Turkey Fire: A Summary of Recent Events and Impact

The crossroads of nature, culture, and agriculture

Turkey is an ancient crossroads. Surrounded on three sides by water, it forms the bridge between Asia and southern Europe. It is where East meets West and people, their cultures and vegetation merge and mingle. It is a country of great beauty steeped in human history. To put things in perspective, the combined areas of California, Oregon, and Idaho are smaller than the roughly 303,000 square miles that make up Turkey. 345,000 square miles), with nearly twice the population (80 million vs. 45 million. Turkey is located between 36 and 42 degrees north latitude, with 4,474 miles (7,200 km) of coastline, untamed mountains, and the Anatolian Plateau. Its climates are diverse, and its vegetation morphologically resembles that of the three states. Unlike other states where the mountains tend to run north and south, Turkey’s mountain ranges run east and west, with the highest mountains towards the east. It is literally the land bridge formed by tectonic forces. Eighty percent of the land is considered rugged. The average and median elevations are 4,400 feet (1,332 m) and 3700 feet (1,128 m), respectively. In the Asiatic portion flat land is largely limited to the river deltas.

Western Turkey is bordered by the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara. The region has a distinctly Mediterranean climate with mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers. The terrain is generally rolling, a matrix of productive farms and intensively managed forests. The Black Sea region along Turkey’s northern coast is cool and humid throughout most years. The landscape is extensively fragmented by agriculture including orchards and tea plantations. Heavily managed hardwood and conifer forests predominate on the upper slopes of the Northern Anatolian Mountains, which rise sharply and block moisture from the Black Sea from reaching the interior of the Anatolian Plateau.

The Taurus Mountains rise sharply from the Mediterranean Sea and form a narrow band of Mediterranean climate on its southern border.

COASTAL FORESTS. The Taurus Mountains rise abruptly from the Mediterranean Sea. The result is abrupt transitions from urban to wildland areas, distinct elevation-based gradients in vegetation and fuel types, and forests mainly composed of European black pine (P nigra) between 1,300 and 6,900 feet (400 and 2,100 meters); Cedrus libani, the Lebanon Cedars, between 2,600 and 7,500 feet (800-2300 meters); and Turkish red pine (Pinus brutia) between 0 and 5,000 feet (0 and 1,500 meters).

FLAMMABLE SHRUB. The foreground “maquis” shrub vegetation is similar to California chaparral and indicates past fire. The 2,382-foot-high water impoundment is a yangān havuzu, or “fire pool,” perched on the slopes of 7,762-foot (2 366 m) Mount Tahtali. Such fire pools are strategically placed throughout the Mediterranean region and are a critical resource for initial attack.

Similarly, the Taurus Mountains block moisture from the Sea. This is why the Anatolian Plateau’s interior is essentially a semi-arid shrub-steppe, similar to the high deserts of the Great Basin and the Columbian Plateau east of the southern Cascade Range in California and Oregon. Summers are hot and dry and winter cold and harsh often with deep snows.

Wheat and barley farming is prevalent on the productive sites, while alkali flats, terminal (endorheic), salt lakes, and animal husbandry—primarily goats and sheep—dominate on the less productive ones. Furthermore, a herd of wild horses akin to those found in the semiarid areas east of the Cascades may be encountered (images below). The Northern Anatolian and Taurus Mountains converge in eastern Turkey to form a high, inhospitable range with peaks reaching elevations of over 10,000 feet. These ranges are the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that defined ancient Mesopotamia.

Even though the region shares many characteristics with the western United States, such as a similar climate, topography, and native vegetation, there are notable variations in the amount of intensive forestry, farming, and grazing. As a result of several millennia of intensive land use vs. Comparing Turkey to the western United States, where less than two centuries have passed, few places can be considered “untrammeled by man.” ”.

The terrain is changing, but because of its rugged nature and lengthy history of intensive land use, it is still very fragmented, which prevents fires from spreading freely (see photos below). In 22,000 villages in or near forests, there are roughly 7 million people living there, compared to 800,000 over the previous ten years. As is the case in many Mediterranean countries, a decrease in traditional land use leads to a build-up of fine fuels and an increase in the risk of fire. The movement of people from rural to urban areas is in contrast to the inflow of urbanites into the wildland-urban interface in the western United States. More emphasis is now being placed on recreational use of forests rather than agrarian subsistence due to urbanization and the rapidly expanding population. This is particularly true in the popular coastal areas to the south and west that draw tourists from both domestic and international sources. Around 40 million visitors come to Turkey each year. This change has implications for wildland fuel dynamics and Turkey’s fire prevention program.

By Coşkun Okan Güney, Kevin C Ryan, Aylin Güney, and Sharon M. Hood

Millennia of extensive grazing, agriculture, and timber harvesting have altered Turkey’s native vegetation and modified fire regimes. There is disagreement among policymakers, managers, and scientists regarding the degree to which this is the case, which has implications for understanding the potential impacts of climate change and land use on future forest management.

Modern agribusiness, strict forest management, rapid urbanization, and fire suppression continue to dominate the Turkish landscape, but the sustainability of future landscapes is a concern due to land use dynamics and climate change. How should and will policy and management change to deal with the anticipated increases in wildfires and insect and disease problems? How does research and development contribute to informing policy and management changes? How will these disturbances affect the land’s ability to provide adequate supplies of food, productive soil, clean air, and water, as well as the growing demand for outdoor recreation?

These are the topics that were covered by our team during the scientific exchange between American and Turkish scientists that happened in Turkey in the fall of 2018, particularly the importance of research And this is the history and the issues we explored.

‘Leave everything, let it burn’: goat herder urges as wildfire flares in Turkey’s Canakkale

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