Final Meeting

Development of Harmonised Indicators and Estimation Procedures for Forests with

Protective Functions against Natural Hazards in the

Alpine Space

Harmonised indicators

Final Meeting

Indicators selected for:

– Forest area- Coarse scale- Fine scale

– Hazard Potential– Damage Potential– Protective effect

- Coarse scale- Fine scale

Final Meeting

Forest area:

– Coarse and fine scale- According FAO

- Minimum crown cover- Minimum area- Minimum height

Final Meeting

Forest area:

– Coarse and fine scale- According FAO

- Minimum crown cover 30%- Minimum area 5000m²- Minimum height 2m

Final Meeting

Hazard potential:

– Coarse and fine scale- Avalanche

- Snow height- Snow cover region and altitude

- Slope- Planar curvature- Minimum forest area

Final Meeting

Hazard potential: Avalanche

Alpine RegionAltitudinal zone

(hazard potential)

Code Region 1 2

Austria

A100 Vorarlberg ≥ 700 m ≥ 900 m

A210 Northern Alps – West Zone≥ 800 m ≥ 1 000

m

A220 Northern Alps – Middle Zone≥ 750 m ≥ 1 000

m

A230 Northern Alps – East Zone ≥ 700 m ≥ 900 m

A310 Western Central Alps – West Zone≥ 900 m ≥ 1 100

m

A320Western Central Alps – Middle

Zone≥ 1 250

m≥ 1 700

m

A330 Western Central Alps – East Zone≥ 900 m ≥ 1 400

m

A400 Eastern Central Alps≥ 800 m ≥ 1 000

m

Final Meeting

Hazard potential:

– Coarse and fine scale- Avalanche

- Slope 28° – 55°- Planar curvature -2 – 0.2- Minimum forested area 5000m²

Final Meeting

Climaticavalanche

hazard potential

Slope gradient

- 28° >28 – 34° >34 – 39° >39 – 55° > 55°

Avalanche hazard potential of slope gradient

0 1 2 3 0

Avalanche hazard potential (AHP)

0 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 0 1 1 0

2 0 2 3 3 0

Hazard potential:

– Coarse and fine scale - Avalanche

Final Meeting

Hazard potential:

– Coarse scale- Rockfall

- Slope- Outside the forest mask and inside the

rock mask a slope threshold of 43°- Inside the forest mask a slope threshold

of 39°

Final Meeting

Hazard potential:

– Coarse and fine scale Rockfall- Slope

Final Meeting

Damage potential:

– Coarse and fine scale- Data availability?

- Buffer zone 25m

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Avalanche- Coarse scale

- Total crown cover- Coniferous crown cover

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Avalanche- Coarse scale

- Total crown cover- Coniferous crown cover

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Avalanche- Fine scale

- Total crown cover- Coniferous crown cover- Tree height - Gap length

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Avalanche- Fine scale

- Total crown cover- Coniferous crown cover- Tree height (AHP 1: -2m, AHP 2/3: 5m)

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Avalanche- Fine scale

- Gap length

Slope (°) Critical gap length (m)

30 60

35 50

40 40

45 30

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Rockfall- Coarse scale

- Forested slope length- Basal area

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Rockfall- Coarse scale

- Forested slope length (>200m)- Basal area

Basal area Level of protective effect of forest

≥ 25 m2/ha 1 – high

15 – 25 m2/ha 2 – medium

< 15 m2/ha 3 – low

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Rockfall- Fine scale

- Forested slope length- Fraction of gaps- Stem density- DBH - (Stone size)

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Rockfall- Fine scale

- Forested slope length ( > 200m %)- Fraction of gaps (gap < 25%)

Final Meeting

Protective effect:

– Rockfall- Fine scale

- Stem density- DBH

Stone size Trees/ha DBH Trees/ha DBH Trees/ha DBH

Small >600 >12 cm >400 >12 cm ≤400 ≤12 cm

Medium >400 >24 cm >300 >24 cm ≤300 ≤24 cm

Large >200 >36 cm >150 >36 cm ≤150 ≤36 cm

Protective effect 1 - high 2 - medium 3 - low