Maritime pines identified as trees that burnt most in wildfires
Burnt area of maritime pines “three times greater than area of eucalyptus”
The area of pinheiro-bravo (maritime pines, Latin name: Pinus pinaster) that burnt in the large fires this summer is three times greater than that of eucalyptus – the species habitually blamed for the propagation of forest wildfires.
This conclusion comes from a study made by investigators José M.C. Pereira and Luís Lopes, of CEF (the centre for forestry studies at the Lisbon Superior Institute of Agronomy).
The pair analysed the ‘types of occupation of soils affected by 75 fires that had an area themselves of more than 100 hectares’, explains Correio da Manhã today.
The analysis, up to August 25, cross-referenced maps of burnt areas supplied by EFFIS (the European Forest Fire Information System) with the 2023 land-use cartography.
Said CEF, “the scrublands (bushes etc.) were the areas most affected, followed by forests. The percentage of agricultural land burnt is larger than habitual”.
In all, wildfires this year affected 95,095 hectares of forestry. “Maritime pines (57.2%) burnt three times more than eucalyptus (18.8%),” says the study, stressing that this analysis, like the EFFIS maps, are preliminary, taken in ‘real time’, and could under-estimate the amount of land burnt by as much as 10%.
But what is striking in this first study is the considerable fire risks posed by maritime pines. They were seen as “one of the principal fuels for fire propagation, accelerating the spread of flames even more than eucalyptus” in the terrible fires of 2017. Wikipedia explains too, that ‘controlled eucalyptus plantations’ (in other words, eucalyptus trees planted for/ by the pulping industry) have a much lower flammability risk than ‘wild eucalyptus’.
The page on ‘Pinheiro Bravo’ also explains why Portugal has so many of these trees: “This forest species is of great economic interest and has been widely planted because it provides a large yield of timber, protects against the wind, and, due to its upright and deep root system, acts as a dune stabiliser, as well as allowing the recovery of poor and eroded soils.
“The wood, which is resinous, light, reddish or reddish-brown, with abundant knots, is durable, heavy and not very flexible, so it is used in furniture, posts, formwork, crates, chipboard, carpentry, shipbuilding, fuel and cellulose. The resin is extracted for use in the paint, varnish and turpentine industries. The bark of the trunk is rich in tannin and is used in leather tanning.
“Currently, pine trees represent about 40% of the forest area, or 1,300,000 hectares throughout the country, either in pure stands or in mixed dominant stands. However, more careful management of pine forests is now required in order to ensure better exploitation yields”. This may need to be amended in future to include “in order to ensure less risks for the propagation of forest fires”.
In the meantime, the minister for the environment and energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, has been in Trancoso over the weekend (one of the areas worst affected by wildfires through August) to stress the urgency of works to ensure that autumn rains do not precipitate landslides, and that ash and burnt debris do not contaminate water sources.
“APA (the Portuguese Agency for the Environment) is already working in various areas, as is the ICNF (Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests)”, she told reporters. I have visited a number of sites over the last week. The burnt area is very large. Our main rivers are at risk, the Douro, the Mondego, tributaries of the Tejo, and so we have to act very rapidly”.
According to a report by Lusa: “The minister admitted that the implementation of interventions may be hampered by a lack of companies, labour and technical support, and that it is therefore necessary to ‘focus on the most urgent ones, which pose the greatest danger, and try everything possible, using all available means, because we want to prevent the ash from reaching the waterways”.
Date: 1-09-2025
Fontes/Links:
https://www.portugalresident.com/maritime-pines-identified-as-trees-that-burnt-most-in-wildfires/
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