• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.321-332
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to identify the problems and present the improvement measures by assessing the suitability of planning of provincial natural parks on a legal basis. We assessed the suitability of 29 provincial parks to examine the suitability of park planning (special-purpose district planning and facilities planning) according to the Natural Park Act, implementation of the park projects, and registration of Korea Real estate Administration intelligence System (KRAS) for park management and obtained the following results. In the case of the park nature conservation districts among the special-purpose districts, 24.1 % (7 parks) were not feasible or decided the park facility that was larger than the planned area. The amended law requires the park cultural heritage district as a new special-purpose district, but 41.2% did not designate the district or failed to comply with the standard. Moreover, there was a problem of establishing or announcing the plan that was unsuitable for the management of park village district (former collective facilities district). Although provincial parks are categorized as the restricted area, the park facility plans still focus on regional development and tourism development, and the titles (names) of the park facilities are wrong. The law requires digitalization and disclosure of park plans, but many parks fail to abide by the law. We judge that it is necessary to develop effective provincial park planning and establish the measures to protect and manage the provincial parks.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.193-203
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• 2021

As endangered species are gradually increasing due to land development by humans, it is essential to secure sufficient protected areas (PAs) proactively. Therefore, this study checked priority conservation areas to select candidate PAs when considering the impact of land development. We determined the conservation priorities by analyzing four scenarios based on existing conservation areas and reflecting the development impact using MARXAN, the decision-making support software for the conservation plan. The development impact was derived using the developed area ratio, population density, road network system, and traffic volume. The conservation areas of endangered species were derived using the data of the appearance points of birds, mammals, and herptiles from the 3rd National Ecosystem Survey. These two factors were used as input data to map conservation priority areas with the machine learning-based optimization methodology. The result identified many non-PAs areas that were expected to play an important role conserving endangered species. When considering the land development impact, it was found that the areas with priority for conservation were fragmented. Even when both the development impact and existing PAs were considered, the priority was higher in areas from the current PAs because many road developments had already been completed around the current PAs. Therefore, it is necessary to consider areas other than the current PAs to protect endangered species and seek alternative measures to fragmented conservation priority areas.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.305-312
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• 2021

This study aims to analyze the changes (2011→2021) in social and environmental factors, such as actual construction activities, including building development and officially assessed individual land price, of the areas that have been released from the park during the second national park area adjustment period (2010~2011) and compare them with those of the areas that retained parks in the same period to analyze the development impact. In the released area, a building has been constructed per 16,431 square meters since 2011. Moreover, both the number of floors and height of the building has increased, and it was analyzed that the class 2 neighborhood living facilities occupied the highest proportion of the building use. Officially assessed individual land prices increased by 42.3% in the released area and 38.6% in the retained area. The analysis by region showed that the officially assessed land price increased by 55.2% on average in both released and retained areas in Seoul and 9.4% in Gyeonggi-do, indicating a much larger increase in the Seoul region. The issue of private property rights in national parks was mostly resolved as they were released through the second national park area adjustment. However, the Korea National Park needs to promote the benefits of landowners by suggesting rational alternatives such as adjustments to the park zoning and facility planning.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.398-407
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• 2021

This study intended to identify causes of poor tree vigor in the Hanbando coastal forest by investigating its geographical environment, climate condition, soil physicochemical characteristics, and growth condition of Pinus thunbergii. It divided the forest into an area with poor tree vigor or dead standing trees and a control area with good tree vigor and examined them separately. The survey showed that stand density was significantly higher in the area with poor tree vigor. In contrast, the crown width in the area with good tree vigor was wider. The number of dead standing trees and the stand density showed a negative correlation. The stand density and diameter at breast height (DBH), tree height, crown height, and crown width also showed a negative correlation. The result indicated that, as the tree's stand density increases, the crowns of individual trees overlapped and the lower branches died. Then crown height and crown width decreased, and the number of leaves and photosynthesis was reduced, leading to lower tree height and weaker growth of breast diameter. As a result, tree vigor weakened, and combined with environmental pressures from the lack of moisture and nutrients in coastal soil and salty wind, P. thunbergii in coastal areas is expected to die massively. Although the causes of dead standing trees and poor tree vigor of P. thunbergii in the Hanbando coastal forest are complicated, poor management of adequate tree density in response to the growth of P. thunbergii is the primary cause. The secondary cause is external environmental pressures, including unfavorable soil conditions and salty and strong wind that obstruct the growth of P. thunbergii.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.169-182
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• 2022

This study was conducted to predict the distribution of rare·endemic plants (Sophora koreensis Nakai) in the border forests where wildfire damage occurred and to quantify the damage. For this purpose, we tried to derive more accurate results through forest area damage (NBR) according to the Burn severity of wildfires, damage by tree species type (Vegetation map), and MaxEnt model. For Burn severity analysis, satellite imagery (Landsat-8) was used to analyze Burn severity (ΔNBR2016-2015) and to derive the extent of damage. To prepare the Vegetation map, the land cover map prepared by the Ministry of Environment, the Vegetation map prepared by the Korea Forest Service, and the vegetation survey conducted by itself were conducted to prepare the clinical map before and after the forest fire. Lastly, for MaxEnt model analysis, the AUC value was derived by using the habitat coordinates of Sophora koreensis Nakai based on the related literature and self-report data. As a result of combining the Maxent model analysis data with the Burn severity data, it was confirmed that 45.9% of the 44,760 m² of habitat (predicted) area of Sophora koreensis Nakai in the wildfire damaged area or 20,552 m², was damaged.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.190-200
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• 2022

In this study, the island's land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) is analyzed in South Korea using remotely sensed land cover data(Globeland 30) acquired from 2000 to 2020 to meet the requirement of providing practical information for forest management. Analysis of LULCC between the 2000 and 2020 images revealed that changes to agricultural land were the most common type of change (7.6% of pixels), followed by changes to the forest (5.7%). The islands forests maintain 157,246 ha (42.2% of the total island area). Land cover types that changed to the forest from grasslands were 262 islands, while reverse cases have occurred on 421 islands. These 683 islands have a possibility of transition and disturbance. The artificial land class was newly calculated in 22 islands. The forests, which account for 42.2% of the 22 island area, turned into grassland, and 27.8% of agricultural land and grassland turned into forests. The development of artificial land often affects developed areas and surrounding areas, resulting in deforestation, management of agriculture, and landscaping. This study can provide insights concerning the fundamental data for assessing ecological functions and constructing forest management plans in islands ecosystems.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.413-421
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• 2022

This study was conducted to identify the vegetation structure of the Abies nephrolepis forests by analyzing species composition in Mt. Doota and Mt. Cheongok in the Gangwon region with the phytosociological method. In order to perform a field investigation, 18 survey areas with an area of about 400 m2 were set up for the stands where A. nephrolepis grow wild. Communities were classified through TWINSPAN and visualized using DCA (Detrended Correspondence Analysis). Species diversity analysis, importance value analysis, and DBH class analysis were employed to identify the characteristics of each community. As a result, the A. nephrolepis forests in Mt. Doota and Mt. Cheongok have been classified into 4 communities; GroupI, II, III and IV. GroupIis Quercus mongolica-A. nephrolepis competitive forest dominated by Q. mongolica and A. nephrolepis in the order. Group II is A. nephrolepis-Betula ermanii competitive forest dominated by A. nephrolepis, Sorbus commixta, and B. ermanii in the order. Group III is dominated by A. nephrolepis, but is expected to have competition between A. nephrolepis and Q. mongolica in the future due to the mass occurrence of Q. mongolica saplings. A. nephrolepis, S. commixta, and Q. mongolica are the dominant species in Group IV, and A. nephrolepis is the major dominant species in all layers. The species diversity of the A. nephrolepis forests in Mt. Doota and Mt. Cheongok is lower than other A. nephrolepis forests in Mt. Seorak, Maruguem, and Mt. Odae. It is necessary to establish conservation measures and to continuously monitor the A. nephrolepis forests in Mt. Doota and Mt. Cheongokis due to the harsh environment and the competition that may occur between A. nephrolepis and deciduous trees such as Q. mongolica in the future.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.3
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• pp.345-356
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• 2022

Yokjido is a 15-km² inhabited island located at the tip of the southeastern coast of the Korean Peninsula. Its forest is mostly composed of substitutional vegetation. Our aim was to provide basic information necessary for the conservation and management of the forest vegetation in Yokjido. We classified the types of existing vegetation using methods of the Zurich-Montpellier school of phytosociology. The resulting vegetation map shows the dominant tree species in the top canopy-layer. A total of 8 vegetation types were identified, which were arranged into a vegetation unit hierarchy of 2 communities, 4 sub-communities, 6 variants, and 2 subvariants. Evaluations of each type showed large and small differences in floristic composition, which reflect anthropogenic influences, site conditions, succession stages, and the establishment period. Moreover, vegetation types differed significantly in terms of species diversity indices; in particular, overall species richness, species diversity, and species evenness tended to increase significantly as the elevation increased. The herbaceous plant species showed the highest positive (+) correlation to x. These results were consistent with those of McCain, who reported that species diversity increases in mountainous areas with relatively low elevations due to the mid-domain effect. The forest succession in Yokjido will potentially enter a mixed-forest stage and then proceed to become an all-evergreen broad-leaved forest.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.3
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• pp.435-449
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• 2022

Forest canopy height is an indispensable vertical structure parameter that can be used for understanding forest biomass and carbon storage as well as for managing a sustainable forest ecosystem. Plot-based field surveys, such as the national forest inventory, have been conducted to provide estimates of the forest canopy height. However, the comprehensive nationwide field monitoring of forest canopy height has been limited by its cost, lack of spatial coverage, and the inaccessibility of some forested areas. These issues can be addressed by remote sensing technology, which has gained popularity as a means to obtain detailed 2- and 3-dimensional measurements of the structure of the canopy at multiple scales. Here, we reviewed both international and domestic studies that have used remote sensing technology approaches to estimate the forest canopy height. We categorized and examined previous approaches as: 1) LiDAR approach, 2) Stereo or SAR image-based point clouds approach, and 3) combination approach of remote sensing data. We also reviewed upscaling approaches of utilizing remote sensing data to generate a continuous map of canopy height across large areas. Finally, we provided suggestions for further advancement of the Korean forest canopy height estimation system through the use of various remote sensing technologies.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.1
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• pp.105-116
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• 2023

As forest fires' scale has increased, they have become disasters that destroy not only forests but also property, human psychological balance, and even human lives. As a result, governmental support has become a crucial part of the forest fire restoration process. Quickly restoring victims' quality of life (QOL) from not only an ecological perspective but also from their human perspective has become an important goal. Therefore, through structural equation modeling, this study analyzed effects of government support, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and resilience on 195 Uljin and Samcheok forest fire victims' QOL. In the final research model, the total standardized effect on QOL of government support to PTSD and resilience was found to have significant effect (0.417). By path, the effect of government support on QOL through resilience was verified as 0.172. Examination of the path between latent variables revealed that resilience had the greatest influence on QOL, and government support had a significant effect, thus confirming that they were the main factors affecting QOL.