With goats, sheep and the like against the risk of forest fires

Forest fire

Controlled burning of undergrowth in Sweden. (Image: Staffan Widstrand)

In the face of increasing forest fires and bushfires around the world, new fire prevention and containment measures are required. Four-legged helpers could make a big contribution here, as a study has now shown. Because when sheep, goats and other herbivores graze in the forests, they reduce the undergrowth and thus reduce the combustible material in the forest.

Whether in Australia, Siberia, North America or the Mediterranean: Due to global warming and the changed precipitation patterns, forest and bush fires are increasing worldwide. This not only increases the frequency and duration of such fires, but also increases their intensity. One of the reasons for this is the change in the structure of the forest: dense undergrowth and scrub increases, so the fire finds more food. In other regions, the rural exodus provides the forest fires with new food: Because the use of fields is being given up, bush and forest are reclaiming the areas.

Forest grazing with double benefits

These processes mean that the risk of forest fires increases in many places and that fires become more intense. But what can be done about it? So far, forestry has tried to counter this mainly by mechanically removing vegetation and creating firebreaks. But that is tedious, time-consuming and costly. A simpler solution could be to revisit a practice that has been tried and tested for thousands of years: forest grazing. In the past, it was common in many cultures to drive farm animals such as pigs, goats, sheep or even cattle into forest areas in order to let them eat there.

The practical thing about it: The forest grazing not only feeds the animals – it also naturally reduces the undergrowth and thus the fuel for fire. Julia Rouet-Leduc from the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) in Leipzig and her colleagues have now investigated how well such grazing actually helps against forest fires and which animals are best suited for it. To do this, they evaluated existing studies that examined the relationships between herbivores, vegetation structure, fire risk, fire frequency and fire damage.

Goats better than cows

The evaluations showed: The grazing of forests by large herbivores can actually reduce both the frequency and the intensity of forest fires. There is also an effect when only parts of the forest are grazed: “Extensive forms of grazing will not lead to homogeneous, low vegetation. But areas that are grazed alone can be enough to prevent the uncontrolled spread of fires, as they act as natural firebreaks, ”explains co-first author Fons van der Plas from Wageningen University. “If necessary, short-term intensive grazing, also known as targeted grazing, can also be combined with other measures such as mechanical clearing in order to further reduce the risk of fire.”

Whether forest grazing helps, however, also depends on the type of animals used. The studies showed that pure grass-eaters such as cows are less effective than goats or sheep, for example, which also eat harder material such as bushes. “Not only domestic animals can do this, but also reintroduced wild and semi-wild herbivores,” says Rouet-Leduc. “They can effectively reduce the risk of forest fires, especially in remote and inaccessible areas.” In addition, forest grazing is well compatible with nature conservation.

In the opinion of the research team, forest grazing should be promoted and financially supported as a means of fighting fires – also in Europe. “Letting animals do the work is an extremely cost-effective way of managing land, which at the same time restores missing ecosystem functions and which can benefit the local population,” says co-author Guy Pe’er of iDiv. “At the same time, we have to accept that fires are natural processes that are important for many ecosystems, and we have to learn to live with them to a certain extent,” adds Rouet-Leduc.

Source: German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig; Technical article: Journal of Applied Ecology, doi: 10.1111 / 1365-2664.13972

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