Rural campaigners have raised concern over the future direction of the Brecon Beacons national park after it announced a move away from sheep grazing.
A plan has been announced to restore tree cover, wetlands, hedgerows, and wildflowers to attract wildlife while introducing localised renewable energy sources such as small wind turbines.
Local people will be encouraged to farm in a way that benefits nature, such as restricting grazing to certain areas and leaving a cover crop over winter for birds to eat.
The park, located in South Wales, will also be rebranded to its Welsh name, Bannau Brycheiniog,
Responding to the changes, Countryside Alliance Wales said a move away from sheep grazing could end up having "devastating consequences".
The rural campaigning group said the move "smacks of a real departure from the reality of the management of this working landscape".
Less sheep would result in "more unmanaged vegetation" which could in turn mean "more dangerous wildfires."
Rachel Evans, a farmer and director of the group, said: “Like all fires, wildfires need three elements to live: oxygen, a heat source such as a lightning or a match, and fuel in the form of dry vegetation.
"Wildfires will travel to any place where there is an abundance of those elements and can spread rapidly with the help of wind.
"Of course climate change will also mean more wildfires but the balance has to be recognised and this only fuels speculation about a supposedly anti-farming agenda by the national park”.
Catherine Mealing-Jones, the national park authority's chief executive, claimed the link with a wood-burning, carbon-emitting blazing beacon was 'not a good look' as the name was dropped in favour of Bannau Brycheiniog.
She said: “Given that we're trying to provide leadership on decarbonisation, a giant burning brazier is not a good look.
“Our park is shaped by Welsh people, Welsh culture, and as we looked into it we realised the brand we've got and the name we've got, it's a bit of a nonsense, it doesn't really make any sense - the translation Brecon Beacons doesn't really mean anything in Welsh."
But she acknowledged that “people are used to calling the park by the name everyone's used for 66 years so we don't expect everyone to use Bannau Brycheiniog, at least straight away”.
