Korea Forest Service Focuses on Secondary Damage Prevention in Restoration of Wildfire-Damaged Areas in Ulju, Andong, and Goseong

Deputy Director Choi Byung-am of the Korea Forest Service is announcing the restoration plan for the wildfire-affected areas in Ulju, Andong, and Goseong on the 1st. The Korea Forest Service plans to focus on restoration efforts to prevent secondary damage such as landslides in these wildfire-affected areas. Photo by Korea Forest Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Forest restoration projects are being promoted in spring wildfire-affected areas such as Ulju, Andong, and Goseong. The restoration projects focus on preventing secondary damage caused by natural disasters such as heavy summer rains and typhoons.

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 2nd, three large wildfires occurred this year from March to May in Ulju-gun, Ulsan City (March 19), Andong City, Gyeongsangbuk-do (April 24), and Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do (May 1). The total forest area destroyed by these wildfires was confirmed to be 2,586 hectares. Among the regional damage status, Andong had the largest damage scale with 1,944 hectares, followed by Ulju with 519 hectares and Goseong with 123 hectares.

Earlier, the Korea Forest Service conducted joint investigations in two phases (May 5?10 and May 11?15) last month with the relevant local governments, regional offices under the Korea Forest Service, and the National Institute of Forest Science to confirm the scale of wildfire damage in Ulju, Andong, and Goseong areas and to establish a forest damage restoration plan.

Based on this, the plan is to prevent secondary damage such as soil erosion and landslides before the rainy season begins at the end of this month.

The restoration projects are divided into ‘emergency restoration’ to be carried out within this year and ‘permanent restoration’ to be promoted annually from next year through 2023.

Aerial view of the wildfire damage area in Andong, captured by drone. Provided by the Korea Forest Service.

First, emergency restoration focuses on urgently cutting down wildfire-damaged trees around residential areas to prevent trees from breaking or being uprooted and falling, and installing stone cages, soil barriers, and check dams to prevent secondary damage such as landslides.

In particular, the Korea Forest Service plans to take emergency measures such as stacking sandbags and installing sandbag channels by the end of this month before the rainy season in nine urgent locations where soil erosion is a concern (six in Ulju, two in Andong, and one in Goseong). The purpose is to prevent secondary damage caused by natural disasters such as heavy summer rains and typhoons in advance.

From a long-term perspective, forest restoration will be carried out by creating protective forest belts around houses near wildfire-affected areas and conducting check dam projects in areas prone to landslides and degraded streams. The check dam project involves installing structures to restore degraded land or prevent collapse of mountainous areas, outflow of soil, rocks, trees, or sand drift.

Data on Large-scale Wildfire Occurrences from March to May This Year. Provided by the Korea Forest Service

The Korea Forest Service plans to invest a total of 70.347 billion KRW in restoring wildfire-affected areas, allocating 63.776 billion KRW for reforestation and 6.571 billion KRW for expanding forest facilities such as check dams. The related budget will be covered by 52.375 billion KRW in national funds and 17.972 billion KRW in local funds.

Choi Byung-am, Vice Administrator of the Korea Forest Service, said, “This spring’s large wildfires have once again highlighted the importance of initial firefighting and cooperation among related agencies.” He added, “The Korea Forest Service will support budgets to the local governments responsible for wildfire-affected areas?Ulsan City, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and Gangwon-do?and take on the role of providing restoration technology advice through the National Institute of Forest Science to ensure that wildfire-affected areas are systematically and smoothly restored.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.