Management of grazing in the burned forest areas of Peloponnese

Every year about 45.000 forest fires happen in Europe and destroy over 500,000 ha of forest areas. In Greece, and in particular in Peloponnese, human lives were lost, livestock herds were burned, houses and facilities were destroyed and thousands hectares of agricultural and forest lands were burned due to wild fires in August 2007. In the framework of the restoration efforts, a survey on the damages caused by the fire and the measures that should be taken was assigned by the Ministry of Agriculture Growth and Foods to specialist from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the National Agricultural Research Foundation (Forest Research Institute and Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems) and the Forest Service. The study presents: 1. Τhe status of the grazing lands (forest and shrublands) before and after the fire, 2. Τhe stocking rate before and after the fire, and 3. Τhe measures that should be taken for the restoration of these grazing lands.