Ecosystem restoration and historical climate data offer insights into wildfire and forest recovery

Experts suggest that carefully planned rewilding could mitigate wildfire risks in Britain by restoring functioning ecosystems. While critics argue that reduced grazing and burning lead to fuel accumulation, proponents state that restoring landscapes to be wetter and patchier can increase fire resistance. In England, nearly 80% of peatlands are currently dry and degraded, whereas historical records from Keighley Moor indicate these areas were once much wetter and dominated by water-retaining Sphagnum mosses rather than fire-prone heather.

In a separate study analyzing botanical fossils from the Bighorn Basin in Wyoming, researchers found that forest ecosystems require immense timescales to recover from significant warming events. By studying the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum—a period 56 million years ago characterized by a massive carbon injection and temperature increases of 5°C to 8°C—scientists determined that forest canopies required more than 100,000 years to restore their density and biological functions. The study challenges the notion that increased carbon dioxide acts as a simple fertilizer, noting that the historical canopy coverage collapsed by up to 60% during such thermal events.