岩手県九戸郡山形村における山火事とその影響

概要

論文の詳細を見る
A forest fire occurred under an abnormally dry condition and spread eastward in a form of surface fire or spot fire fanned by the strong west wind. As a result, 2100 ha of forestland and 23 houses were burned to ashes. Precisely observing the burned district, authors observed that a resinous Pinus denisflora were mostly destroyed by the fire, and in striking contrast to this, the broad-leaved trees such a Fagus crenata, Castanea crenata, Quercus crispula, Acer mono received but slight destruction. Besides, especially when the strike of slope and the direction of the wind met at a right angle, the forest suffered heavy damage by the fire. It is usual that “forest fires” exert heavy damages over local inhabitants depend on the forest. But, local inhabitants in this region have been accustomed to utilize national forests (burned area was 1200 ha) for a long time as the source of fuels and for cattle raising. And also, private forests (burned area 900 ha) mainly consisted of broad-leaved trees with a few useful trees planted artificially such as Pinus densiflora, were not exploited enough, partly because the local economy depended largely upon national forests, and partly because fuel industry has declined in recent years. Judging from these reasons, authors concluded that the forest fire which took place in this region never had a wide influence on local economy.