Forest responses to the large‐scale east coast fires in Korea

Abstract

The east coast forest fires of April 2000 were Korea's largest recorded fires. This, along with the fact that they took place in the region most frequently affected by fire, attracted a great deal of attention. Due to the variations in wind, topography and pre-fire forest stands, a heterogeneous landscape mosaic of burn severity was created across the region. It turned out to be an excellent opportunity to study various landscape-scale impacts of fires on forest dynamics. Therefore, we investigated stands in the 23 794 ha of burned forest region, in terms of burn severity, vegetation regeneration and forested landscape change as a measure of community stability. Using the geographic information system technique, we analyzed the differential severity and post-fire recovery of pre-fire forest types of different stand age both at stand and species level. Analysis showed that pre-fire vegetation was composed of mainly pine ( Pinus densiflora ) stands that occupied 70% of the whole forested area, while pine-hardwood and hardwood stands occupied only 28% and 3%, respectively. In addition, two-thirds of all stands were less than 30-years-old. Pine stands were the most severely burned, while conversely pine-hardwood and hardwood stands were less vulnerable. This implied that pine forests had fire-prone characteristics. Vegetation recovery went the opposite way; that is, the regenerating vegetation cover was 71% at pre-fire hardwood stands, and 65% and 53% at pine-hardwood and pine stands, respectively. However, these recovery rates were strikingly fast, considering that investigation took place about 3 months after the fires. Fire did not initiate successional processes, but tended to accelerate the predicted successional changes by releasing pre-fire understory species that survived the fires and regenerated by sprouting. The dominant pre-fire tree species ( P. densiflora ) was susceptible to fire and not resilient enough to reestablish in competition with oak species. Contrary to pines, the abilities of oak species, mainly Quercus mongolica and Q. variabilis, to survive fires and to resprout vigorously made them dominant at most post-fire stands. These shifts in species abundance caused drastic changes to the landscape: from pine-dominated to oak-dominated stands without any notable change in species composition. The patterns in forest regeneration that we observed in Korea may be representative of forest responses to any long-term repeated disturbances, including fire.

Combining forest structure data and fuel modelling to classify fire hazard in Portugal

“…The above categorization agrees with expert knowledge (González et al, 2007b) and with observation of the effects of forest composition and structure on burn probability and severity. Deciduous forests -classified here in fire hazard groups 1 and 2 -burn less than expected in relation to their availability in the landscape, in NW Portugal (Moreira et al, 2001) and elsewhere (Cumming, 2001), and experience lower fire severity than the conifer stands in their vicinity (Choung et al, 2004;Hély et al, 2003;Wang, 2002). The burn probability of closed and low deciduous stands (included in group 2) in Portugal decreases with their patch size (Godinho-Ferreira et al, 2006), which is suggestive of an unfavourable environment for fire spread.…”

Gap formation and susceptible Abies trees to windthrow in the forests of Odaesan National Park

“…This assumption is based on signs of selective logging for certain species and scattered clumps that have regenerated via sprouting. Fires might have been a threat in the past; however, at present it probably is not true in that park because the most common species on that mountain have proven to be highly resistant (Choung et al 2004). Furthermore, these forests have been protected by rigorous forest management policies since the 1970s (Odaesan National Park Service 2008).…”

Post-Fire Restoration Plan for Sustainable Forest Management in South Korea

“…These areas are officially classified as environmental conservation forests and have the ability to naturally regenerate from the intact canopy. Passive restoration should avoid drastic changes to their forest structure [36]. Generally, passive restoration methods can be used for oak forests in Korea [4,20] because fire-damaged oaks can regenerate from their root sprouts and seeds.…”

“…In addition, burned areas near former pine mushroom production sites should be reforested to reintroduce pine mushrooms for forest owners [4]. Passive and active restorations can be applied in a balanced way, depending on the site quality and vegetation conditions [20,36]. For active restoration, native and local tree seedlings can grow under similar weather conditions and site qualities.…”

“…Urgent restoration methods, such as hillside stone masonry, sand bags, sod, and seed-spraying treatments, in burned areas have been determined to be useful methods for preventing soil erosion and landslides. Passive and active restorations can be applied in a balanced way, depending on the site quality and vegetation conditions [20,36]. For active restoration, native and local tree seedlings can grow under similar weather conditions and site qualities.…”