FIRELAN—An Ecologically Based Planning Model towards a Fire Resilient and Sustainable Landscape. A Case Study in Center Region of Portugal
Abstract
:1. Introduction
The Portuguese Rural Fire Context
2. Theoretical Framework
2.1. Landscape Fire Resilience
2.1.1. Fire Behavior
- North aspect hillslopes, with a slope higher than 25%, by receiving less radiation throughout the year, burn less than the other hillslope aspects [35].
- The fire progression speed doubles for every 10° (about 17%) increase in slope, and it can rise continuously in steep hillslopes from bottom to ridge, by approximately 5–6 Km/h of fire speed [36].
- Above slopes higher than 30° (57%), the relationship between the slope and fire speed is almost exponential [37].
- When the fire reaches the top of the river basin (ridge) if it does not progress to the opposite side due to the hillside breeze, it begins to plow along the contour lines losing speed.
2.1.2. Flammability of Tree Species
2.1.3. Landscape Discontinuities
- Agee et al. [45] propose wide areas of shaded fuel-breaks networks covered with low-fuel vegetation areas, coupled with fuel control strips. Furthermore, the Forestry Commission Practice Guide (2014) [46] highlighted two types of fire-resistant networks in the landscape: the “firebreaks” without vegetation and ”fire-belts” with broadleaved trees, which can occur separately or combined.
- According to Dickinson et al. [38], the streams and valley bottoms play a fundamental role in establishing landscape discontinuities. From a river basin perspective, these two landscape components are more crucial to reduce the size and intensity of the fire than ridges or hilltops.
- Heyerdahl et al. [33] point to the necessity of introducing fire retardant strips along the contour lines when the hillside is too long to avoid top-down and down-up fire;
- Swales or infiltration ditches, constructed along the contour lines with a berm downslope planted with native broadleaf trees and associated ponds [47] can function as linear fire-belts. These structures also reduce soil loss by erosion and increase the water basin’s total water flow through infiltration.
2.1.4. Wildland-Urban Interface
2.2. Ecological Sustainability
2.2.1. Ecological Network
2.2.2. Ecological Land Suitability
3. Case Study
Forest and Fire Planning Framework
4. Method
4.1. FIRELAN Conceptual Model
4.2. FIRELAN GIS Model
4.2.1. FIRELAN Network Components
Ecological Components
- (i)
- (ii)
- Valley bottoms as a broad concept, which comprehends, not only floodplains, but also flat and concave areas, contiguous to streams, in which slope is less than 5% [79].
- (iii)
- Headwater system as the area between the ridgeline and the beginning of the streams network, whose beginning is considered with drainage area of 0.1 km² [77].
- (iv)
- Ridges are based on the river basins limit using drainage dimension and streams length criteria [76].
- (v)
- Hilltops are upper areas of the drainage basin, defined as flat or convex areas with slope < 5% [75]. These areas vary in width due to erosion processes. The narrower forms correspond to the ridgeline and the wider ones to large hilltops, which are commonly referred to as plateaus.
- (vi)
- Swales and ponds are fire-retardant techniques built along the contour lines having a berm downslope [47] with a native broadleaf trees ribbon and associated ponds. The most important swales are those that follow the key-line and the baseline. Swales do not necessarily need to be continuous, but they must not be placed on slopes greater than 25%. The swales must be associated with a mulching technique, consisting of a straw layer or organic waste deposited on soil surface [48,49]. For this purpose, sacrificial trees can be used to cut the branches for deposition on the ground. These components were not mapped due to the required level of detail.
- (vii)
- The soils of high ecological value [80] include soils with considerable soil depth and highest rates of fertility, e.g., Fluvisols, Anthrosols, Humic Cambisols (FAO and WRB classifications) and Alluvial Soils (Portuguese classification) as well as soils associated with traditional agroforestry ecosystems, with specific ecosystems, e.g., marshes. This soil evaluation was performed for mainland Portugal [81], and it is similar to the concept of soil quality [82]. These areas must be allocated to agriculture, wherever possible, providing good management of the soil and of the natural resources. Furthermore, agriculture constitutes a discontinuity of fuel material, fundamental to increase the fire resilience of the landscape.
- (viii)
- Steep slope areas are areas with slope greater than 25% associated with high erosion levels and soil loss because of superficial or deep mass movements. The fire spreads more quickly in these areas, so fire-retardant land-uses must be ensured. The mapping was performed in GIS using a 25 m Digital Terrain Model [78], and the slope tool for spatial analyst.
- (ix)
- Dominant wind exposure areas are locations where the fire increases its intensity and speed. These areas are located generally on the hillslope exposed to the dominant winds’ direction (North-Northwest, in Portugal) and, in mountainous regions particularly along the ridgeline. Thus, in those areas must be ensured wind protection edges with fire-retardant species and adequate land-use. In this case study, the wind protection function is considered within the headwater systems allocated land-uses.
- (x)
- Vegetation areas with very high and high conservation interest have high floristic richness, endangerment, naturalness, rarity and replicability. These areas were mapped based on the predictive methodology of communities and habitats and on the potential vegetation map, which considers the communities’ intrinsic value [83]. Therefore, these areas must be maintained, as they constitute important genetic banks.
- (xi)
- Natura 2000 areas include Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) created under the Habitats Directive, and the Special Protection Areas (SPAs), national parks, nature parks, nature reserves, protected landscapes, natural monuments and protected areas with private status. In Portugal, the Natura 2000 includes 60 SACs and SPAs. The data is available in the EEA platform and the ICNF geoportal.
Cultural Components
- (i)
- (ii)
- Urban and rural settlements protection buffer area, where the land use must be restricted to low-fuel activities such as agriculture, grazing, native or archaeophytes broadleaved trees. Its width varies between 100 m in settlements, and up to 30 m in isolated buildings (Decree-Law n° 10/2018). The data used was from the OpenStreetMap© (Open Knowledge Foundation, London, UK) and the different buffers were mapped using the buffer tool from Esri® software (ArcGIS Desktop1: Release 10.7, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, CA, USA).
- (iii)
- Road infrastructure protection buffer area, where the land use must be restricted to low-fuel activities such as agriculture, grazing, native or archaeophytes broadleaved trees, in wide lanes: 100 m on motorways, 50 m on national roads, 10 m on municipal roads and 5 m on vicinal ways. The data used was from the OpenStreetMap © and the different buffers were mapped using the buffer tool from ArcGIS.
- (iv)
- Power and communication infrastructures protection buffer area defined with different widths ranging from 15 to 45 m following the Portuguese law (Implementing-Decree n° 1/92 de 18/2/1992). In these areas the land use must be restricted to low-fuel activities such as agriculture, grazing (meadows) or small native shrubs. The different buffers were mapped using the buffer tool from ArcGIS.
4.2.2. FIRELAN Complementary Areas Components
- (i)
- Maximum infiltration areas have high permeability resulting from the evaluation of geology, soil, slope and land cover [85]. They guarantee freshwater supplies and water availability (groundwater recharge), contributing to decreasing the runoff and erosive processes. These areas increase fire resilience and increase soil and water conservation if they have suitable land use covers, namely biodiverse pastures, native bushes or native or archaeophytes broadleaved trees.
- (ii)
- Areas with high soil erosion risks depend on soil characteristics, the length of the hillslopes, and precipitation amount per time unit. In addition to the steep slope areas (slope above 25%) these areas also include hillslope under 25%. These soil erosion risks should be prevented with the appropriate land use cover and, if needed, with techniques to promote water infiltration and erosion reduction. The soil erosion risk map was based on the potential soil erosion calculated through erodibility (K), erosivity (R) and the topographic factor (LS) of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation [81]. These areas also contribute to fire resilience if they have suitable land use cover.
- (iii)
- Areas with the higher solar radiation quartile present a higher risk of fire occurrence [34]. These areas have higher air and soil temperatures. The annual solar radiation is characterized by latitude and elevation, steepness slope, aspect and effects of shadows cast by surrounding topography [86]. It was calculated using solar radiation tool from Esri® software (ArcGIS Desktop1: Release 10.7, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, CA, USA), with the mean value of 0.56 for atmospheric transmissivity for the study area. Fire-retardant species should compose the land use cover.
- (iv)
- Vegetation areas with low and very low conservation value correspond to the existent vegetation whose conservation value is not high enough to receive an endangered status, such as annual grasslands and meadows with low biodiversity. The regenerative capacity presented in such areas is important to the wildlife community. Mesquita [83] modeled the data used.
- (v)
- Natural regeneration areas of native species need to be conserved because they have higher restoration success. These areas were not mapped in the case study because it would require fieldwork on a scale of detail than that of this study.
- (vi)
- Edges with native vegetation to ensure biodiversity. The creation or conservation of edges, in agriculture or forest production stands, can protect from dominant winds, decrease evaporation and avoid fire progression. In terraces, edges with stonewalls will allow agriculture or pastures installation, which will introduce fuel voids in those areas. These elements were not mapped in the case study because of the detailed scale needed.
- (vii)
- Low ecological value areas support a wider range of uses. In these areas, it is possible, in the light of the concepts underlying this paper, including fast growing species.
4.3. FIRELAN Potential Land-Uses
5. Results
5.1. FIRELAN Map
5.2. FIRELAN Land-Use Plan and Landscape Transformation Actions
5.3. Comparison between Plans
6. Discussion
7. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Fire Resilient and Sustainable Landscape Model (FIRELAN) | Area (ha) | % Total Study Area | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
FIRELAN Network | Linear Features | 17,094 | 29,221 | 46.4 | 79.4 |
Areas * | 12,128 | 32.9 | |||
FIRELAN Complementary Areas ** | with Ecological Value | 4270 | 6415 | 11.6 | 17.4 |
with low Ecological Value | 2146 | 5.8 | |||
Cultural system | Urban and rural settlements | 1121 | 1187 | 3 | 3.2 |
Road infrastructure | 66 | 0.2 |
Proposed Land-Use Plan Classes | Total Area (ha) | % of Total Case Study Area | FIRELAN Components (Main) |
---|---|---|---|
Agriculture (edges of mixed woods—native/archaeophytes and cupressus trees) | 246 | 0.67 | Headwater systems and High ecological value soils |
Native/archaeophytes broadleaved trees or shrubs | 10,352 | 28.11 | Steep slope areas |
Native/archaeophytes broadleaved trees or permanent meadow | 1762 | 4.79 | Ridge line |
Mixed woods (native/archaeophytes and cupressus trees) or permanent meadow | 113 | 0.30 | Hilltops |
Riparian vegetation | 1876 | 5.10 | Streams and narrow valley bottoms |
Natural regeneration in Natura 2000 | 461 | 1.25 | - |
Agriculture | 249 | 0.68 | High ecological value soils |
Mixed woods (native/archaeophytes and cupressus trees) | 7463 | 20.26 | Headwater systems |
Agriculture or permanent meadow arranged in terraces | 165 | 0.45 | Steep slope areas with ecological value soils |
Agriculture or/and production forest (including exotic trees), and other land-uses | 2146 | 5.8 | FIRELAN CA with low ecological value |
Agriculture or/and production forest (excluding high flammable species) | 4270 | 11.6 | FIRELAN CA with ecological value |
Agriculture, meadow, native species/archaeophytes broadleaved trees | 1733 | 4.71 | Settlement protection buffer |
Meadow, native/archaeophytes broadleaved trees | 861 | 2.34 | Roads protection buffer |
Agriculture (small fruit forest), meadow or small native shrubs | 130 | 0.35 | Power infrastructures protection buffer |
Existent agriculture | 3123 | 8.48 | - |
Existent vegetation with conservation interest | 310 | 0.84 | - |
Water bodies | 378 | 1.03 | Water bodies |
Roads | 66 | 0.18 | - |
Settlements | 1121 | 3.05 | - |
Transformation Actions | Area (ha) | % | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Areas to be converted into | Native/archaeophytes broadleaved forest in Natura 2000 | 1954 | 26,657 | 5.3 | 72.3 |
Native/archaeophytes broadleaved forest | 8496 | 23.1 | |||
Mixed woods in Natura 2000 | 1567 | 4.3 | |||
Mixed woods | 5745 | 15.6 | |||
Riparian vegetation | 1401 | 3.8 | |||
Natural regeneration should be developed in Natura 2000 | 346 | 0.9 | |||
Agriculture | 446 | 1.2 | |||
Agriculture or meadows (with terraces) | 143 | 0.4 | |||
Meadow in roads buffer areas | 804 | 2.2 | |||
Agriculture (small fruit forest), meadow or small native shrubs under power infrastructures | 101 | 0.3 | |||
Agriculture, meadow, native species/archaeophytes broadleaved trees in WUI | 1388 | 3.8 | |||
Maritime pine or eucalyptus | 162 | 0.3 | |||
Production forest (preferably excluding high flammable species), agriculture or other land-uses | 4104 | 11.1 | |||
Areas to be conserved | Maritime pine and eucalyptus to be maintained | 2027 | 8587 | 5.5 | |
Areas to be maintained and conserved | 6560 | 17.9 | |||
Rocks | 12 | 0.03 | |||
Settlements | 1121 | 3.0 | |||
Roads | 66 | 0.2 | |||
Water bodies | 380 | 1.0 |
FIRELAN vs. PMDFCI | Area (ha) | % of the Case Study Area |
---|---|---|
Areas with FIRELAN N without PMDFCI | 12,588 | 72.7 |
Areas with FIRELAN N and PMDFCI | 2934 | 16.9 |
Areas without FIRELAN N with PMDFCI | 116 | 0.7 |
Areas without FIRELAN N and without PMDFCI | 1684 | 9.7 |
FIRELAN Network (Linear) vs. PMDFCI | Area (ha) | % of the Case Study Area |
---|---|---|
Areas with FIRELAN N (linear), without PMDFCI | 6311 | 36.4 |
Areas with FIRELAN N (linear) and PMDFCI | 2402 | 13.9 |
Areas without FIRELAN N (linear), with PMDFCI | 647 | 3.7 |
Areas without FIRELAN N (linear) and without PMDFCI | 7961 | 46.0 |
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Magalhães, M.R.; Cunha, N.S.; Pena, S.B.; Müller, A. FIRELAN—An Ecologically Based Planning Model towards a Fire Resilient and Sustainable Landscape. A Case Study in Center Region of Portugal. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7055. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137055
Magalhães MR, Cunha NS, Pena SB, Müller A. FIRELAN—An Ecologically Based Planning Model towards a Fire Resilient and Sustainable Landscape. A Case Study in Center Region of Portugal. Sustainability. 2021; 13(13):7055. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137055
Chicago/Turabian StyleMagalhães, Manuela R., Natália S. Cunha, Selma B. Pena, and Ana Müller. 2021. "FIRELAN—An Ecologically Based Planning Model towards a Fire Resilient and Sustainable Landscape. A Case Study in Center Region of Portugal" Sustainability 13, no. 13: 7055. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137055
APA StyleMagalhães, M. R., Cunha, N. S., Pena, S. B., & Müller, A. (2021). FIRELAN—An Ecologically Based Planning Model towards a Fire Resilient and Sustainable Landscape. A Case Study in Center Region of Portugal. Sustainability, 13(13), 7055. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137055