Combining optimization and fire simulation modeling to protect biodiversity values at a landscape scale

One way to mitigate the uncontrolled effect of fires and, at the same time, protect our communities and ecological values, is through forest fuel management. Theses activities constitute a means of fire prevention, involving planned changes to living or dead wildland fuels (prescribed burning, pruning, firebreaks, etc.) in order to lessen fire behaviour potential. In this study, we propose an integrated fire optimization and simulation approach to locate firebreaks on the landscape, so that the ecological damage resulting from the removal of vegetation in areas allocated to firebreaks is offset by the preservation of ecological values as a result of the treatment protective action. We use a prioritization metric —called Downstream Protection Value— that identifies crucial cells that have a significant influence on the spread of fires in the landscape and their potential for damaging ecological values. Our solution approach was tested on a real landscape located in Araucania Region, Chile, whose wildland fuels were classified according to the chilean KITRAL fire behavior system, and with real species observations taken from Global Biodiversity Information Facility occurrence dataset.

I. Introduction

Current data on burned areas suggest that the number of large fires, average size and severity are increasing worldwide [1], and has caused a negative impact on both biodiversity [2], [3] and human health as a result of erosion, smoke release and greenhouse gas emissions, among others [4].