Research Database
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5
Planted seedling regeneration using gap-based silviculture without herbicide in a wildfire-impacted forest of the Sierra Nevada
Year: 2025
Gap-based silviculture, which we define as the creation and maintenance of multi-aged stands through the periodic harvesting of discrete canopy gaps, provides a potential mechanism for converting previously high-graded stands into more heterogeneous, multi-aged structures. An advantage of small canopy gaps, relative to even-aged regeneration methods, is their potential to suppress shrub competition while allowing seedling growth without the use of herbicides or other means of managing shrub competition. While this idea has been proposed in principle, it has not been tested. The objective of…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Long-term soil nutrient and understory plant responses to post-fire rehabilitation in a lodgepole pine forest
Year: 2025
Wildfires and other disturbances play a fundamental role in regenerating lodgepole pine forests. Though severe, stand-replacing fires are typical of this ecosystem, they can have dramatic impacts on soil properties and biogeochemical processes that influence the rate and composition of vegetation recovery. Organic soil amendments are often applied to manage post-fire erosion, but they can also improve soil moisture and nutrient retention and potentially alter the trajectory of post-fire revegetation. We compared change in soil nutrients, microbial communities, and understory plant cover and…
Publication Type: Journal Article
A novel methodology to assess fuel treatment effectiveness: application to California’s forests
Year: 2025
Background. Fuel treatments are increasingly used to mitigate wildfire risks. Aims. Proposing a novel, scalable and transferable methodology, this study investigates which treatment is (more) effective at a regional scale. Methods. This research evaluates the effectiveness of fuel treatments in California forests using the Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Monitoring (FTEM) database, which provides a binary (yes/no) assessment of treatment efficacy based on a structured subjective evaluation process. Proposed methodology enables scaling up site-specific treatment outcomes to the regional…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Big trees burning: Divergent wildfire effects on large trees in open- vs. closed-canopy forests
Year: 2025
Wildfire activity has accelerated with climate change, sparking concerns about uncharacteristic impacts on mature and old-growth forests containing large trees. Recent assessments have documented fire-induced losses of large-tree habitats in the US Pacific Northwest, but key uncertainties remain regarding contemporary versus historical fire effects in different forest composition types, specific impacts on large trees within closed versus open canopies, and the role of fuel reduction treatments. Focusing on the 2021 Schneider Springs Fire, which encompassed 43,000 ha in the eastern Cascade…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Impact of Thinning Strategy, Surface Fuel Loading and Burning Conditions on Fuel Treatment Efficacy in Ponderosa Pine Dominated Forests of the Southern Rocky Mountains
Year: 2025
Managers across the western US seek effective fuel treatment strategies to mitigate hazardous fuel loads and risks of high severity fire in dry conifer forests. Conventional fuel hazard reduction treatments emphasis reducing canopy fuel continuity and surface fuel loading using an even spaced, thin-from-below approach, with pile or broadcast burning of residual surface fuels. Such treatments often result in forest structures that differ from the historical conditions. Ecological restoration treatments emphasize enhancing structural heterogeneity but may produce less fire-resistant stands…
Publication Type: Journal Article