• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.110-123
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• 2017

The authors reviewed the history of creation and management, purposes, extents, methods of creation, planting species and mediums, structure of vegetation layers and legal management, etc. of coastal forests of Korea. Since the Goryeo dynasty, the inhabitants in the coastal regions has long been aware the safety from natural disasters and the local governments manages for the defence and natural disasters, and collaboration among GO and NGOs, as well as enterprises are participating to the conservation of coastal forests in Korea. The purposes of creation and management of coastal forests in historical aspects are prevention of disasters, safety by the Fengsui, military uses, and timber productions, but partly as the places for religious beliefs, safety from diseases and fires, increasing of forest products and fishes, as well as tourists, improving of amenity and landscapes and recreation, inherits of traditional culture, habitats for wildlife, and ecological corridors, etc. The inhabitant in the coastal region who experienced frequent natural disasters has strong supports for the conservation of coastal forest and as a natural resources to inherits to the coming generations as the coastal forests has high values of academic researches on human society, culture, ecology and recreational uses, etc. The extensive overall researches on the creation and managements of coastal forests, as well as cultural tradition in the coastal forests of Korean peninsula are critically essential.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.4
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• pp.534-545
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• 2010

To examine 1) rainfall pattern (i.e., type and intensity) regulating surface erosion on hillslopes in postwildfire area and 2) its effect on variation in sediment yield along the gradient of severity wildfire regimes and elapsed years, we surveyed the amount of sediment yield with respect to daily or net-effective rainfall in 9 plots in eastern coastal region, Republic of Korea. Before field investigation, all plots classified into three groups: low-, mixed- and high-severity wildfire regimes (3 plots in each group). We found that, with decreasing wildfire regimes and increasing elapsed years, the rainfall type regulating surface erosion changed from daily rainfall to net-effective rainfall (considering rainfall continuity) and its intensity increased continuously. In general, wildfires can destroy the stabilized forest floors, and thus rainfall interception by vegetation and litter layer should be reduced. Wildfires can also decrease soil pores in forest floors, and thus infiltration rates of soil are reduced. These two processes lead to frequent occurrence of overland flows required to surface erosion, and sediment yields in post-wildfire areas should increase linearly with increasing rainfall events. With the decreasing severity wildfire regimes and the increasing elapsed years, these processes should be stabilized, and therefore their sediment yields also decreased. Our findings on variations in sediment yields caused by the wildfire regimes and the elapsed years suggest understanding of hydrogeomorphic and ecologic diversities in post-wildfire areas, and these should be carefully examined for both watershed management and disaster prevention.