Scott L Stephens, Daniel E Foster, John J Battles, Alexis A Bernal, Brandon M Collins, Rachelle Hedges, Jason J Moghaddas, Ariel T Roughton, Robert A York
Fire suppression and past selective logging of large trees have fundamentally changed frequent-fire adapted forests in California. The culmination of these changes produced forests that are vulnerable to catastrophic change by wildfire, drought, and bark beetles, with climate change exacerbating this vulnerability. Management options available to address this problem include mechanical treatments (Mech), prescribed fire (Fire), or combinations of these treatments (Mech + Fire). We quantify changes in forest structure and composition, fuel accumulation, modeled fire behavior, inter-tree competition, and economics from a 20-year forest restoration study in the northern Sierra Nevada...
November 10, 2023: Ecological Applications