Land · 2022 · 15 citations · 26 references
Natural ResourcesEcologyForestryFire EcologyFire ManagementForest ManagementDeforestationFire Effects On VegetationWildfire EcologyWildfire ManagementWildfire PolicyWildland Fire BehaviorFire Severity AssessmentForest Mortality DynamicsHigh-severity Fire RegimesThinningTree Mortality DynamicsTree Mortality RiskWildfire RegimesWildfire Suppression Strategy
Debate remains about the effectiveness of commercial thinning as a wildfire management strategy, with some studies reporting somewhat lower severity in thinned forests, and some reporting higher severity, during wildfires. However, while vegetation severity is a measure of basal area tree mortality, research on this question generally omits tree mortality from thinning itself. We investigated whether cumulative tree mortality, or cumulative severity, from commercial thinning and wildfire was different between thinned and unthinned forests in the Caldor Fire of 2021 in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains of California, USA. We found significantly higher cumulative severity in commercial thinning areas compared to unthinned forests. More research is needed to determine whether cumulative severity is higher in commercially thinned forests in other large western US wildfires.
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