Journal of Forest and Environmental Science

Institute of Forest Science, kangwon National University (강원대학교 산림과학연구소)
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Fuel Management in Ghana's Tropical Forests: Implications on Implementation Cost, Fuel Loading and Fire Behaviour

  • Barnes, Victor Rex (Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology) ;
  • Swaine, Mike D. (School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen) ;
  • Pinard, Michelle A. (School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen) ;
  • Kyereh, Boateng (Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology)
  • Received : 2020.03.24
  • Accepted : 2020.11.13
  • Published : 2020.12.31
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Abstract

Fuel management can play enormous role in fire management in tropical dry forests. However, unlike the temperate forests, knowledge on implications of different fuel management methods in tropical forests is often inadequate. In this study, the implications of prescribed burning and hand thinning treatments on implementation cost, fuel loading and post-treatment fire behaviour were tested and compared in degraded forests and teak plantations in two forest reserves of different levels of dryness in Ghana. The study found that prescribed burning was less expensive (62.02 US Dollars ha-1) than hand thinning (95.37 US Dollars ha-1). The study also indicated that the two fuel management methods were able to reduce fuel loading in degraded forests and teak plantations. However, prescribed burning was more effective in reducing fuel loading than hand thinning. While the relative change of fuel reduction was 13% higher in prescribed burning than the hand thinning in degraded forest, it was 41% higher in prescribed burning than hand thinning in teak plantations. The fire behaviour of post-treatment experimental fire was also lower in prescribed burning than the hand thinning and control plots. Fuel management, therefore, has a great potential in fire management in degraded forests and teak plantations in Ghana.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the immense support of the Governments of the Republic of Ghana and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Forestry Commission, Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources of KNUST, the University of Aberdeen and the United States Forest Service International Program towards the success of this research through the Wildfire Management Project in the Transitional Zone of Ghana.

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