Abstract
Post-fire salvage logging (i.e. felling and removing burnt trees, often eliminating the remaining woody debris) is a practice routinely performed by forest managers worldwide. In Mediterranean-type ecosystems, salvage logging is considered a measure to reduce future reforestation costs, but this assumption remains largely untested. We made a cost analysis of different management schemes, addressing the immediate post-fire burnt-wood management as well as the costs and success of subsequent reforestation efforts. Two experimental 25-ha plots were established in a burnt pine reforestation of SE Spain, in which three replicates of three post-fire treatments were applied: non-intervention (NI), partial cut plus lopping (PCL; felling and lopping off the branches from most of the trees, leaving all biomass in situ), and salvage logging (SL). After 4 years, a mechanised reforestation was undertaken, and seedling mortality was monitored for 2 years. The cost of all management operations was recorded in situ, and the cost of re-planting the dead seedlings was estimated according to the expenses of previous reforestation. Initial cost of wood management was greatest in SL and zero in NI. Reforestation cost was highest in NI and lowest in SL, and seedling-mortality rates proved lowest in PCL (43 % vs. 51 % and 52 % in SL and NI, respectively). Considering all the post-fire management operations, salvage logging did not provide particular economic advantages for forest restoration, and had an overall cost of 3,436 ± 340 €/ha. By contrast, NI and PCL reduced total restoration costs by 50 and 35 %, respectively, and PCL indeed promoted restoration success. We suggest that the full cost of management operations needs to be considered when evaluating the economic implications of post-fire salvage logging.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahtikoski A, Alenius V, Mäkitali K (2009) Scots pine stand establishment with special emphasis on uncertainty and cost-effectiveness, the case of northern Finland. New For 40:69–84
Barbati A, Arianoutsou M, Corona P, De Las Heras J, Fernandes P, Moreira F, Papageorgiou K, Vallejo R, Xanthopoulos G (2010) Post-fire forest management in southern Europe: a COST action for gathering and disseminating scientific knowledge. iForest 3:5–7
Bautista S, Gimeno T, Mayor AG, Gallego D (2004) Los tratamientos de la madera quemada tras los incendios forestales. In: Vallejo VR, Alloza JA (eds) La gestión del bosque mediterráneo. Fundación Centro de Estudios Ambientales del Mediterráneo, Valencia, pp 547–570
Bowman DMJS, Balch JK, Artaxo P et al (2009) Fire in the earth system. Science 324:481–484
Bros V, Moreno-Rueda G, Santos X (2011) Does postfire management affect the recovery of Mediterranean communities? The case study of terrestrial gastropods. For Ecol Manage 261:611–619
Brown JK, Reinhardt ED, Kramer KA (2003) Coarse woody debris: managing benefits and fire hazard in the recovering forest. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-105. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Ogden, UT
Castro J, Navarro R, Guzmán JR, Zamora R, Bautista S (2009) ¿Es conveniente retirar la madera quemada tras un incendio forestal? Quercus 281:34–41
Castro J, Marañón-Jiménez S, Sánchez-Miranda A, Lorite J (2010a) Efecto del manejo de la madera quemada sobre la regeneración forestal post-incendio: desarrollo de técnicas blandas de restauración ecológica. In: Ramírez L, Asensio B (eds) Proyectos de investigación en parques nacionales: 2006-2009. Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales, Spain, pp 139–157
Castro J, Moreno-Rueda G, Hódar JA (2010b) Experimental test of postfire management in pine forests: impact of salvage logging versus partial cutting and nonintervention on bird-species assemblages. Conserv Biol 24:810–819
Castro J, Allen CD, Molina-Morales M, Marañón-Jiménez S, Sánchez-Miranda A, Zamora R (2011) Salvage logging versus the use of burnt wood as a nurse object to promote post-fire tree seedling establishment. Restor Ecol 19:537–544
Catry FX, Moreira F, Cardillo E, Pausas JG (2012) Post-fire management of cork oak forests. In: Moreira F, Arianoustou M, Corona P, De las Heras J (eds) Post-fire management and restoration of southern European forests. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 195–222
Costanza R, dArge R, deGroot R et al (1997) The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387:253–260
Crawley MJ (2007) The R book. Wiley, England
DellaSala DA, Karr JR, Schoennagel T, Perry D, Noss RF, Lindenmayer D, Beschta R, Hutto RL, Swanson ME, Evans J (2006) Post-fire logging debate ignores many issues. Science 314:51–52
Denham AJ (2008) Seed predation limits post-fire recruitment in the waratah (Telopea speciosissima). Plant Ecol 199:9–19
Donato D, Fontaine J, Campbell J et al (2006) Post-wildfire logging hinders regeneration and increases fire risk. Science 311:352
FAO (2007) State of the world’s forest 2007. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Farber SC, Costanza R, Wilson MA (2002) Economic and ecological concepts for valuing ecosystem services. Ecol Econ 41:375–392
Haim A, Izhaki I (1994) Changes in rodent community during recovery from fire—relevance to conservation. Biodivers Conserv 3:573–585
Heal G (2000) Valuing ecosystem services. Ecosystems 3:24–30
Hebblewhite M, Munro RH, Merrill EH (2009) Trophic consequences of postfire logging in a wolf-ungulate system. For Ecol Manage 257:1053–1062
Hougner C, Colding J, Soderqvist T (2006) Economic valuation of a seed dispersal service in the Stockholm National Urban Park, Sweden. Ecol Econ 59:364–374
Inbar M, Wittenberg L, Tamir M (1997) Soil erosion and forestry management after wildfire in a Mediterranean woodland, Mt. Carmel, Israel. Int J Wildland Fire 7:285–294
Jenkins MJ, Hebertson E, Page W, Jorgensen CA (2008) Bark beetles, fuels, fires and implications for forest management in the intermountain west. For Ecol Manage 254:16–34
Karr J, Rhodes J, Minshall G, Hauer F, Beschta R, Frissell C, Perry D (2004) The effects of postfire salvage logging on aquatic ecosystems in the American west. Bioscience 54:1029–1033
Lindenmayer DB, Noss RF (2006) Salvage logging, ecosystem processes, and biodiversity conservation. Conserv Biol 20:949–958
Lindenmayer DB, Burton PJ, Franklin JF (2008) Salvage logging and its ecological consequences. Island Press, Washington
Mallik AU, Bloom RG, Whisenant SG (2010) Seedbed filter controls post-fire succession. Basic Appl Ecol 11:170–181
Marañón-Jiménez S (2011) Efecto del manejo de la madera quemada después de un incendio sobre el ciclo del carbono y nutrientes en un ecosistema de montaña mediterránea. Doctoral Thesis
Mavsar R, Varela E, Corona P, Barbati A, Marsh G (2012) Economic, legal and social aspects of post-fire management. In: Moreira F, Arianoustou M, Corona P, De las Heras J (eds) Post-fire management and restoration of southern European forests. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 45–78
McIver JD, Starr L (2000) Environmental effects of post-fire logging: literature review and annotated bibliography. USDA Technical Report PNW-GTR-486
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2003) Ecosystems and human well-being: a framework for assessment. Island Press, Washington
Moreira F, Arianoustou M, Vallejo VR, De las Heras J, Corona P, Xanthopoulos G, Fernandes P, Papageorgiou K (2012) Setting the scene for post-fire management. In: Moreira F, Arianoustou M, Corona P, De las Heras J (eds) Post-fire management and restoration of southern European forests. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 1–20
Noss RF, Lindenmayer DB (2006) The ecological effects of salvage logging after natural disturbance—introduction. Conserv Biol 20:946–948
Ordóñez J, Retana J (2004) Early reduction of post-fire recruitment of Pinus nigra by post-dispersal seed predation in different time-since-fire habitats. Ecography 27:449–458
Puerta-Piñero C, Sánchez-Miranda A, Leverkus A, Castro J (2010) Management of burnt wood after fire affects post-dispersal acorn predation. For Ecol Manage 260:345–352
R Development Core Team (2010) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-07-0. http://www.R-project.org/
Ripple WJ, Larsen EJ (2001) The role of post-fire coarse woody debris in aspen regeneration. West J Appl For 16:61–64
Ross D (1997) Bark beetle response to wildfire. Nat Resour News 7:1–2
Rost J, Pons P, Bas JM (2009) Can salvage logging affect seed dispersal by birds into burned forests? Acta Oecol Int J Ecol 35:763–768
Rost J, Clavero M, Bas JM, Pons P (2010) Building wood debris piles benefits avian seed dispersers in burned and logged Mediterranean pine forests. For Ecol Manage 260:79–86
Savill P, Evans J, Auclair D, Falck J (1997) Plantation silviculture in Europe. Oxford University Press, UK
Serrano-Ortiz P, Marañón-Jiménez S, Reverter BR, Sánchez-Cañete EP, Castro J, Zamora R, Kowalski AS (2011) Post-fire salvage logging reduces carbon sequestration in Mediterranean coniferous forest. For Ecol Manage 262:2287–2296
Tercero-Bucardo N, Kitzberger T, Veblen TT, Raffaele E (2007) A field experiment on climatic and herbivore impacts on post-fire tree regeneration in north-western Patagonia. J Ecol 95:771–779
Thompson JR, Spies TA, Ganio LM (2007) Reburn severity in managed and unmanaged vegetation in a large wildfire. PNAS 104:10743–10748
Thompson I, Mackey B, McNulty S, Mosseler A (2009) Forest resilience, biodiversity, and climate change: a synthesis of the biodiversity/resilience/stability relationship in forest ecosystems. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal
Toivanen T, Liikanen V, Kotiaho JS (2009) Effects of forest restoration treatments on the abundance of bark beetles in Norway spruce forests of southern Finland. For Ecol Manage 257:117–125
United Nations Environment Programme (2010) Guidance manual for the valuation of regulating services
Vallejo JR, Arianoutsou M, Moreira F (2012) Fire ecology and post-fire restoration approaches in Southern European forest types. In: Moreira F, Arianoustou M, Corona P, De las Heras J (eds) Post-fire management and restoration of southern European forests. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 93–119
Van Nieuwstadt M, Sheil D, Kartawinata K (2001) The ecological consequences of logging in the burned forests of East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Conserv Biol 15:1183–1186
Velasco FO, Hernández Y (2012) Transporte de madera por carretera en España: situación actual y conclusiones. Revista Montes 108:34–39
Zar J (1996) Biostatistical analysis, 3rd edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River
Zhang JW, Webster J, Powers RF, Mills J (2008) Reforestation after the fountain fire in Northern California: an untold success story. J For 106:425–430
Acknowledgments
We thank the Consejería de Medio Ambiente, Junta de Andalucía, and the Direction of the Natural and National Park of Sierra Nevada for fieldwork permission, treatment implementation, and facilities. We thank Francisco Vílchez Álvarez and Ernesto Punzano Nieto (Andalusian Water and Environment Agency) for cost data provision. Ángela Sánchez Miranda and Carlos Serrano Hermo provided invaluable fieldwork. This study was supported by Project CGL2008-01671 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Project 10/2005 from the Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales. CP-P had a postdoctoral fellowship (EX2009-0703) and AL had a Ph. D. grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (Ref: AP2010-0272).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
See Table 3.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Leverkus, A.B., Puerta-Piñero, C., Guzmán-Álvarez, J.R. et al. Post-fire salvage logging increases restoration costs in a Mediterranean mountain ecosystem. New Forests 43, 601–613 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-012-9327-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-012-9327-7