{"id":33153,"date":"2023-03-07T04:12:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-07T04:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=33153"},"modified":"2023-03-10T17:23:10","modified_gmt":"2023-03-10T17:23:10","slug":"the-wests-iconic-forests-are-increasingly-struggling-to-recover-from-wildfires-altering-how-fires-burn-could-boost-their-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-wests-iconic-forests-are-increasingly-struggling-to-recover-from-wildfires-altering-how-fires-burn-could-boost-their-chances\/","title":{"rendered":"The West\u2019s iconic forests are increasingly struggling to recover from wildfires \u2013 altering how fires burn could boost their\u00a0chances"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kimberley Davis<\/a>, United States Forest Service<\/a><\/em>; Jamie Peeler<\/a>, University of Montana<\/a><\/em>, and Philip Higuera<\/a>, University of Montana<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wildfires and severe drought are killing trees<\/a> at an alarming rate across the West, and forests are struggling to recover as the planet warms. However, new research shows there are ways to improve forests\u2019 chances of recovery \u2013 by altering how wildfires burn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a new study<\/a>, we<\/a> teamed up<\/a> with over<\/a> 50 other fire ecologists to examine how forests have recovered \u2013 or haven\u2019t \u2013 in over 10,000 locations after 334 wildfires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, these sites offer an unprecedented look at how forests respond to wildfires and global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our results are sobering. We found that conifer tree seedlings, such as Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine, are increasingly stressed by high temperatures and dry conditions in sites recovering from wildfires. In some sites, our team didn\u2019t find any seedlings at all. That\u2019s worrying, because whether forests recover after a wildfire depends in large part on whether new seedlings can establish themselves and grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, our team also found that if wildfires burn less intensely, forests will have a better shot at regrowing. Our study<\/a>, published March 6, 2023, highlights how proactive efforts that modify how wildfires burn can help buffer seedlings from some of the biggest stressors of global warming. https:\/\/cdn.knightlab.com\/libs\/juxtapose\/latest\/embed\/index.html?uid=bc939624-b9ec-11ed-b5bd-6595d9b17862 Drag the map\u2019s slider bar from the center to compare how forest recovery is likely to differ between low-severity fires and high-severity fires in the future. K. Davis et al, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intense fires overwhelm trees\u2019 protective traits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Forests and wildfire<\/a> have coexisted<\/a> in the West for millennia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, forests have regrown after wildfires, thanks to an amazing set of traits<\/a> that trees possess. Lodgepole pine, for example, stores thousands of seeds in closed cones sealed with resin, that only open in the presence of high heat from flames, triggering abundant regrowth. Other tree species, like ponderosa pine, have thick bark that helps them survive low-intensity wildfires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intense or very large \u201cmegafires<\/a>\u201d can overwhelm those traits, though. Most conifer tree species in the West depend on seeds from surviving trees<\/a> to jump-start recovery following wildfire. So when intense wildfires kill most of the trees, entire expanses of forest can be lost<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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