Forest Management Q&A

While there might not be more wildfire overall than in the past, we are facing more frequent occurrences of catastrophic wildfire across large areas. There is also a greater number of wildfires burning into communities, leading to loss of life, homes destroyed, and high costs for fire suppression and recovery. This is especially true in dry western forests which are uniquely suffering from lack of forest resilience due to high tree density, poor forest health, and heavy fuel loads. Scientists predict that this problem will worsen over the coming century without major changes to forest and fire management.

Scientists link the increase of catastrophic wildfire to factors like drier weather conditions, short-sighted or improper forest management over the last 100 years, and, ironically, overly aggressive fire suppression. Quickly putting out most fires over the last 100 years has removed an important element, fire, that helps keep forests healthy and controls fuel loads.  

We are seeing catastrophic wildfire in many types of forests but the problem is most serious in dry western forests, where current conditions are significantly different from historic conditions. Before settlement, these forests typically burned every  5 to 40 years. Some of these fires were ignited by lightning and others were intentionally lit by Native American land managers. The result was forests with far fewer trees per acre and many more large, fire-resistant trees than western forests have today. A typical dry western forest today is densely packed with smaller trees, many of which are sick and dying as they compete with their neighbors for water and nutrients.

Yes. Improvements in forest and fire management, especially in dry western forests, are proven to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire. To do this, we must reduce the number of trees and the volume of flammable materials in vulnerable forests. Trained professionals can achieve this through safe and proven practices like forest thinning, controlled burns, and cultural burns. 

Improvements in fire management including fire suppression are showing promise. Technology is being used to identify fire starts and fire intensity, which can help firefighters make decisions about which fires to put out immediately and which can be allowed to burn to benefit the forest. Western landscapes now have many sensors – both on the ground and in the sky – helping to provide this data. And a consortia of like-minded organizations are working to develop a satellite constellation that will provide even greater situational awareness.

Providing firefighters all the resources they need is also critical. This includes fair pay for firefighters, state-of-the-art ground-based equipment, aviation support, and advanced communications technology.

Yes. Every forest has its own way of dealing with fire. Some, like the rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state, don’t experience fire very often – maybe only once every 200 years. On the other hand, dry western forests are used to having more fires, frequently, though historically these haven’t been as intense as we see today.

If fires happen regularly over long periods of time, the forest learns how to keep growing and thriving in the presence of fire. These “good fires” actually help by preventing the build up of fuels, releasing nutrients, and making sure existing trees have space to grow and stay healthy.

Cultural burning is a way that Native Americans use fire to manage land and provide benefits to both people and nature. This practice generates: food, materials, the opportunity for ceremony, helps manage fuels for fire. Before Europeans came to North America, cultural burns were used by many Native American tribes. After the West was settled, this practice was mostly banned. In recent years, there have been efforts to bring back cultural burns to many western landscapes.

Firefighters are skilled at putting out most wildfires quickly. But some fires start in remote areas and firefighters can’t respond before the fire spreads. Weather is a big factor. Sometimes, when it is dry and windy, fires can spread rapidly over large areas. Lighting storms can ignite hundreds of fires, making it impossible for firefighters to respond to every one. And sometimes, it’s simply too dangerous to send humans in to fight intensely burning fires. 

In some situations, fire managers may let a wildfire burn if it will benefit the forest and no communities are in danger. This practice, called managed wildfire, is often used in national parks and wilderness areas.

Some forests may take decades to recover from catastrophic wildfire and others may never recover. Bringing back “good fire” through safe and proven management techniques is the best way to prevent catastrophic wildfire before it damages forests. This risk is most acute in drier areas such as the east side of the Sierra Nevada and Cascades. 

After a catastrophic wildfire, quick and thoughtful action can reduce long-term damage. Land managers might work to support natural regrowth where there is  healthy soil and a natural supply of seeds from surviving trees. Areas that are distant from living trees, like in the middle of an intensely burned area, burn scar) may need more active help to grow trees again. This may include removing plants that might compete with new trees using controlled burns or herbicides, distributing seeds, or planting native tree seedlings. 

“Resilience,” or a forest’s ability to withstand catastrophic wildfire, will look different in different types of forests. Many western forests are classified by scientists as dry forests. Many of these have more trees than they can support. In these overcrowded conditions, trees have to compete for nutrients and water, making them prone to insect infestations, disease, and drought. In this environment, there are smaller, less healthy trees, and dead and drying trees that are the fuel that feeds catastrophic wildfire.

A resilient dry forest has a mix of different types of native trees of all ages, with lots of open space between the trees. Maintaining dry forests requires frequent low or medium intensity fire and/or thinning. A resilient forest would, over time, grow very old trees, some of which have thick, fire-resistant bark, like the Ponderosa Pine, which can live for hundreds of years and survive dozens of low-intensity fires. 

Some trees in a resilient forest will also die, but stay standing for many years. These will eventually fall and provide habitat for wildlife and slowly decompose, enriching the soil. This type of dry forest will have far less fuel for fires that come through. This means they may be more likely to burn at low-intensity and have beneficial effects for the forest.

If you live in a fire-prone forested area, you have probably already experienced the negative effects of uncontrolled wildfire, in the form of smoke or even worse—a fire that has burned homes or businesses in your community. Even if you are out of the direct line of fire, you have likely lived through at least a few days of heavy smoke pollution. Studies show that extended smoke exposure increases the risk of heart disease and other illnesses. 

To protect yourself from the smoke, stay indoors and seal up any cracks in your home, or use special air filters designed to clean the air in your home. It’s important to recognize that not everyone can do these things, especially if they work outside, and that more measures are needed to help people who work in these conditions or those who need financial assistance.