Imact of fires on open space on forestry in Mediterranean karst region

Sa？etak Fires on open space in the forest cause direct damage to the timber stock, the cost of remediation and regeneration after fire, and the direct and indirect damage to the forest ecosystems services. Indirect damages referred to terms of disturbance ecological conditions, water and wind erosion of forest soils. Absence of protective and cover role of of forest vegetation leads to increased intensity of erosion processes and the creation of torrential courses in fields with higher slopes, because there is no possibility for assimilation. Considering the climatic conditions in the Mediterranean Croatian Karst and the incidence of forest fires in the future we can expect more difficulties in the management of forests and forest land. Because of the lack of a clear forestry strategy, development on karst, work on afforestation and the related nursery production can be brought into question. Climate change or greater deviations from the average may require changes in forest management, certainly important is frequency of wildfires area, but significant changes can be expected only if it continues irrational management of forests and forest land. The results indicated that nursery production is still there, although with a smaller number of nursery than a decade ago. It is clear from the results that in nursery production is dominated by traditional species for refforestation (black pine, Aleppo pine and maritime pine). Although justification for refforestation should not be questioned because in the Mediterranean karst prevailing coppice forest, shrub wood (over 70%) and degraded forest land. The justification of reforestation need to fulfill several roles: protective, ecological, ecological role in the return of climatozonal vegetation and on better stands economic role. Under the conditions of the Mediterranean region fires on open spaces increasingly affecting forests and forest land. That requires a different approach to the forest management on the karst area