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🇷🇸 Serbia /Environment & Climate

Reuters: On Serbia’s scorched dunes, foresters prepare for an even hotter future

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Foresters are assessing damage and planning the restoration of Serbia’s Deliblato Sands after a fire affected the reserve more than a month ago.
  • They must decide which trees to retain or replace, with experts warning that recovery could initially produce low scrub rather than forest.
  • Specialists advise caution over large-scale reforestation as wildfire risks rise and some areas may need three to five years of observation.

More than a month after fire swept through Serbia’s Deliblato Sands, foresters are confronting a difficult question: what should remain, and what should be replaced? The reserve’s dunes and forests are still affected by smouldering fire, while a landscape that once saw wildfires only rarely now faces a hotter and more fire-prone future.

Jovana Devetaković, an associate professor at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Forestry, said any changes would take years to settle. “For the first 15, 20 or even 25 years, it probably will not look like a forest. It will look like low shrubbery,” she told Reuters.

For the first 15, 20 or even 25 years, it probably will not look like a forest. It will look like low shrubbery.

· Jovana DevetakovićThe University of Belgrade forestry professor described how the reserve could look during the first decades of recovery.

Even assessing the damage will take a year, she said. Workers will then need to remove destroyed material, including partly burned or weakened trees. The process must move slowly to ensure that the debris does not fuel new fires or create breeding grounds for bark beetles, which threaten healthy forests.

Do you want acacia and black pine in this ecosystem?

· Aleksandar HeldThe European Forest Institute expert questioned whether the species that historically shaped the reserve should be replanted.

The next decision will concern what to plant. Birch, poplar, ash and oak could replace the more easily ignited conifers. Black pines and acacias have shaped the reserve’s horizon for more than two centuries, but stands replanted after earlier fires, particularly those in 1996 and 2007, were damaged again.

“Do you want acacia and black pine in this ecosystem?” asked Aleksandar Held, a senior expert at the European Forest Institute. He advised against rushing into large-scale reforestation and recommended watching areas for three to five years where erosion poses no immediate threat. Experts point to Greece’s post-fire restoration of sandy parts of the western Peloponnese as an example of the special methods that may be needed, including organic material and water-retaining materials in planting pits.

Special methods must be applied, using organic material in planting pits and materials that retain water and improve soil moisture.

· Teoharis ZagasThe forestry professor discussed techniques used for restoring fire-damaged sandy areas.
About this summary

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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