In Korea, many forests are damaged due to forest fires in spring every year. Forest fires have averaged 481 cases per year and 1,087 ha of forest damage has occurred in Korea over the past 10 years. The risk of secondary damage such as soil erosion and landslides is increasing due to rainfall concentrated in the summer after forest fires in spring. This study was conducted to quantitatively compare the difference in soil erosion due to mulching in forest fire-damaged areas and to discuss policy utilization measures to prevent secondary damage. The study site was Uljingun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea, where about 16,301ha of large forest fires occurred from March 4 to 13, 2022. Areas with severe wildfire damage were divided into areas with and without wood chip mulching, and areas without damage were set as controls (total of 3 sites). In addition to forest fire damage and mulching, other environments were selected to be similar, such as pine forest, slope direction (eastern aspect), and gradient (about 55%). A silt fence was installed for soil erosion monitoring, which has been used in research as an economical and effective measurement method (reference). Silt fences were installed in four 5m * 10m sizes (on three sites). In addition, in the forest fire damage area, four silt fences were add installed to monitor the amount of soil erosion depending on the logging in the future. Therefore, in this study, 8 forest fire areas, 8 forest fire-mulching areas, and 4 control areas were used. Mulching used three 72-liter wood chip bags per silt fence. During the study period, the total rainfall was 753 mm. The total soil deposit was 488.38 kg/ha in site 1, 153.15 kg/ha in site 2, and 76.64 kg/ha in site 3. The amount of silt fence deposited was higher with more precipitation, and it was the highest in September-October. The soil deposit was very high in site 1. It was 3.2 times more than site 2 and 6.4 times more than site 3. It is thought that soil erosion was reduced due to the surface covering effect due to mulching. The soil deposit of site 2 was 2.0 times higher than that of site 3. It is thought that urgent restoration is necessary because more soil erosion occurs in forest firedamaged areas than in control areas. As a result of this study, it was quantitatively confirmed that mulching prevented soil erosion. Therefore, mulching may be effective in preventing secondary damage in dangerous areas around houses.
저자
Junpyo Seo [ Landslide Division, National Institute of Forest Science, 56, Hoegi-ro, Seoul, 02455, South Korea ]
Corresponding Author
Keunchang Jang [ Landslide Division, National Institute of Forest Science, 56, Hoegi-ro, Seoul, 02455, South Korea ]
Hakjun Rhee [ Department of Landscape Architecture and Forest Science, Sangji University, 83, Sangjidae‑ro, Wonju, 26339, South Korea ]
Wonho Kim [ Department of Landscape Architecture and Forest Science, Sangji University, 83, Sangjidae‑ro, Wonju, 26339, South Korea ]
Song Eu [ Landslide Division, National Institute of Forest Science, 56, Hoegi-ro, Seoul, 02455, South Korea ]
Kihwan Lee [ Landslide Division, National Institute of Forest Science, 56, Hoegi-ro, Seoul, 02455, South Korea ]
Sujin Jang [ Landslide Division, National Institute of Forest Science, 56, Hoegi-ro, Seoul, 02455, South Korea ]
Choongshik Woo [ Landslide Division, National Institute of Forest Science, 56, Hoegi-ro, Seoul, 02455, South Korea ]
