Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina

Autores
Godoy, Maria Marcela; Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Masera, Pablo Alberto; Defossé, Guillermo Emilio
Año de publicación
2022
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas are rapidly expanding worldwide. In many regions of the world, this expansion could be explained by the increasing possibilities of telecommuting and developing home-office work, while at the same time living in, or surrounded by wilderness areas of magnificent beauty. However, growth and development of these WUIs are still not well dimensioned and regulated, especially in fire prone ecosystems. Over the last two decades, an increasingly number of megafires occurred in these WUI areas in different regions of the world. Recently, big megafires occurred in WUIs located around towns in the western Andean-Patagonian region of Argentina. In this study, we analyzed the evolution of the WUI and its relationship with wildfires around cities and towns located in the northwestern part of Chubut province of Argentina. The studied region covers 324,823 ha and includes the cities of Esquel and Trevelin, and other small villages. Our objectives were to (i) map the current WUI, (ii) quantify changes occurred in the WUI in the last 40 years around the main cities of the region, and (iii) analyze the relationships among WUIs, vegetation types, and wildfire occurrence. We mapped the distribution of WUI using spatially explicit information on housing density derived from censuses and high-resolution imagery from 1981/1982 and 2021, and land cover data. The current WUI covered 8% of the study area, however it has 97% of the houses. Between 1981 and 2021, the WUI area increased by 80%, especially in the southern part of our study region. Finally, information on wildfires distribution revealed that 65% of the ignition points of the recent fires in the region occurred within the WUI. Most of the vegetation burned were herbs, sub-shrubs and woodlands. WUI expansion in our study area appears to be constrained by terrain features (slopes and accessibility), but not by vegetation characteristics. Our study suggests that continuing, unplanned housing expansion in wilderness areas without appropriate vegetation management will likely increases wildfire risk and human environmental conflicts further. Effective land use planning and wildfire management are crucial for sustainable housing expansion in western Patagonia.
Fil: Godoy, Maria Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; Argentina
Fil: Martinuzzi, Sebastián. University of Wisconsin; Estados Unidos
Fil: Masera, Pablo Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; Argentina
Fil: Defossé, Guillermo Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica; Argentina
Materia
BURNED VEGETATION
ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS
HOUSING
INCREASING WUIS
PATAGONIA
WILDFIRES
WUI ASSESSMENT
WUI PLANNING
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/202002

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network_name_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
spelling Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, ArgentinaGodoy, Maria MarcelaMartinuzzi, SebastiánMasera, Pablo AlbertoDefossé, Guillermo EmilioBURNED VEGETATIONENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTSHOUSINGINCREASING WUISPATAGONIAWILDFIRESWUI ASSESSMENTWUI PLANNINGhttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/4.1https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas are rapidly expanding worldwide. In many regions of the world, this expansion could be explained by the increasing possibilities of telecommuting and developing home-office work, while at the same time living in, or surrounded by wilderness areas of magnificent beauty. However, growth and development of these WUIs are still not well dimensioned and regulated, especially in fire prone ecosystems. Over the last two decades, an increasingly number of megafires occurred in these WUI areas in different regions of the world. Recently, big megafires occurred in WUIs located around towns in the western Andean-Patagonian region of Argentina. In this study, we analyzed the evolution of the WUI and its relationship with wildfires around cities and towns located in the northwestern part of Chubut province of Argentina. The studied region covers 324,823 ha and includes the cities of Esquel and Trevelin, and other small villages. Our objectives were to (i) map the current WUI, (ii) quantify changes occurred in the WUI in the last 40 years around the main cities of the region, and (iii) analyze the relationships among WUIs, vegetation types, and wildfire occurrence. We mapped the distribution of WUI using spatially explicit information on housing density derived from censuses and high-resolution imagery from 1981/1982 and 2021, and land cover data. The current WUI covered 8% of the study area, however it has 97% of the houses. Between 1981 and 2021, the WUI area increased by 80%, especially in the southern part of our study region. Finally, information on wildfires distribution revealed that 65% of the ignition points of the recent fires in the region occurred within the WUI. Most of the vegetation burned were herbs, sub-shrubs and woodlands. WUI expansion in our study area appears to be constrained by terrain features (slopes and accessibility), but not by vegetation characteristics. Our study suggests that continuing, unplanned housing expansion in wilderness areas without appropriate vegetation management will likely increases wildfire risk and human environmental conflicts further. Effective land use planning and wildfire management are crucial for sustainable housing expansion in western Patagonia.Fil: Godoy, Maria Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Martinuzzi, Sebastián. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Masera, Pablo Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; ArgentinaFil: Defossé, Guillermo Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica; ArgentinaFrontiers Media2022-06info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/202002Godoy, Maria Marcela; Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Masera, Pablo Alberto; Defossé, Guillermo Emilio; Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina; Frontiers Media; Frontiers in Forests and Global Change; 5; 6-2022; 1-152624-893XCONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2022.850543/fullinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3389/ffgc.2022.850543info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-29T10:18:06Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/202002instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-29 10:18:07.031CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina
title Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina
spellingShingle Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina
Godoy, Maria Marcela
BURNED VEGETATION
ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS
HOUSING
INCREASING WUIS
PATAGONIA
WILDFIRES
WUI ASSESSMENT
WUI PLANNING
title_short Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina
title_full Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina
title_fullStr Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina
title_full_unstemmed Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina
title_sort Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Godoy, Maria Marcela
Martinuzzi, Sebastián
Masera, Pablo Alberto
Defossé, Guillermo Emilio
author Godoy, Maria Marcela
author_facet Godoy, Maria Marcela
Martinuzzi, Sebastián
Masera, Pablo Alberto
Defossé, Guillermo Emilio
author_role author
author2 Martinuzzi, Sebastián
Masera, Pablo Alberto
Defossé, Guillermo Emilio
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv BURNED VEGETATION
ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS
HOUSING
INCREASING WUIS
PATAGONIA
WILDFIRES
WUI ASSESSMENT
WUI PLANNING
topic BURNED VEGETATION
ENVIRONMENTAL CONFLICTS
HOUSING
INCREASING WUIS
PATAGONIA
WILDFIRES
WUI ASSESSMENT
WUI PLANNING
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/4
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas are rapidly expanding worldwide. In many regions of the world, this expansion could be explained by the increasing possibilities of telecommuting and developing home-office work, while at the same time living in, or surrounded by wilderness areas of magnificent beauty. However, growth and development of these WUIs are still not well dimensioned and regulated, especially in fire prone ecosystems. Over the last two decades, an increasingly number of megafires occurred in these WUI areas in different regions of the world. Recently, big megafires occurred in WUIs located around towns in the western Andean-Patagonian region of Argentina. In this study, we analyzed the evolution of the WUI and its relationship with wildfires around cities and towns located in the northwestern part of Chubut province of Argentina. The studied region covers 324,823 ha and includes the cities of Esquel and Trevelin, and other small villages. Our objectives were to (i) map the current WUI, (ii) quantify changes occurred in the WUI in the last 40 years around the main cities of the region, and (iii) analyze the relationships among WUIs, vegetation types, and wildfire occurrence. We mapped the distribution of WUI using spatially explicit information on housing density derived from censuses and high-resolution imagery from 1981/1982 and 2021, and land cover data. The current WUI covered 8% of the study area, however it has 97% of the houses. Between 1981 and 2021, the WUI area increased by 80%, especially in the southern part of our study region. Finally, information on wildfires distribution revealed that 65% of the ignition points of the recent fires in the region occurred within the WUI. Most of the vegetation burned were herbs, sub-shrubs and woodlands. WUI expansion in our study area appears to be constrained by terrain features (slopes and accessibility), but not by vegetation characteristics. Our study suggests that continuing, unplanned housing expansion in wilderness areas without appropriate vegetation management will likely increases wildfire risk and human environmental conflicts further. Effective land use planning and wildfire management are crucial for sustainable housing expansion in western Patagonia.
Fil: Godoy, Maria Marcela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; Argentina
Fil: Martinuzzi, Sebastián. University of Wisconsin; Estados Unidos
Fil: Masera, Pablo Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Centro de Investigación y Extensión Forestal Andino Patagónico; Argentina
Fil: Defossé, Guillermo Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica; Argentina
description Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas are rapidly expanding worldwide. In many regions of the world, this expansion could be explained by the increasing possibilities of telecommuting and developing home-office work, while at the same time living in, or surrounded by wilderness areas of magnificent beauty. However, growth and development of these WUIs are still not well dimensioned and regulated, especially in fire prone ecosystems. Over the last two decades, an increasingly number of megafires occurred in these WUI areas in different regions of the world. Recently, big megafires occurred in WUIs located around towns in the western Andean-Patagonian region of Argentina. In this study, we analyzed the evolution of the WUI and its relationship with wildfires around cities and towns located in the northwestern part of Chubut province of Argentina. The studied region covers 324,823 ha and includes the cities of Esquel and Trevelin, and other small villages. Our objectives were to (i) map the current WUI, (ii) quantify changes occurred in the WUI in the last 40 years around the main cities of the region, and (iii) analyze the relationships among WUIs, vegetation types, and wildfire occurrence. We mapped the distribution of WUI using spatially explicit information on housing density derived from censuses and high-resolution imagery from 1981/1982 and 2021, and land cover data. The current WUI covered 8% of the study area, however it has 97% of the houses. Between 1981 and 2021, the WUI area increased by 80%, especially in the southern part of our study region. Finally, information on wildfires distribution revealed that 65% of the ignition points of the recent fires in the region occurred within the WUI. Most of the vegetation burned were herbs, sub-shrubs and woodlands. WUI expansion in our study area appears to be constrained by terrain features (slopes and accessibility), but not by vegetation characteristics. Our study suggests that continuing, unplanned housing expansion in wilderness areas without appropriate vegetation management will likely increases wildfire risk and human environmental conflicts further. Effective land use planning and wildfire management are crucial for sustainable housing expansion in western Patagonia.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022-06
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/202002
Godoy, Maria Marcela; Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Masera, Pablo Alberto; Defossé, Guillermo Emilio; Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina; Frontiers Media; Frontiers in Forests and Global Change; 5; 6-2022; 1-15
2624-893X
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/202002
identifier_str_mv Godoy, Maria Marcela; Martinuzzi, Sebastián; Masera, Pablo Alberto; Defossé, Guillermo Emilio; Forty Years of Wildland Urban Interface Growth and Its Relation With Wildfires in Central-Western Chubut, Argentina; Frontiers Media; Frontiers in Forests and Global Change; 5; 6-2022; 1-15
2624-893X
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2022.850543/full
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3389/ffgc.2022.850543
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Frontiers Media
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Frontiers Media
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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