Historically, wildfires have played an important role in forest dynamics in Fennoscandia. In Finland, the annually burned area has diminished in recent decades. This has led to a decline of fire-adapted habitat types and species, many of which have become red-listed. In Fennoscandia, there is a long tradition of silvicultural burnings to enhance tree regeneration. Recently, prescribed burnings have been modified for biodiversity goals following the recommendations that have emerged from ecological research. Prominent biodiversity gains can be obtained by combining sufficient retention levels with burnings. Consequently, burning and retention have been recommended by recent national red-list assessments, strategies, and forest-management guidelines, and they have been adopted in forest-certification standards in Finland. Contrary to these recommendations, the opposite development has taken place: (1) the ecological efficiency of the criterion concerning prescribed burning in the PEFC forest-certification standard has been impaired, (2) state funding to encourage private forest owners to apply prescribed burning was reduced significantly, and (3) prescribed burnings have been abandoned altogether in commercial state-owned forests. Traditional burnings with variable retention have also been partially replaced with burning of small retention-tree groups. This new method is less risky and cheaper, but its ecological benefits are questionable because small-sized fires produce much smaller areas of burned forest soil with less fire-affected wood than traditional silvicultural burnings. Generally, the widely accepted goal to increase burnings with retention appears difficult to achieve and would require stronger political will and economic support from the government. We identified several actions that could improve the weakened situation of fire-dependent biodiversity and recommend the following: (1) setting a clear goal and ensuring sufficient funding for the burnings—including restoration burnings in conservation areas—and targeting these to specific fire-continuum areas with sufficient retention to ensure the continuity of fire-affected habitats at landscape level; (2) renewing the current subsidizing policies to encourage private landowners to perform prescribed burnings in regeneration areas after final fellings, and to safeguard accidental forest-fire areas as set-asides; (3) renewing the current prescribed-burning criterion of the Finnish PEFC forest-certification standard with more ambitious ecological goals; and (4) re-introducing prescribed burnings in commercial state forests where management targets are under political steering.

中文翻译：

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芬兰将可变保留和规定燃烧相结合的挑战

从历史上看，野火在芬诺斯堪的亚的森林动态中发挥了重要作用。在芬兰，近几十年来每年燃烧的面积有所减少。这导致了适应火灾的生境类型和物种的减少，其中许多已被列入红名单。在芬诺斯坎迪亚（Fennoscandia），悠久的造林燃烧传统可以促进树木再生。最近，根据生态研究提出的建议，已针对生物多样性目标修改了规定的焚烧方法。通过将足够的保留水平与焚烧相结合，可以获得明显的生物多样性收益。因此，最近的国家红名单评估，策略和森林管理指南已建议进行焚烧和保留，并已在芬兰的森林认证标准中采用。与这些建议相反，发生了相反的发展：（1）PEFC森林认证标准中有关规定燃烧的标准的生态效率受到损害，（2）鼓励私人森林所有者采用规定燃烧的国家资金用于大幅减少，（3）国有商业森林中完全废弃了规定的焚烧方式。具有可变保留的传统燃烧也已被燃烧较小的保留树组部分取代。这种新方法风险较低且价格便宜，但其生态效益值得怀疑，因为与传统的营林燃烧相比，小规模的火灾产生的林地面积小得多，受火影响的木材更少。通常，广为接受的增加燃烧留存率的目标似乎难以实现，并且需要政府的强烈政治意愿和经济支持。我们确定了一些可以改善依赖火种的生物多样性状况的行动，并提出以下建议：（1）设定明确的目标并确保为燃烧（包括保护区的恢复燃烧）提供足够的资金，并将这些目标用于特定的火源。具有足够保留能力的区域，以确保受火灾影响的栖息地在景观水平上的连续性；（2）更新现行的补贴政策，鼓励私人土地所有者在最终砍伐后在再生区进行规定的焚烧，并作为临时措施保护意外森林火灾地区；（3）更新具有更宏伟目标的芬兰PEFC森林认证标准的现行燃烧标准；（4）在管理目标受到政治指导的商业州森林中重新引入规定的焚烧方式。