We received a report from the Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection detailing the damage to the JNF forests as a result of the devastation. The information is provided by the Nature Reserves and Parks Authority and JNF staff in Israel.

Planted forests (JNF) — During the war, as a result of about 400 fires caused by missiles, more than 3,000 acres of planted forests went up in flames. Of this total, about 1,750 acres were on the Naftali mountain ridge (about 70% of the forest) and 500 acres were in the Biria forest near Tzfat. The direct fire fighting costs exceeded NIS 20 million (use of fire fighting aircraft and fire retarding materials).

Natural forests and open areas — A total of about 50 fires caused by the war were dealt with in nature reservations and national parks. About 10,000 acres were burned, of which about 3,750 acres were in areas of nature reserves and national parks. Of these, about 1,375 acres were in the Golan Heights, about 2,225 acres in Northern Galilee (in the Mount Miron fire about 300 acres were burned, representing about 15% of the area of the forest) and 125 acres in Lower Galilee.

The damage was to a large spectrum of living things, from plants damaged directly, invertebrates, lichen, snails, reptiles, birds (great damage to fledglings that could not yet fly and flee from the fire), mammals' dens, young deer, and sometimes even adult mammals. The damage was systemic to the entire food chain.

The damage to flora, in both the short and long term, is the most conspicuous. The burned forests will recover slowly, and until this happens dense undergrowth will replace the adult forest. There will be a change to the composition of the vegetation, and the hairy cassia and kinds of rockrose will dominate the scene, at the expense of varied kinds of undergrowth. In the burned areas the chances increase of domination by invasive species, such as the blue acacia.

Physical damage — Roads made for the purpose of fire fighting. Such roads were made in the Hulah Reservation. After the fire there will be soil erosion in the first winter, until a layer of undergrowth covers the area.