Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
limited to specific criteria and protocols to keep fire under control. In addition,
these laws have defined suppression responsibilities and the obligations of fire
protection by private forest owners. While prescribed burning is widely utilized,
alternative methods of mechanical brush clearance are encouraged.
Fire management in Chile is a responsibility of the national government
through CONAF, which is the equivalent of the U.S. Forest Service and National
Park Service combined, an organization created in 1970 and attached to the
Ministry of Agriculture. It is responsible for the promotion of agroforestry and
the timber industry in native forests, as well as the establishment and management
of national parks. These duel responsibilities have produced inherent conflicts.
CONAF carries out an organized fire management program through actions of
prevention, presuppression fuel treatments, and suppression throughout the coun-
try, and implements a single national standard in forest firefighting operations.
The major objectives of the CONAF fire management program have been: (1) to
reduce the frequency and extent of large fires that cause damage to structures and
natural resources; and, (2) enlist regional government agencies and private land-
owners in the prevention, control and mitigation of fire damage. This latter
co-operative work with private landowners, most notably the private forestry
sector, is particularly important since 68% of land in Chile is privately owned.
Many large and medium-sized forestry firms have adopted and implemented their
own fire protection programs.
Conclusions
The high Andean Cordillera to the east of central Chile effectively prevents summer
convective thunderstorms from moving westward from Argentina, and as a result,
lightning is rare to virtually non-existent over much of theMTC region. However, on
a geological timescale this is a relatively recent phenomenon and lightning-ignited
fires may have been relatively common in central Chile throughmuch of theMiocene.
Indeed, even as recently as 10 Ma the central Andes had only reached half their
present height. Since the end of the Miocene Andean uplift has formed an effective
barrier to westward storms and natural sources of fires. The Chilean matorral
exhibits fire-adaptive traits such as lignotubers that could have been selected for
during an earlier fire-prone Miocene landscape. The virtual lack of fire in the region
for the last few million years undoubtedly accounts for the lack of fire-dependent
reproduction in either woody or herbaceous species.
