Prevent and manage: the best vaccine against forest fires
Official College of Forest Technical Engineers
and Graduates in Forest Engineering and the Natural Environment
Given the debate that has been generated in Asturian society, our professional group believes it is necessary to provide an approach to the problem from a scientific-technical perspective, focused on diagnosis and possible solutions. We are aware that once all this media and political noise ends (as has happened on other occasions) it will be difficult to give visibility to the importance of forest management and fire prevention work.
The complexity of the forest fires in Asturias does not facilitate the task of summarizing the problem and, of course, makes it simplifications are sterile when looking for solutions. However, we can make an approximation to some factors that we understand are decisive: the simultaneity of forest fires, the situation of the urban-agrarian-forest interfacethe fuel continuitythe irruption in the scenario of large forest fires of great virulence and a management of aid from the CAP that it is not serving to reverse the main cause of the fires in Asturias.
In recent years, it has become clear that extinctionby many means at my disposal, overflows and collapses due to the emergency situation itself. Extreme weather conditions, with a strong south wind and high temperatures, together with the simultaneity of fires (more than a hundred in this last episode), make the media focus on defending those priority areas: towns, buildings, etc. This causes fire crowdapparently without danger, advance without control on mountain land, which ends up generating new risk situations that, now yes, demand means of extinction. But, in addition, we have been observing another phenomenon resulting from this simultaneity of fires: fire reproductions. They are fires that could not be extinguished correctly because you have to run to another emergency and that are activated again after a few hours.
prescribed burning
Although most of these fires they are intentionalProsecuting the person who burns does not do much good, because unfortunately, it is very easy to burn the forest, but very difficult to have evidence and knowledge of the one who caused them. Therefore, it is necessary to look at other territories that, presenting this same problem of simultaneity, have worked in the direction of streamlining and making prescribed or controlled burning more flexiblethey have implanted management contracts through silvo-pastoral plans and have established binding commitments to dismantle for grass.
The current situation of abandonment of the rural environment and traditional forms of agricultural exploitation has led us to dangerous situations in the contact zones between the forest, the urban and the agrarian (the so-called urban-agrarian-forest interface).
Obviously, the current scenario has little or nothing to do with that of three or four decades ago. For this reason, the current model of grant lines so that the municipalities carry out firewalls, auxiliary strips, firewalls or clearing paths, even if necessary, is a model that becomes obsolete if not complemented by other. In fact, in other regions of the Mediterranean area, aware of the problem and taking advantage of technological development, they focus their efforts to action on fuel in those areas most sensitive to large firesaware that the available budget will only allow intervention on a small part of the territory.
According to the statistics published in the Fire Prevention Strategy, the main cause of intentional fires is linked to what is called “livestock practices”. For this reason, we must consider whether CAP payment policy is effectively promoting responsible and sustainable forest management models. It is difficult to understand that it can compute an area in which the most precious asset available to our mountains is endangered, on a recurring basis: the soil. Nor can you pass up the modification of the Law 3/2004 on Forestry and Forest Management of the Principality of Asturias carried out in 2017, which eliminated cattle drives in burnt grassleaving the forest administration without an important tool for the prevention of fires and the recovery of burned forests.
According to the statistics published in the Fire Prevention Strategy, the main cause of intentional fires is linked to what is called “livestock practices”. For this reason, we must consider whether the CAP payment policy is effectively promoting responsible and sustainable forest management models. It is difficult to understand that it can compute an area in which the most precious asset available to our mountains is endangered, on a recurring basis: the soil.
In any case, the most successful prevention experiences of fires implemented in the Iberian Peninsula have always had as their central axis reconciliation of intereststhe dialogue between the different actors and the commitments with new land management models. In this sense, there are experiences such as the Plan 42 of Castilla y León, which during the years of its application managed to reduce fires in some regions by up to 70% with modest investments. Or, for example, the firebreak areas developed in Andalusia for decades, in which you pay to graze certain areas of the forest with small livestock.
The Asturian Forest Law assigns the Ministry of Rural Environment and Territorial Cohesion the planning, coordination and execution of fire prevention measures. However, and despite assuming more powers every day, the resources available to the Forestry Administration are still insufficient. Proof of this is the almost null development of the preventive measures proposed in the Comprehensive Strategy for the Prevention and Fight against Forest Fires in Asturias and their absence in the different regional budgets. The lack of Defense Plans in areas with a high risk of fire, despite being an obligation derived from current legislation. or the chronicle shortage of technical personnel in the Forestry Administration, which is forced to manage huge amounts of territory, making field work, so important in prevention, almost impossible.
Finally, we insist on the idea that forest fires in Asturias are a complex problem with many edges, different perceptions and casuistry. But, precisely, no one can expect that, without putting fire prevention at the center of policiesminimal progress can be made in solutions to this serious problem that we are facing.
Forest fires in Asturias are a complex problem, with many edges, different perceptions and casuistry. But, precisely, no one can expect that, without putting fire prevention at the center of policies, minimal progress can be made in solutions to this serious problem that we are facing.
From our professional group we can only hope that, once the smoke and noise of the fires have disappeared, the importance of responsible and well-equipped forest management will become the true protagonist.
