Forest roads as the key to forest protection against fire

Abstract

Planning, construction and maintenance of forest roads is extremely important for successful firefighting in a certain area. This study focuses on the current technical infrastructure in the state forests of Serbia. The average openness of forests in Serbia at the end of 2019 was 20.14 m/ha, while 21.89 m/ha was occupied by public roads. In the period from 2011 to 2019, the average openness of state forests with public roads in Serbia decreased by 3.12 m/ha, or by 1.67 m/ha. The openness of forests by forest roads is the largest and optimal in the Vojvodina region (131.5 m/ha) and significantly lower and insufficient in Belgrade regions (0.35 m/ha), Sumadija and Western Serbia (2.8 m/ha), and Southern and Eastern Serbia (1.8 m/ha). Compared to 2011, the openness of forests in 2019 increased in the Vojvodina region and decreased in other regions in Serbia. Forest roads that have asphalt, concrete or cobblestone lanes are the least represented, about 0.27%. The largest representation of forest roads with a base (stone or gravel hard bottom layer) is about 82.7%.