Interventions to restore wildfire-altered forests in California / Jonathan W. Long [and seven others].

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

Long, Jonathan W., author.

Contributor:

Pacific Southwest Research Station, issuing body.

Series:

General technical report PSW ; GTR-278.

General technical report PSW ; GTR-278

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wildfires--California.

Wildfires.

Forest fires--California.

Forest fires.

Forest restoration--California.

Forest restoration.

Fire ecology--California.

Fire ecology.

California.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (105 pages) : color illustrations, color maps.

Place of Publication:

Albany, California : U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, September 2023.

Summary:

"In California forests that have evolved with frequent fire, very large and severe modern wildfires can put ecological trajectories on a path of departure from reference or desired conditions. On the other hand, such fires may also advance recovery trajectories on parts of a burned landscape. It is important for land managers to understand and explain how postfire interventions may advance restoration and adaptation goals in different areas. This report advances a sciencebased framework to guide interventions for these situations. Targeted interventions to restore desired conditions and ecosystem integrity can consider a combination of ecological and social factors. Important ecological factors include the size and arrangement of burn severity patches, departures from reference vegetation and fire regimes, and potential for natural regeneration, all of which vary with topography across burned landscapes. Social factors that may influence interventions include costs, whether areas are accessible, and the presence of sites with particular social and cultural values, such as recreation or gathering sites. Achieving increased social and ecological resilience to disturbances will depend on facilitating restoration of more natural roles for fire in the future and limiting persistent losses of valuable ecosystem services afforded by mature forests. This report offers examples from recent large and severe wildfires to illustrate how restoration could be applied to an archetypal yellow pine and mixed-conifer forest landscape. Strategies include targeting interiors of very large patches of high severity for harvest and replanting, appropriately reducing fuels in moderate and low-severity burn patches and unburned adjacent areas, treating ridgelines and other potential control lines to facilitate management of future fires, and encouraging return of desirable fires within and adjacent to burned areas. Monitoring and adaptive management will be important for addressing uncertainty because successful restoration and adaptation outcomes may not be fully evident for many decades and because stressors are increasing and interacting in ways that are likely to shift trajectories toward novel conditions."

Notes:

"September 2023."

In scope of the U.S. Government Publishing Office Cataloging and Indexing Program (C&I) and Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 82-105).

Description based on online resource, PDF version; title from PDF cover (Forest Service, viewed March 15, 2024).

OCLC:

1399534673