Dynamic Evaluation of Early Silvicultural Treatments for Wildfire Prevention
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Date
2022-05-30
Authors
Piqué i Nicolau, Míriam
González-Olabarria, José Ramón
Busquets Olivé, Eduard
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Abstract
Thinning young forest stands is a common practice to improve the future development
of the remaining trees and enhance their resistance to abiotic and biotic disturbances. The objective
of this study was to consider the effectiveness of precommercial thinning, over time, implemented
on Pinus halepensis (Aleppo pine) thickets, regarding fuel evolution and potential fire behavior. For
this purpose, we established 44 plots on untreated and thinned Aleppo pine stands, measured all of
the relevant fuel characteristics and simulated fire behavior under average and extreme fire weather
scenarios. The plots were at different stages of fuel evolution (0.5 to 10 years since treatment, plus
untreated stands), so that the evolution of the variables defining forest structure and the amount and
distribution of surface fuels could be captured. The results show that precommercial thinning, when
accompanied with pruning and surface fuel management, had a clear impact on fire behavior and
on the potential of fire crowning during the first two to four years after the treatment. After that
initial period, the buildup of understory vegetation minimized treatment effectiveness in mitigating
potential fire behavior. In general, it can be stated that precommercial thinning has a positive impact
on fire mitigation, but the impact that opening the tree canopy has on ground vegetation development
must be considered in order to plan more efficient management strategies.
Citation
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Forests, 2022, vol. 13, núm. 6, p. 858