• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.265-269
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• 2007

The loss of nitrogen and phosphorus from sediments in two watersheds, one naturally regenerating and one artificially planted, in Sacheon-myun, Gangneung-si, Gangwon Province, were measured two years after a forest fire in 2000. Sediment losses occurred five times in the course of the year. In the artificially planted watershed, $50{\sim}140$ times more nitrogen and $54{\sim}139$ times more phosphorus were lost with sediments during heavy rains, from July to August, than in the naturally regenerating watershed. When the typhoon Rusa struck the country, 1,389 times more nitrogen and 1,647 times more phosphorus were lost from the artificial watershed. In spite of the limited scope of this study, these results suggest that artificially planted watersheds are extremely vulnerable to catastrophic natural disasters such as typhoons. Elevated loss of nutrients in the artificially planted watershed might have resulted from the mechanized silvicultural practices employed immediately after the fire. To maximize soil preservation, the timing and necessity of plantation practices should be reconsidered, and rapidly regenerating vegetation should be protected to promote nutrient uptake and to mitigate nutrient loss from burned forests.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2020.06a
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• pp.4-4
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• 2020

Three wildfires severely damaged local towns and forests in Gangwon-do, South Korea in 2019 April 4-5. Local hydrological regime could be greatly altered by the wildfires, therefore it is important to assess its damage (e.g. area and severity) and also resultant changes in hydrological fluxes. We retrieved the Normalized-Burned Ratio (NBR) index using remote-sensing data (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 500-m 8-day surface reflectance data), and delineated the damaged-area based on the difference in the NBR (dNBR) before and after the wildfires. We then estimated changes in the annual evapotranspiration (AET) in 2019 using the MODIS evapotranspiration data (500-m 8-day). It was found that the damaged-area of the three wildfires was 29.50 km^2 in total, which take up 1.00-6.19% area of five catchments. It was estimated that the AET would be decreased as 0.05-1.56% over those five catchments, as compared to the pre-fire AET (2004-2018). The impact of the wildfires on the catchment AET was less severe than expected (i.e. up to 1.56%) mostly because two big wildfires were distributed across two catchments respectively (i.e. four catchments for the two wildfires) and the other wildfire was small and not severe. This study highlights the importance of assessing the area and severity of a wildfire when estimating its impact on the local hydrological cycle.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.97 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2008

It is necessary to examine relationship between spatial patterns of forest types and characteristics of forest fires for efficient management of fire and forest. By the ecoregions of South Korea, we computed landscape indices for whole types of forests(landscape level) and pine forests(class level), and analyzed characteristics of forest fires using statistics of forest fires from 1991 to 2006. We performed canonical correlation analysis to model the relationship between the landscape indices and the statistics of forest fires. At landscape level, forest patches were larger and more complex in the ecoregions which had higher percentage of forest area. At class level, pine forest patches were more complex and closer to neighbor patches in the coastal ecoregions. The ecoregions including metropolitan areas and cities had more frequent fire occurrences per 1,000ha, while mountainous coastal ecoregions had more burned areas and faster spread of fire growth rate. The canonical correlation between the landscape indices for pine forests and the statistics of forest fires was statistically significant at the 0.05 level and explained more than 70% of the variation in fire variables. The results showed that combustion time per fire was longer in the ecoregions which had larger and more aggregated pine forest patches.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.29-39
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• 1970

Forest fires often destory forests that have taken years to grow in a few minutes. Forest fire therefore, is an important problem in forest management and have caused heavy losses to the nations economy. In order to resolve this problem many investigations have been made in many countries. However, ecological studies on the forest after accidental fire have not yet been made in Korea. In order to conduct such a study, a burned area on Mt. Samak which is located at Dukduwon-ri, Seo-myon, Chunsung-gun, Kangwon-do, was chosen as experimental plot in 1967. The remaining seeds were collected from the burned area, and investigations on their germination rate and their productivity were made comparing to those of the seeds of undemaged area, and following results were obtained. 1. The number of seed collected from the control plots were 740 while it was 537 from the test plots (Table 3, 4). It was considered that this difference between burned and unburned area was mainly due to the fact that some of the seeds had been burnt by the fire, and the unfavorable environmental conditions in the burned area was also considered to be a reason. In the germination rate in the control plots showed 28.1% while it was 3.2% in the test plots. This difference was considered to be due to complete loss of viability of the seed by burning and high heat. 2. In the test plots, sixteen seeds of the Alnus japonica were collected and six of these seeds germinated (index number 100) which was the highest germination rate among the species of collected seeds. From these results, it was considered that a high temperature (above $150^{\circ}C$) caused reduction of the germination rate (Quadrat. 1.2). Seeds of Carex lanceolata var. Nana, were appeared much more in the higher plots than in the lower plots and it seemed to be due to the fact that the forest floor plants were much more abundant in the lower plots than in the higher plots which is covered with shrubbery. And some small seeds midght be able to avoid the effect of fire being burried in the soil or under the gravel. 3. With Pinus densiflora, 43 seeds were collected, and 11 of these germinated in the control plots. However in the test plots, 11 seeds were collected and no seed germinated. This shows that the Pinus densiflora was the weakest in resisting to heat among the observed species in this study. 4. Without exception the germination rate showed a higher index in the herbs than in the woody plants and it is believed that the herbs produced more seed than the wood plants because of the abundance of herbs colony.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.38-46
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• 2013

Permanent water supply and water sprinkling systems are essential to protect major forests and facilities from forest fire. Back in 2005, Naksan Temple, a valuable cultural asset of Korea, was burned down in a forest fire that took place in Yangyang. This started a series of movements including installing water supply facilities and managing forests near important cultural assets. As for the existing facilities, however, they were installed without any standard guidelines for management and installation according to each constructor's specifications, which were based on the National Fire Safety Code 109. Unfortunately, this is not effective in protecting facilities from forest fires such as they have a small protection area, limited simultaneous sprinkling, and a difficult the movement of fire hose. Against this background, the study examines the condition of water supply facilities currently in use, identifies their deficiencies, and suggests how to improve the criteria for water supply service to effectively prevent forest fire. Specifically, three systems were proposed: Water Sprinkler Tower System for preventing spread of crown fires, and Forest Fire Hydrant System and Portable Water Spray System to be effective for suppressing surface fires. In addition, the standards on the performance and components of water pumps are also suggested.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.89 no.4
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• pp.470-479
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• 2000

Management units of forest vegetation established on Mt. Moodeung (1,186.8m), a typical urban forest at Kwangju city located in the southwestern Korea, was classified phytosociologically and its spatial distribution mapped out with special reference to its ecological conservation and management. Management units of this area were classified into three categories; twenty-one higher units, ten lower units and nine lowest units, giving a total of 31 zones. Total area for detailed mapping was 2,779.5ha, of which natural vegetation accounted for 2192.0ha (78.9%), residing in most part of this area, artificial vegetation for 159.1ha (5.7%), and non-forested area including arable area, burned area and others for 428.4ha (15.5%). The ratio of natural forest element showed 93.2%, which is much higher when compared with those of other urban forests.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.83-95
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• 2013

To understand natural regeneration and stand development after fire in mixed broadleaved-coniferous forests of Sikhote-Alin Mountains, ten sample plots of $50m{\times}50m$ size were established in 1975 and 1983 at the stands burned by wildfires in 1973 and 1982, respectively. And, the number of naturally regenerated seedlings were monitored in two $50m{\times}4m$ subplots in each plot. The most fire-sensitive conifer species is Abies nephrolepis, while Betula costata is the most fire-sensitive broadleaved tree species. The most fire-resistant species were Q. mongolica, T. taquetii and A. mono. The results of 20 and 30 years after the fire showed that pioneer tree species, e.g. Populus, Salix, and Betula, were regenerated immediately at the early stage of stand development and grew where there is a mono canopy layer with high density. On the other hand, the densities of successors, e.g. Pinus koraiensis, Picea jezoensis, Abies nephrolepis, Acer mono and Tilia taquetii, which were present in the study plots before the fire, increased gradually. Naturally regenerated tree species after forest fire by the growth rate were divided into three groups according to their annual height growth. The seral tree species (Betula costata, Betula platyphylla, Padus maackii, Populus tremula and Sarix caprea) belong to the first group and have the highest growth rate (from 40 to 96 cm per year). The late successional broad-leaved trees (Tilia taquetii, Acer mono and Quercus mongolica) belong to the second group and have intermediate annual height growth (from 3.7 to 13.5 cm per year). The late successional coniferous species (Picea jezoensis, Pinus koraiensis and Abies nephrolepis) form the third group and have the least annual height growth (from 1.4 to 3.5 cm per year).

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.7-17
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• 1974

Eighty percent of Gangweon-Do area is mountain forests, and of all others this province has the largest number of "Hwajeon-farmers" (who illegally reclaim the mountain forests to do farming as long as the soil is fertile enough to yield profit, but when it fails, move to other places to repeat the same forest burning, causing tremendous forest damages). In 1965 a 7-year plan was mapped out to exterminate this gipsy-farmers only to be suspended in 1969 to give way to the stronger urge from the national security view-point to first displace those isolated farmers set in deep mountains. In the meantime an increased number of the Hwajeon-farmers burned the forests, working new havoc. To cope with the situation, the provincial government lounched another 4-year plan in 1973 and has been enforcing the resettlement policy with renewed enthusiasm. Whether the plan will succeed depends entirely on the authority involved can solve the problems listed below with regard to the Hwajeon-farmers who are to lose their only means of survival and move down to the low-lands: 1) Their living must be taken care of until they can have definite means of self-supporting. 2) They must be provided with the opportunity to work in connection with the government-sponsored labor programs. 3) Not only the public organizations but also the private firms must give them the priority to get work. 4) The rural revitalization movement must expand the self-help reconstruction projects to absorb their labor powers. 5) The Hwajeon-farmers themselves must have the spirit of self-help and self-supporting. 6) All the citizens in the province must receive and protect them with brethren love. 7) The function of the watch-posts against the Hwajeon-farmers must be strengthened again.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.245-250
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• 2008

On April 4 to 6, 2005, there was a huge fire in Yangyang-gun, Kangwon-do, Korea, which burned over 250ha of forests and 246 buildings including 160 houses. The effects of reseeding rate and timing on productivity and nutritive value of forages in the forest fire burnt pasture in this study were investigated. The effect of reseeding could not be seen in the burnt pastures in terms of forage productivity and quality in short term but there was a long-term effect particularly with higher reseeding rates at later days after the fire on forage botanical composition. We concluded that forest fire brought reduction in pasture forage yield for a short period but it did not make a significant effect for a long term.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.883-896
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• 2023

As human activities in Korea are spread throughout the mountains, forest fires often affect residential areas, infrastructure, and other facilities. Hence, it is necessary to detect fire-damaged areas quickly to enable support and recovery. Remote sensing is the most efficient tool for this purpose. Fire damage detection experiments were conducted on the east coast of Korea. Because this area comprises a mixture of forest and artificial land cover, data with low resolution are not suitable. We used Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument (MSI) data, which provide adequate temporal and spatial resolution, and the k-nearest neighbor (kNN) algorithm in this study. Six bands of Sentinel-2 MSI and two indices of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized burn ratio (NBR) were used as features for kNN classification. The kNN classifier was trained using 2,000 randomly selected samples in the fire-damaged and undamaged areas. Outliers were removed and a forest type map was used to improve classification performance. Numerous experiments for various neighbors for kNN and feature combinations have been conducted using bi-temporal and uni-temporal approaches. The bi-temporal classification performed better than the uni-temporal classification. However, the uni-temporal classification was able to detect severely damaged areas.