Forest Plans & W ildfire Rob Gazzard Forestry Commission - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Forest Plans & W ildfire Rob Gazzard Forestry Commission England

08/ 04/ 15 2

Num ber of GB W ildfires Num ber wildfire incidents by Habitat in Finanical Years 2010/ 11 to 2012/ 13 in Great Britain attended by Fire and Rescue Services 70,000.0 60,000.0 No Classification 50,000.0 Salt water Num ber of w ildfires Freshwater Coastal 40,000.0 Built up areas and gardens Mountain, Heath & Bog Sem i-natural Grassland 30,000.0 I m proved grassland Arable OS Masterm ap 20,000.0 NFI Woodland 10,000.0 0.0 FY 2009 - 10 FY 2010 - 11 FY 2011 - 12 FY 2012 - 13 Fina nica l Ye a r 3 08/ 04/ 15

Area burnt during GB W ildfires Area burnt of habitats due to wildfire in Finanical Years 20 1 0/ 1 1 to 2 01 2 / 1 3 in Great Britain attended by Fire and Rescue Services 40,000.0 35,000.0 30,000.0 No Classification A r e a b u r n t in h e c t a r e s Salt w ater 25,000.0 Freshw ater Coastal Built up areas and gardens 20,000.0 Mountain, Heath & Bog Semi-natural Grassland Improved grassland 15,000.0 Arable OS Mastermap NFI Woodland 10,000.0 5,000.0 0.0 FY 2009 - 10 FY 2010 - 11 FY 2011 - 12 FY 2012 - 13 Finanical Year 4 08/ 04/ 15

W ildfires im pact on EU and UK Nature Conservation and Landscape Designations in England Area Burnt of EU and UK Designations due to Wildfire in England in Financal Years 2 00 9 / 10 to 20 12 / 1 3 attended by Fire and Rescue Service 4,000.0 3,500.0 3,000.0 A r e a B u r n t i n h e c t a r e s 2,500.0 National Parks RAMSAR SAC 2,000.0 SPA SSSI 1,500.0 1,000.0 500.0 0.0 FY 2009 - 10 FY 2010 - 11 FY 2011 - 12 FY 2012 - 13 Designation and Financial Year 5 08/ 04/ 15

GB W ildfire Statistic Sum m ary 2 0 0 9 / 1 0 to 2 0 1 2 / 1 3 • + 71,000 hectares burnt between FY2009/ 10 to 2012/ 13 • + 37,000 hectares burnt in FY2011/ 12 alone • + 211,000 wildfire incidents between FY2009/ 10 to 2012/ 13 • + 65,000 incidents in FY2010/ 11 alone 6 08/ 04/ 15

W ildfire Policy Wildfire is defined as a risk in the following policy documents in the United Kingdom: National Risk Register (2013 and 2015) • Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA) • High risk in both Natural England’s and the Chief Fire Officers • Association (CFOA) response to CCRA National Adaptation Programme (NAP) • National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) • UK Forestry Standard, Guidelines and Practice / Technical • Guidance. Locally: Community Risk Registers • Fire and Rescue Service’s Integrated Risk Management Plans • Forest Management / Design Plans • 7 08/ 04/ 15

UK Forestry Standard Requirem ents • Legal – “must” • Good practice – “should” Guidelines – “avoid” Forest Plans • Forest Management Plan • Operations Plan • Contingency Plans Public and private woodlands 8 08/ 04/ 15

UKFS – Topics & Adaptation Adaptation - Forestry Planning: • Plan for forest resilience using a variety of ages, species and stand structure; consider the risks to the forest from wind, fire, and pest and disease outbreaks • Fire in Contingency Planning 9 08/ 04/ 15

Forest Plans Definition: • The forest m anagem ent plan is the reference document for the monitoring and assessment of forest holdings and forest practice. • It is also used for communicating proposals and engaging with interested parties. • The plan itself should be proportionate to the scale, sensitivity and complexity of the Forest Management Unit (FMU). • Can considers requirements forestry for 70 to 120 years but only provides details plans for approx. 10 years. 10 08/ 04/ 15

Forest Managem ent Plans FMP Considerations: FMP Process: • Forestry productivity 1. Scoping • Forest structure 2. Survey • Silviculture 3. Analysis • Felling and restocking 4. Synthesis • Mammal damage 5. Implementation • Pests and diseases 6. Monitoring • Use of chemicals 7. Review • Fencing • Forest roads and quarries • Harvesting operations 11 08/ 04/ 15

Forest Plans Definition: • Operational plans can make forest practice more efficient and ensure that important site features are known about and protected in advance. Definition: • Contingency plans address potential threats to the forest environment [ i.e. wildfires] and accidental events, such as spillages, and help prevent or remedy environmental damage. 12 08/ 04/ 15

UKFS Guidelines – Clim ate Change Mitigation • Carbon in forest products • Carbon in soils • Carbon in forest ecosystems • Operational carbon footprint Adaptation • Tree and species selection • Forestry Design Planning • Adaptive Management • Landscape ecology • Environmental protection 13 08/ 04/ 15

Practice Guide Contents • Wildfire in the UK • Fire behaviour • The importance of planning • Forest management plans • The planning process • Scoping • Survey • Analysis • Synthesis • Implementation • Monitoring • Review • Forest management techniques • Managing vegetation and fuels • Creating fire breaks and fire belts • Improving forest design • Building silvicultural resilience • Planning for people • Planning for an incident response 14 08/ 04/ 15

Guidance objectives Objectives: • Proportionate and evidence based • Research, evidence and professional experience based (national and international) • Apply to private and public forest estate • Move from ‘fire breaks’ to ‘whole site and landscape’ prevention measures • Focus on preparedness and prevention to improve response and recovery • Apply to both new woodland creation and existing woodlands • Applies to upland, lowland and Rural / Urban Interface (RUI) 15 08/ 04/ 15

Synthesis - principles of good w ildfire design • Good principles for building woodland resilience 08/ 04/ 15 16

Land use and vegetation type 08/ 04/ 15 17

Surface Fire in Forestry 08/ 04/ 15 18

Surface fires in m ature plantations 08/ 04/ 15 19

Building silvicultural resilience Covers: • 5 x Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) systems • Clearfell and Restock system 20 08/ 04/ 15

Conifer species choice 08/ 04/ 15 21

Survey - W ildfire Risk Assessm ent 08/ 04/ 15 22

Survey - W ildfire Managem ent Zones Assets Landscape scale 08/ 04/ 15 23

Survey - W ildfire Managem ent Zones 08/ 04/ 15 C A B D 24

W MZ and National Planning Policy Fram ew ork 1 2 1 . Planning policies and decisions should also ensure that: the site is suitable for its new use taking account of ground • conditions and land instability, including from natural hazards or former activities such as mining, pollution arising from previous uses and any proposals for m itigation including land remediation or impacts on the natural environment arising from that remediation; 1 6 4 . Local planning authorities should: w ork w ith local advisors and others to ensure that they • have and take into account the m ost up-to-date inform ation about higher risk sites in their area for malicious threats and natural hazards , including steps that can be taken to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience. 94. 99. 156. Climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience 25 08/ 04/ 15

Analysis 08/ 04/ 15 26

W ildfire Threat Analysis - Values at Risk m ap to target forest m anagem ent Weighted combination of: 5. Health & well-being 3. Property & infrastructure 1. Ecosystems services Overlay actual or simulated fire perimeter to quantify values at risk…. 27 Julia McMorrow & Rob Gazzard, Fire and Rescue Statistics User Group, 40th meeting, 5th June 2014 27 08/ 04/ 15

Thank you Rob Gazzard Adviser, Technical Guidance Wildfire Subject Matter Adviser Bucks Horn Oak Farnham Surrey GU10 4LS 01483 326260 rob.gazzard@forestry.gsi.gov.uk