Integrating fire risk considerations in landscape-level forest planning

The low timber returns of Mediterranean forests, together with their high fire risk, has led to negligent forest management. Absence of management has in turn been blamed for increasing the risk of fire, thus forming a vicious circle of low profitability, little management and high risk of fire. Developing forest planning tools that maximize both economic objectives and fire resistance could help to revive the forest sector in the region and generate long-term fire prevention strategies. In the present study, we simultaneously maximized timber income and the overall fire resistance of the landscape to generate management plans for a typical forest landscape in the Pre-Pyrenees of Catalonia (North-East Spain). The risk of fire was integrated into the economic objective by incorporating potential fire losses in the expected net income. Landscape metrics describing fire resistance were also included in problem formulations. The results show that this approach greatly improves management efficiency in terms of economic profitability and fire resistance.

Research highlights▶ Fire risk at landscape level depends on forest management (type, time and allocation of forest operations). ▶ Optimal forest management plan depends on the risk of fire on the landscape (potential losses spatially allocated). ▶ Need to readjust optimal management and fire risk recursively to obtain an optimal management dependent on its associated fire risk. ▶ Including fire related objectives on landscape level timber management reduces uncertainty on expected incomes and reduces expected areas to be burned over the planning period.