In reply to toad:
> the general view was the highest risk was discarded ciggies from walkers - people tend not to go off the paths particularly so I've often wondered what good closures do with the ROWs still open.
If you put a sign up saying moorland closed due to fire risk, many people accept this and do not know they still have access to the rights of ways. Most I found were happy to go else where, especially if you could recommend another walk.
I worked for the Yorkshire Dales NP as a warden in the late 80’s/ early 90’s, one aspect was turning people away from the Barden Moor/Fell areas at times of high fire risk. Crookrise was always a problem as it lay outside the estate, but the initial access was across the moor, if a rope was hanging outside the rucksack I’d turn a blind eye, but warn about the risk; on a few occasions when then heading up to Crookrise, would find the same climbers smoking or discarded fag butts.
Not as bad as the people having a disposable BBQ 100m into the moor at Halton Heights, I had to put the BBQ out, the sausages were not even done
I had a bad response from them initially when I suggested it may be a bad idea to have a BBQ, they had seen the signs but never saw the risk.
How often in the UK are we restricted due to high fire risk after all, a bit of common sense helps.