Research Database
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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
Major changes in climate, vegetation, and ecological resilience in recent decades suggest climate smart management strategies for western US dryland shrublands and woodlands
Year: 2025
BackgroundCatastrophic wildfire has escalated across the globe in recent decades with devastating consequences for human communities and native ecosystems. Global change processes, including climate warming and land use practices, are altering fuels, fire risk, and ecosystem recovery. Managing ecosystems to reduce fire risk and prevent conversion to undesirable alternative states requires knowledge of the ecological conditions of ecosystems, trajectories of change, and drivers of those changes. We developed an approach for evaluating ongoing changes in climate and vegetation and using that…
Publication Type: Journal Article