Researchers with the Southwest Anatolia Forest Research Institute, General Directorate of Forestry recently hosted two fire researchers from the Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Fire, Fuel and Smoke program. FFS Research Ecologist Sharon Hood and retired Research Forester Kevin Ryan spent 9 days travelling in Turkey and discussing management of Pinus brutia (Turkish red pine) forests after fire. The Forest Research Institute invited Hood and Ryan to share their expertise on fire ecology.
There are hundreds of wildfires in Turkey annually and both foresters and researchers there are trying to better understand how Pinus brutia is adapted to fire and to identify appropriate post-fire management options. Pine forests in Turkey are important for commercial wood products, as well as ecosystem services, and there is the concern that climate change-driven changes in wildfire may cause a transition from pine forests to chaparral shrublands.
Sharon and Kevin presented information to hosts Coşkun Okan Güney and Aylin Güney, and colleagues from the Forest Research Institute on post-fire tree mortality modelling, fire and bark beetle interactions, silviculture and prescribed fire applications for fire management planning, and post-fire vegetation dynamics based on fire regimes. In turn, Turkish researchers presented their expertise on Turkey’s forests and fires. Sharon and Kevin worked closely with 10 researchers from the Institute during the trip as well as meeting several Regional Forest Directors. As a group, they participated in several site visits to see recent fires and discussed ongoing and potential future collaborative research studies. They also visited Turkey’s new International Forestry Training Center and the Firefighter Training Simulator.
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (2221 – Fellowships for Visiting Scientists and Scientists on Sabbatical Leave) funded the trip. The USDA Forest Service and the Turkish Government signed a letter of intent in 2014 to highlight areas of mutual interest, including wildfire management, climate change, and slowing desertification.