million and £10 million of fire-fighting assets and over 100 trained personnel, a resource that dwarfs government investment. The SGA’s concern is that this support is conditional. “We’ve got a great relationship with Scottish Fire and Rescue Service… however, if they can’t get licences to carry out their daily work, knowledge and investment will be lost,” said Gamekeeper James Rolfe. This is the crux of the gamekeepers’ argument: their ability to act as volunteer firefighters is inextricably linked to their ability to manage the land.
The scenario presented is a perilous one. Should a severe summer heatwave strike, the uncontrolled growth of vegetation, resulting from the cessation of legal muirburn, would create a vast reservoir of fuel. Should a fire catch hold in these conditions, the gamekeepers, whose traditional methods were denied, would be less willing and, more importantly, less able to assist. In their view, the task of battling an inferno on a landscape they’ve been prevented from managing would be left to NatureScot, their “charity conservation and rewilding pals” who, they claim, have failed to develop effective mitigation strategies and would be ill-equipped to fight such a blaze.
The gamekeepers see this not as a policy based on sound science but as a thinly veiled attack on grouse shooting. “Yet again this legislation has little to do with carbon loss or wildlife issues, it’s being driven by a desire to stop grouse shooting and it’s management.” This sentiment is echoed in the SGA’s warnings that the act is not protecting nature, but destroying it. They point to the Carrbridge fire, where protected species like hen harriers and mountain hares were burned out, arguing that the restrictions will only make such tragedies more common. The SGA also points to evidence that decades of research show that well-managed muirburn can enhance carbon storage in peatlands, directly contradicting the environmental rationale for the ban.
The conflict has now entered the political arena. An amendment passed in early 2026 was a partial victory for land managers, removing the requirement to prove “no other method of vegetation control is practicable” before a licence for burning on peatland is granted. However, many of the other restrictions remain a major point of contention. The coming months, particularly a period of intense summer heat, will be the true test of whether the new Muirburn Code is a victory for conservation or the prelude to an environmental catastrophe.
Bert Burnett is a retired gamekeeper of more than fifty years’ experience.