Scientists studying the damage from severe wildfires across Wales this summer describe the impact as "catastrophic." Unusually high temperatures and extremely dry conditions during July and August made areas like heathland, moorland, and upland grasslands highly vulnerable to rapid fire spread. This led to one of the worst wildfire seasons in recent UK history. Professor Davey Jones from Bangor University, who is leading a survey of several affected sites, said the damage extends far beyond what is immediately visible. "People see the blackened vegetation and assume that's the main impact, but the real story is below our feet," he said. During the peak of the fires in July, approximately 2,760 acres of land in north Wales were affected—equivalent to over 1,500 football pitches. At Sychnant Pass in Conwy county, one of the most significant blazes led to the evacuation of 36 homes and affected about 200 acres of land. Today, slight green shoots are visible at the site, but Jones emphasized that the area once housed a rare ecosystem with specialist plants, butterflies, and insects, making it a global epicenter for such biodiversity. Jones explained that the fires have destroyed up to 10 centimeters of soil at Sychnant Pass, erasing thousands of years of organic matter and carbon. "Once the topsoil is gone, we can never recover that," he said. This topsoil acts as a water sponge, a carbon store, and a nutrient bank. Its loss worsens climate change and makes the habitat more fragile. "This site has taken thousands of years to develop, and it's all gone in maybe five days—it's incredible," Jones added. He stressed the need to understand the current soil quality to design artificial soils in the future, as natural recovery is unlikely. The Bangor University team has been collecting soil samples across Wales before heavy winter rains wash away the remaining evidence. They are comparing burnt areas with untouched ones to measure changes in soil carbon, nutrients, microbial activity, water repellency, and erosion risk. Dr. Kara Marsden, a soil science lecturer working on the project, emphasized the urgency of the research. "It was really important that we got on site very quickly to measure the soil and vegetation properties while the fire's impacts were still fresh," she said. Early green shoots visible at the site, such as bracken sprouts, do not necessarily indicate true recovery. While bracken can regrow quickly from deep rhizomes, plants like heather and gorse, which have shallow roots, have been completely lost. "The depth of soil they depend on could take thousands of years to form again," Marsden warned. Jones also highlighted that the impact of wildfires extends beyond biodiversity loss. "Fires release carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur back into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change," he said. "Every time we have a wildfire, we're just making the problem worse and worse." Without rapid restoration and better wildfire preparedness, Jones warned that "we might lose pretty much all of this habitat within our lifetime." Researchers will return to the sites over the next two years to track recovery and assess whether some habitats are more resilient than others. Early evidence suggests vegetation can return, but more slowly and in a more fragile state, leaving landscapes increasingly vulnerable to future fires.