The challenge of reforestation after the fires
In the wake of the wildfires that have ripped through Attica in recent years, experts insist that successful reforestation requires meticulous studies tailored to the specific areas that have been burnt.
“Not all forests or woodlands are in the same condition. They don’t have the same fire history. There are those that have burned multiple times and others that have burned less frequently, because unfortunately all of northeast Attica has been repeatedly affected by fire. There are tall mature forests. There are areas that have burned before but have regenerated naturally. There cannot be a single approach, a detailed check is required, with a record of the history and land uses of each area,” says Margarita Arianoutsou, emeritus professor of ecology in the Department of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She notes that in cases where the time since the previous fire is 15 years or more, “we do not need to do anything, as the Aleppo pine forests, which grow in Attica, have the possibility of natural regeneration under certain conditions.”
Arianoutsou stressed that any use other than forestry must be prevented. Affected areas must be declared within two months as places that will be reforested. The only thing that needs to be done, she maintains, is appropriate interventions to contain soil erosion, against floods etc.
The BEYOND unit of the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the Athens Observatory identified 99 scorched areas left behind by the fire in northeastern Attica on August 11-12. The mixed forest and peri-urban forest area covers 48 hectares.
This includes 39% transitional forest and shrubland, 26% hardwood vegetation, as well as 19.5% in areas with sparse vegetation and scattered buildings, 12% agricultural land, and 3.5% discontinuous urban building. According to BEYOND, it was the second worst fire in burnt land that has occurred in Attica after that which occurred in 2009 in the same area.
