Evaluating early post-fire tropical lower montane forest recovery in Indonesia

Little is known about post-fire tropical montane forest succession in Indonesia. It is an important step to understand whether forests are recovering and if there is a need for reforestation or other rehabilitation efforts. This study assessed the structure and composition of post-fire forest regrowth in Raden Soerjo Grand Forest Park, a conservation forest management unit in East Java, Indonesia. Three high-severity burn units were sampled to assess forest response across a range of post-fire recovery times and one or two fire entries. Mean stems and basal area per unit by size class (tree, pole, sapling and seedling) and tree size class distribution by species, and mean percent cover of understory by life form were calculated. It was found that units experiencing short-term absence of fire and two fire entries were dominated by non-tree understory vegetation, including high grass cover, indicating that understory cover may hamper the establishment of tree regeneration. It was also found that higher species diversity and richness followed a single fire entry. The results provided a better understanding of early post-fire forest recovery. Managers should actively monitor burned areas and plan for active restoration, especially if non-forest vegetation dominates the area for a long period (> 8 years), or after a second fire entry.