Deadwood and Fire Risk in Europe
Knowledge Synthesis for Policy
This report addresses the contribution of deadwood to the risk of forest fires. Deadwood is considered a biodiversity indicator in forest ecosystems. Understanding its link with fire risk is necessary to inform current policy discussions between the European Commission and Member States in both the Nature Restoration law and EU Forest policy. DG ENV thus requested a synthesis of knowledge to identify a) links between deadwood characteristics and fire risk in the different biogeographic regions of Europe, and b) forest management approaches for reconciling the biodiversity objectives of deadwood management with forest fire risk prevention.
This report explains that the volume of dead wood generated by natural disturbances is highly variable among European forest ecosystems and can represent a large portion of the fuel available to burn during a forest fire. However, pieces of deadwood burn slowly and therefore contribute only little to fire intensity. Fine fuels such as branches and dead needles, attached to deadwood can have a significant effect on fire intensity. Salvage logging after a large-scale natural disturbance does not normally reduce the amount of fine fuels and may therefore not reduce fire risk.
LARJAVAARA Markku;
BROTONS Lluis;
CORTICEIRO Sofia;
ESPELTA Josep Maria;
GAZZARD Rob;
LEVERKUS Alex;
LOVRIC Natasa;
MAIA Paula;
SANDERS Tanja;
SVOBODA Miroslav;
THOMAES Arno;
VANDEKERKHOVE Kris;
2023-07-17
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC134562
978-92-68-05724-7 (online),
OP KJ-04-23-747-EN-N (online),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC134562,
10.2760/553875 (online),
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