## 1 Introduction  
Wildfires can negatively affect soil fertility, biodiversity, land resources, global warming, and human assets; however, positive environmental effects are also recognized, such as increased forest regeneration and nutrient recycling [1]. The Mediterranean ecosystems are adapted to fire disturbance, but the increasing recurrence and high severity of wildfires generate high soil loss and reduce the ability of vegetation to recover [2]. In the Mediterranean Basin, wildfires burn large forest areas not only during summer, but also in mid seasons, when heavy rainstorms may occur [3, 4]. For instance, in Spain, even though the number of wildfires has followed a decreasing trend in the last decades [5], wildland is still severely affected by forest wildfires in summer. In the last 10 years, more than 3000 km\({}^{2}\) of forests have burned. Only in 2018, over 7000 wildfires burned about 300 km\({}^{2}\) of forests [5]. The hydrological and ecological effects of large wildfires (floods, landslides and mudslides, erosion, loss of biodiversity, destruction of fauna, etc.) can be devastating [6]. Among these effects, soil erosion is presumably the most severe consequence of forest fires, since it threatens water resources, infrastructures, and populations inside and out of burned areas [7]. For burned soils, erosion after wildfire is much higher compared to unburned, since fire changes several physical and chemical properties of soil [1; 7]. For instance, erosion in burned forest areas increases by even 30 times compared to the natural values recorder in unburned zones [8]. To reduce, under tolerable limits, soil erosion, urgent restoration actions are implemented immediately after the wildfire to prevent secondary post-fire damage, whereas long-term restoration can be used for regenerating plants and promoting the evolution of forest structure [9]. Management actions in fire-affected forests have typically focused on soil structure and plant recovery. The increase in vegetal cover through plant regeneration has been identified by some studies in Mediterranean regions as the main driver in post-fire management of forests [10]. Among the post-fire restoration actions, log erosion barriers (hereinafter indicated as \"LEB\") or contour-felled log debris (CFD) are widespread measures to control the erosive processes (mainly due to runoff and sediment flows) in forest ecosystems [11]. More specifically, LEBs are built by falling burned trees, while CFDs consist of branch and small-felling burned trees, and both are laid on the ground along the slope contour. Many studies have assessed the effectiveness of hillslope stabilization treatments on soil hydrological response (namely runoff and erosion) (e.g., [12; 13; 14; 15] as well as reductions in CO\({}_{2}\) emissions and carbon sequestration [16]. In some cases, the impact of these actions in reducing runoff and trapping sediments is limited to the less intense rainfall events (e.g., [11]). In other cases, their effects are scarce or negligible, due to inadequate constructions or deficient design [13]. Some studies have even shown a negative impact, in terms of a higher percentage of bare and stony soil, especially in sunny areas subjected to different forest treatments, with subsequent increase in soil erosion [17]. It is evident that the effects of post-fire hillslope treatments are still uncertain, and the most suitable technique has not been completely identified [18]. A monitoring activity of post-fire management actions in burned forests in the Mediterranean environment may give forest managers and landscape planners insight about their effectiveness in reducing soil loss and accelerating the vegetation recovery. This activity is essential, since public administrations make large efforts and spend many resources in restoration actions that usually include economic, cultural and even landscape components [19; 20]. However, the techniques of field monitoring are generally expensive and time-consuming [21].