Influences of stand structure and fuel treatments on wildfire severity at Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest, northeastern California
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: This study utilizes forest stand structures and fuel profiles to \nevaluate the influence of different types of silvicultural treatments \non fire severity in the Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest \n(BMEF), located within Lassen National Forest of northeastern \nCalifornia. We compare the severity of fire, assessed based on \ntree crown and bole scorch on 100 ha experimental treatment \nplots, following a wildfire started on adjacent national forest \nlands. Non-parametric statistical testing showed that selective \nthinning combined with prescribed surface fuel burning is the \nmost effective method for preventing crown fire and minimizing \nfire severity in an interior Pinus ponderosa forest. These results \nalso suggest that various combinations of the silvicultural treatments \nassessed can be effective at reducing the potential for \nsevere fire spreading into wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas \n(supporting defensible space CA law PRC 4291), while suggesting \napproaches for U.S. Forest Service lands that can result in more \nresilient ecosystems in similar western U.S. forests treated with \nsimilar silvicultural methods.
Language: English
Topic: Fire effects on ecosystems
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: green
Funder: U.S. Forest Service
OpenAlex ID: W1471095322