Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology (한국환경생태학회지)

Korean Society of Environment and Ecology (한국환경생태학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Can the Expansion of Forest Roads Prevent Large Forest Fires?

산림 내 도로의 확대는 대형산불을 막을 수 있는가?

  • Suk-Hwan Hong (Dept. of Landscape Architecture, Pusan National Univ.) ;
  • Mi-Yeon An (Dept. of Landscape Architecture, Pusan National Univ.) ;
  • Jung-Suk Hwang (Institute on Climate Disaster)
  • Received : 2023.09.23
  • Accepted : 2023.12.04
  • Published : 2023.12.31
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

This study was conducted to verify the role of forest roads in the extinction of large forest fires in Korea. The study area was the forest fire-damaged area of Gangneung City, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, in April 2023, which is one of the areas with the highest road density among the major forest fires that have occurred so far. The scope of the forest fire damage area was confirmed through on-site survey, and the intensity of the fire was carried out through Sentinel-2 satellite imagery analysis. After that, the relationship between the damage range and intensity and the forest road was examined. About 59.6 km of roads were built within 50 m from the boundary of the forest fire damage area, which can easily access the entire 149.1 ha of forest fire damaged area. The road density is as high as 168.9 m/ha. All forests that were fragmented by roads were fragmented into 83 places, and all of these forests could be judged to have spread by spotting fire. As a result of analyzing the distribution of damage intensity by distance from the road to see the extent of damage according to the ease of access of fire extinguishing vehicles, it was confirmed that the proportion of areas with low-intensity damage has increased sharply even from 75 m or more away from the road. The results of analyzing the distribution of damage intensity by altitude to see the extent of damage according to the ease of access of fire extinguishing showed that the proportion of areas with low-intensity damage increased as the altitude increased, while the proportion of areas with damage of more than strong intensity decreased as the altitude increased. It was confirmed that there is no data that roads inside or adjacent to forests in the forest fire area of Gangneung City are effective in extinguishing forest fires. These results are contrary to the logic that increasing the road density in forests is effective in extinguishing forest fires. In the case of this fire area in Gangneung City, the road density is 43 times higher than the current road density in Korea claimed by the Korea Forest Service of 3.9 m/ha. This study suggests that roads can be a hindrance to extinguishing forest fires.

본 연구는 우리나라 대형산불의 진화에 있어 임도(산림도로)의 역할을 검증하고자 하였다. 연구대상지는 그간 발생한 대형산불 중 도로밀도가 가장 높은 지역 중 하나인 강원특별자치도 강릉시에서 발생한 2023년 4월 산불피해지역을 대상으로 하였다. 산불피해지역 범위는 현장확인하였으며, 산불의 피해강도는 Sentinel-2 영상을 통해 분석하였다. 이후, 피해범위 및 강도와 산림도로의 관계를 살펴보았다. 전체 149.1ha의 산불피해지역에 쉽게 접근할 수 있는, 피해지역 경계로부터 50m 이내에 조성된 도로는 약 59.6km로, 인접지역을 포함한 산불피해지역의 도로밀도는 무려 168.9m/ha에 달했다. 도로에 의해 단절된 산림은 모두 83개소로 파편화되어 있었는데, 이들 산림은 모두 비산화에 의한 확산으로 판단할 수 있어, 도로가 산불의 차단선 역할을 하지 못했음이 확인되었다. 진화차량 접근의 용이성에 따른 피해정도를 살펴보기 위해 도로로부터의 거리별 피해강도 분포를 살펴본 결과, 낮은 강도의 피해를 입은 지역은 오히려 도로에서 75m이상 떨어진 곳에서 비율이 대폭 높아짐이 확인되었다. 진화인력의 접근 용이성에 따른 피해정도를 살펴보기 위해 해발고별 피해강도 분포를 살펴본 결과 약한 강도의 피해를 입은지역 비율은 해발고가 높아질수록 늘어난 반면, 강한 강도 이상의 피해지역은 반대로 해발고가 높아질수록 비율이 줄어들었다. 강릉시 난곡동 산불피해지역에서 산림내부 혹은 인접한 도로가 산불진화에 효과적이라는 데이터는 없는 것으로 확인되었다. 이상의 결과는 산림 내 임도밀도를 높이는 것이 산불진화에 효과적이라는 논리와 배치된다. 강릉시 난곡산불지역의 경우 현재 산림청이 주장하는 우리나라 임도밀도인 3.9m/ha에 비해 무려 43배나 높다.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

이 과제는 부산대학교 기본연구지원사업(2년)에 의하여 연구되었음.

References

  1. Cha, D.S., J.W. Lee, D.H. Jung, B.Y. Ji, K.S. Chun and J.Y. Kim(2003) Fire control effect of the forest road in the forest-fired areas. Jour. Korea Soc. For. Eng. Tech 1(1): 15-24. (Korean with English Abstract)
  2. Einzmann, H.J.R., G. Zotz and J.T.Y. Ling(2022) What happens to epiphytic bromeliads in a windy spot? Journal of Tropical Ecology 38(3): 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467422000037
  3. European Space Agency(ESA)(2015) Sentinel-2 user handbook. 64pp.
  4. Hwang, J.S., B.Y. Ji, D.H. Jung and M.J. Cho(2015) Effect of forest road network on accessibility and cost reduction for forest operations (I). Journal of Korean Forest Society 104(4): 615-621. (Korean with English Abstract) https://doi.org/10.14578/JKFS.2015.104.4.615
  5. Hwang, J.S., B.Y. Ji, H. Kweon and D.H. Jung(2016) Effect of forest road network on accessibility and cost reduction for forest operations (II). Journal of Korean Forest Society 105(4): 456-462. (Korean with English Abstract) https://doi.org/10.14578/JKFS.2016.105.4.456
  6. Japan Forestry Agency(2018) Forest general inspector (forester) basic text. 322pp. (Japanese)
  7. Ju, Y.K.(2021) A study on the problems and improvement by analyzing the disastrous large-scale forest fire response system-Focused on simultaneous forest fires along the east coast of Gangwon-do Province-. Ph.D. Dissertation, Wonkwang Univ., 306pp. (Korean with English Abstract)
  8. Korea Forest Service(2022a) 2022 statistical yearbook of forestry. 454pp. (Korean)
  9. Korea Forest Service(2022b) 2023 fiscal year 2023 budget overview. 14pp. (Korean)
  10. Lutes, D.C., R.E. Keane, J.F. Caratti, C.H. Key, N.C. Benson, S. Sutherland and L.J. Gangi(2006) FIREMON: Fire effects monitoring and inventory system. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRSGTR-164-CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agri culture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 1 CD.
  11. Senande-Rivera, M., D. Insua-Costa and G. Miguez-Macho(2022) Spatial and temporal expansion of global wildland fire activity in response to climate change. Nat Commun 13: 1208. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28835-2
  12. USDA(2023) Forest inventory and analysis-Fiscal year 2021 business report. 84pp.
  13. Won, M.S., K.S. Koo and M.B. Lee(2007) An quantitative analysis of severity classification and burn severity for the large forest fire areas using normalized burn ratio of landsat imagery. Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies 10(3): 80-92. (Korean with English abstract).
  14. Youn, H.J. and J.C. Jeong(2019). Detection of forest fire and NBR mis-classified pixel using multi-temporal sentinel-2A images. Korean Journal of Remote Sensing 35(6): 1107-1115. (Korean with English Abstract)
  15. https://bfw.ac.at/700/2109.html
  16. https://www.forest.go.kr/kfsweb/kfi/kfs/cms/cmsView.do?mn=NKFS_02_01_05_01&cmsId=FC_000812
  17. https://www.forest.go.kr/kfsweb/kfi/kfs/frfr/selectFrfrStatsNow.do?mn=NKFS_02_02_01_05
  18. https://www.fs.usda.gov/eng/road_mgt/overview.shtml
  19. https://www.fs.usda.gov/news/releases/usda-forest-service-invests-65m-bipartisan-infrastructure-law-clean-water
  20. https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/travel-management