Wildfire is a topic that raises much controversy in the context of forests and forest management in Europe. Fire is often viewed as a natural disaster that is harmful, yet fire is also a natural process and an important component of the disturbance regime in some forest ecosystems. A long history of land use has made it difficult to unravel the natural role of fire in European forests. Land use changes and past forestry practices have also increased fuels and fire hazard in some areas. In recent times a warming and increasingly drought-prone climate are raising concerns that fires are becoming more frequent and extreme, or extending into mesic forest ecosystems that are poorly adapted to fire. There is therefore an urgent need to better understand the role of fire in many European forest ecosystems including how forest management can, when appropriate, work with fire, rather than against it, yet prescribed burning in forests is currently illegal in Slovenia. This professional contribution discusses key issues related to fire ecology and management in Slovenia resulting from an exchange between the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station and forest/fire management experts in Slovenia. The paper focuses on the Goriški Kras and the Potoška Gora Fire sites, as well as other forest sites in Slovenia. We summarize some key thoughts, based on field observations, discussions, and experience from fire-prone forests of California. We hope this will encourage further discourse and a fuller understanding of management options for fire prone forests in Slovenia.
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