Tree planting: How fast can it accelerate post-fire forest restoration? — A case study in Northern Da Hinggan Mountains, China

Abstract

In 1987, a catastrophic fire burned over 1 330 000 ha in the densely forested area of the Da Hinggan Mountains in the northeastern China. After the fire, intensive management including burned trunk harvesting and coniferous tree planting had been conducted to accelerate forest restoration. To study the long term effect of these activities on forest recovery, we used a simulation modeling approach to study long-term (300 years) forest dynamics under current planting and natural regeneration scenarios. Results indicate that under tree planting scenario in the severely burned area, the dominant species Dahurian larch (Larix gmelinii) can reach pre-fire level (60% of the area) within 20 years and the maximum abundance can reach nearly 90% within 100 years. While under natural regeneration scenario, it needs about 250 years to reach its pre-fire level. From the perspective of timber production, tree planting can bring twice as much timber volume as that under natural regeneration within 300 years, which is the average longevity of L. gmelinii. It needs about 70 years to reach the timber volume of pre-fire level under the planting scenario, whereas it requires at least 250 years to reach the timber volume of pre-fire level under natural regeneration scenario. Another dominant species Asian White birch (Betula platyphylla) responded negatively to the planting of coniferous species. In general, tree planting of coniferous species after fire can greatly accelerate forest restoration in terms of species abundance and target timber volume, with desirable ecological and economic returns.

Long-Term Satellite Detection of Post-Fire Vegetation Trends in Boreal Forests of China

“…Mongolia and Korean Spruce (Picea koraiensis). Therefore, the severely burned area exhibited a better recovery trend than the lightly burned regions, similar to the results of Li et al (2010). By 1997, approximately 50% of the severely burned area had been reforested, mostly in high accessibility areas and locations with good site conditions.…”

“…However, there was a more robust annual increase between years 10 and 19 in the subsequent period. This change in the rate was due to intensive salvage harvesting of standing dead logs in the first two years following the fire and then coniferous trees were planted to restore the timber volume of coniferous species because lumbering was the main forest industry in this region [36]. Figure 9 presents a significance image and degree of significance for the post-fire stands regrowth index (SRI) trend from the study area using the simple non-parametric Mann-Kendall test (single pixel-based analysis).…”

“…In the moderately burned areas (30%-70% of trees dead), human promoted restoration was conducted with mechanical plows. However, in the lightly burned areas (less than 30% of trees dead), natural regeneration was permitted to occur [36]. Additionally, Wang and He et al believed that spatial pattern of plantation also influences the three species, with higher larch and pine abundance and lower white birch abundance under dispersed planting than that under aggregated planting [37].…”