Social perceptions on Pinus radiata invasion and the influence of fire occurrence in Central Chile, 2023-2024

This dataset was constructed to understand the perceptions of respondents about pine tree invasion in three communes in central-southern Chile: Santa Juana, Constitución and Tucapel. In addition, the factors that influence the perception of the species and the interest of each community to participate in community control strategies were identified. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in two communities affected by megafires (Santa Juana and Constitución) and one community not affected by such an event (Tucapel), in order to check if there are differences in the willingness of the respondents.

The variables evaluated include:
(a) demographic data; with information on location, gender, education, age, economic activities and sectors of the respondents;
(b) beliefs; whether they think that alien species damage the ecosystem; benefit people; and whether they think that the pine tree harms the traditions of the community;
(c) what uses they give to wild pine trees; as fuel, construction material, economic, recreational and cultural purposes;
(d) relationship between pine trees and forest fires; if they think that wild pine favours intense and frequent fires, if all vegetation has the same fire risk, and if they think that pine trees can grow back easily after fires, and
(e) responsibilities associated with management; if they have ever controlled wild pine in their sector, personal, community, business and government responsibilities associated with management, and how likely they are to participate in strategies to control wild pine.

Data were collected between November 2023 and January 2024.