Exploring the Influence of Forest Tenure and Protection Status on Post-Fire Recovery in Southeast Australia

Abstract

Research Highlights: We used Landsat time series data to investigate the role forest tenure and protection status play in the recovery of a forest after a fire. Background and Objectives: Changing fire regimes put forests in southeast Australia under increasing pressure. Our investigation aimed to explore the impact of different forest management structures on a forest’s resilience to fire by looking at the post-fire recovery duration. Materials and Methods: The analysis included a total of 60.6 Mha of land containing 25.4 Mha of forest in southeast Australia. Multispectral time series data from Landsat satellites and a local reference dataset were used to model attributes of disturbance and recovery over a period of 33 years. Results: Protected public forest spectrally recovered 0.4 years faster than protected private forest. No other significant effects in relation to different tenure and protection status were found. Climatic and topographic variables were found to have much greater influence on post-fire spectral recovery. Conclusions: Protected area status in public forests resulted in slightly faster recovery, compared with the private protected forest estate. However, factors outside the control of land managers and policy makers, i.e., climatic and topographic variables, appear to have a much greater impact on post-fire recovery.