James Godfrey-Faussett is lead forester at SUGi, with 28 years of horticultural, landscaping and garden design experience. He integrates organic and biodynamic methods to design and implement practical, local solutions to help our planet and heal precious forest ecosystems.
Wildfires are everywhere. The Planet is on fire across all continents… can you start by telling us a bit about this crisis?
Wildfires on a mass scale are becoming more and more a regular and worrying global occurrence, threatening ecosystems, wildlife, human lifes and infrastructures as well as iconic historical and irreplaceable sites. While climate change, bad management, and human stupidity are the main causes of wildfires, the local vegetation has a large say in how quickly and densely the fire spreads and the damage caused.
Local vegetation being the key?
Some forms of planting are able to prevent, or at least slow wildfires, while other planting fuels the fires.
Examples being the redwood forests of California that tolerate fire and even need the heat for germination: the resin on the tree’s cones needs melting and the heat causing an explosion of the seeds.
Equally, in areas such as California and Portugal the widespread inappropriate planting of non-native species such as eucalyptus acts as a volatile fuel for the fire. This is not the fault of the trees but bad management practices.
We see that spaced out mono-plantations are primed for wildfires to consume and spread due to the drafting of airflow, lack of strata and thin defenseless trees and avenues for the fire to travel along – that’s a huge part of the problem.
So, what needs to be done to stop or mitigate these fires?
We know that multi-strata layered forest offers more resilience to fire – less air flow, increased atmospheric moisture content and leaf moisture content that acts to slow and in some cases stop the wildfires. This is combined with a healthy forest floor that rapidly converts leaf litter into soil carbon and a sponge that holds water.
The denseness of native forest also acts as a blanket to prevent ash and sparks from spreading on the wind.
Where fire damage is widespread, the greater diversity of species and sub species still tends to allow for less soil erosion due the good deep root formation and quicker regeneration due to the diversity of species and solutions offered by nature.
What are the solutions you propose?
One implementable solution to help prevent the spread and damage of wildfires would be the planting of dense, multi-layered and rapidly growing native-based forest breaks – based around the selection of those indigenous species considered fire tolerant, with soil erosion stabilization qualities and quickness of regeneration if required.
The pockets of forest would also offer a vital haven for biodiversity to take refuge and reestablish after the effects of the wildfires.
Ah, these are what you call “pocket forests” or tiny forests?
Yes. These miro-forests could be planted on a smaller scale – specifically around homes, real estate, resorts and properties to act as a local fire deterrent or a last stop.
Equally, these forest areas could be planted as larger fire breaks in semi-urban areas to suppress and control the outbreaks of fire and even as larger forest areas that have the double effect of fire protection combined with a haven for biodiversity and a diverse genetic germination bank for nature to spread out into the surrounding post fire damage.
Is this a new thing?
Not at all.
The Miyawaki method was developed in Japan around 50 years ago, by the Japanese botanist and plant ecology expert Professor Akira Miyawaki. Drawing inspiration from nature’s ecosystems to create 100% organic, diverse, forests. One of the founding aims was to create dense native forests able to prevent the spread of wildfires. The forests were also planted around factories to help protect the local communities in case of accident or explosion and came to be known as “disaster-proofing” forests.
The Miyawaki method allows for rapid dense formation of biodiversity rich forest in any environment. Maintenance requirements are low and usually not required after 2 years. Growth is naturally fast and vibrant with dense multi-layers forming quickly. The soil is quickly made secure and less prone to erosion due to rapid root formation and symbiotic relationships with beneficial soil fungi.
The backbone of the methodology is Potential Natural Vegetation selection, which looks to identify the correct and long term local indigenous species. These can then be tailored into a planting list of the species most fire resistant and if needed quick to regenerate (often via the root systems that have adapted to reshoot when above ground damage is done).
The methodology can also be combined with a ‘Muvuca’ multi seeding aspect where successional species are all seeding together at the same time and allowed to evolve naturally as nature builds the different stages of complexity that leads to the ecosystem moving through the successional stages as the conditions are created. The added advantage of multi seeding is the low cost, speed and potential scale of installation and lack of maintenance.
What about temperatures in cities? How do we cool off our concrete jungles?
With temperatures around the world rising to new levels – especially in cities – pocket forests offer a natural solution to the heat challenges we face. We’re talking about mitigating the Urban Heat Island effect.
In central London, for example, we can see the difference and measure it.
Let’s look at southern Italy – regions like Sicily, Calabria, Puglia – or Greece – the fires around Athens. How do you select the right plants?
We start by studying the local terrain, and the wild trees and shrubs, and ask a few essential questions:
- What are the fire-intolerant species? Fire-intolerant species tend to be highly flammable and offer little resistance to fire. Often these tend to be the highly combustible non native species. Some of these plants and their seeds may simply disappear after a fire, yet others have adapted to ensure that their offspring survive in the next generation. Some have seed banks that need fire in order to germinate, grow, and mature rapidly following a fire, quickly re-colonising the exposed land. . A small quantity of these species should be considered in order to stabilize the exposed soil and because of their tendency to establish quickly.
- What are the fire-tolerant species? Fire-tolerant species, on the other hand, are able to withstand some forms of fire and grow despite some potential damage. These plants are often referred to as “re-sprouters.” Some species of re-sprouters store extra energy in their radicular systems ready for recovery and regrowth following a fire.. These can be seen as the ‘bouncing’ back species.
- What are the fire-resistant species? Fire-resistance refers to plants that suffer the least damage during a wildfire event. These fire-resistant plants, having low oil and resin content in their leaves, tend to have smooth bark and high leaf moisture content. They are able to disrupt and slow the progress of a fire and thus help with fire control and resilience.These species are also acting as natural windbreak, absorbing and deflecting flames, heat and trapping embers and sparks from the advancing fire.
Importantly, Miyawaki forests tend to grow faster, are denser and contain more biodiversity. Since they’re quick to establish, maintenance-free after the first two-to-three years, and can be created on sites as small as 3 sq.m, Miyawaki forests are viable solutions for cities looking to rapidly build climate resilience.
What are the steps – if someone wants to start this tomorrow?
I would hope that everyone starts planting pocket forests today, not tomorrow.
- Choose the correct fire-resistant indigenous species.
- Include a lower-strata, an early successional layer to readily cover and protect the soil.
- Balance this with some native fire tolerant species to allow for rapid re-seeding, resprouting and additional topsoil protection.
- Consider the initial use of succulent plant species to bring moisture into the system naturally.
- Plant according to the Miyawaki methodology for rapid and dense formation on multiple strata levels.
- Soil preparation to allow maximum root development – thus soil erosion minimizing and resprouting potential. Additionally, this allows maximization of water harvesting when rains come.
- Heavy mulching with wood chips to hold soil moisture and to minimize ground level fire spread.
- Around homes and real estate consider mulch with rock dust or gravel to stop ground level fire spreading.
Are there examples of how this method has stopped fires?
In 2012 a wild fire swept through 200,000 hectares of forest in Andalusia, Spain. Virtually all the trees were destroyed apart from a stand of Mediterranean Cypress trees (Cupressus sempervirens) – 98% of the cypress trees had survived!
Because of the unique structure of its needles, the Mediterranean cypress is able to maintain a high water content even in situations of extreme heat and drought. The cuticle is thick with the stomata arranged on the inside, protected side of the leaves and therefore less subject to high water loss and transpiration.
The ignition time of Mediterranean cypress is said to be between, five and seven times that of other Mediterranean resinous species, like pines which contain high levels of volatile organic compounds that are primed and ready to actually aid the wildfire to spread. Also, the thick and dense litter/mulch layer acts as a ‘sponge’ or carpet and retains water, and the space for air circulation is reduced.
What about farming? How do you prevent crops from becoming wildfire fodder?
I think syntropic agroforestry systems offer the potential to grow a larger amount of produce in a relatively small area while also benefiting reforestation – all with no added inputs.
A diverse range of crops from vegetables and herbs through to fruit and nut trees can all be planted closely together and for maximum benefit.
In an area such as southern Italy, Puglia for example, olive, fig, almond and cherry all complement each other beautifully and contain high metabolic similarities – meaning they like to grow together. A system with these trees could also include citrus as well as seasonal local vegetables and herbs.
Syntropic systems are compact and visually attractive while fun to grow. They require a bit of maintenance to start with, but this should be embraced and seen as a community engagement with produce shared out.
Although at threat via Xylella and other diseases, the olive tree still dominates Puglia’s culture and countryside.
The tree species offers a diverse range of benefits including those offered by the leaves – that are often overlooked. Olive leaf extract is highly prized for health and cosmetic benefits and known to offer a broad range of health-giving properties for body and skin. We could look into the process of extraction and offer local workshops to show the potential benefits. Equally the wild olive tree (Olea europaea sylvestris) produces a highly desirable oil that contains much higher levels of health giving benefits than the modern cultivars.
We must integrate Nature into daily our lives again. Pocket forests are community wellbeing projects!
Thanks so much for your time. Readers can learn more about James Godfrey-Faussett’s work at SUGi.
INTERVIEW by Christian Sarkar