Prescribed fires
Fire is a natural disturbance phenomenon. Despite recognition of the importance of fire in ecosystems, fire suppression policies have been favoured, contributing to the accumulation of fuel in wildlands. Political options coupled with land abandonment, livestock reduction, plantation of monospecific species and the increasing number and length of summer droughts, as a consequence of climate change, are responsible for the occurrence of severe wildfires such as occurred in 2017 in Portugal and California. These kinds of fires have tremendous and unwanted impacts on the environment, society and the economy, including ecosystem services degradation and the loss of life (Nadal-Romero et al., 2018; Pereira et al., 2016a, Pereira et al., 2018). To tackle this problem, more investments are needed in preventive measures such as forest management techniques to reduce the amount of biomass in wildland environments. The most commonly used are mechanical thinning (e.g. clearcutting, partial cutting) and, if authorized by government bodies, prescribed fires .
