Elevated pine mortality in the communities, along wildfire corridors and in high-use sites in the national forests can increase safety hazards for people, reduce aesthetics, impact forest management objectives and require additional funding for tree removals. .
Specifically, many studies rely on fire simulators to accurately estimate stand-level mortality during wildfire without incorporating variation in fire weather, fuel treatment/wildfire timing or other factors that influence fire severity into their simulation, and do not assess whether modeled rates of mortality are comparable to reference wildfires.
We compared how using observed and modeled estimates of tree mortality during wildfire might influence the timing of carbon recovery in treated and untreated stands in our study area.
Investigations of stand structure, composition and mortality following a wildfire in adjacent treated and untreated stands indicate that treated stands have lower post-wildfire mortality [24], and greater C storage in live tree C pools [18],[25].
Investigations of stand structure, composition and mortality following a wildfire in adjacent treated and untreated stands indicate that treated stands have lower post-wildfire mortality [ 24], and greater C storage in live tree C pools [ 18],[ 25].
We compared how using observed and modeled estimates of tree mortality during wildfire (Figure 1) might influence the timing of carbon recovery in treated and untreated stands in our study area.
Climate-driven increases in wildfire extent and severity are expected to increase the risks of reversal to C stores and affect the potential of dry forests to sequester C. In the western United States, fuel treatments that successfully reduce surface fuels in dry forests can mitigate the spread and severity of wildfire, while reducing both tree mortality and emissions from wildfire.
In the future, wildfire probability may be influenced by climate-induced changes in wildfire regimes.
In addition to wildfire size and frequency, potential future changes in wildfire intensity and severity may also have consequences for ecosystem recovery.
As a result, such forests are now increasingly unstable, prone to uncharacteristically severe wildfire or high levels of tree mortality in times of drought stress.
