• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.295-303
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• 2006

Clear-cut followed by tree planting has been a conventional management practice in burned forests in Korea. Because this can considerably increase soil loss, hillslope treatments may be needed in order to improve soil stability at poorly regenerating areas. This paper reviews the effects of hillslope treatments, such as seeding, mulching and log erosion barriers, which have been applied to restore vegetation and conserve soil in burned forests in North America and Europe. Seeding has been the most common method for postfire restoration. However, the effects of seeding on vegetation cover and soil erosion are not clear and seeding with non-native species has been reported to inhibit regeneration of native vegetation. Mulching has been found to be effective at reducing soil erosion. However, this also can introduce non-native plant species and inhibit native plant regeration. Although studies on the effect of log erosion barriers are very few, it appears that log erosion barriers are effective in the period of little rainfall. Hillslope treatments for postfire restoration is not necessary for naturally regenerating areas and therefore, they should be restricted to the areas where regeneration potential is low and runoff and soil loss is considerable. Long-term monitoring is needed to assess the effectiveness of hillslope treatments on soil erosion, the introduction of non-native plant species and the inhibition of natural plant regeneration.