Adapting western North American forests to climate change and wildfires 10 common questions

We review science-based adaptation strategies for western North American (wNA) forests that include restoring active fire regimes and fostering resilient structure and composition of forested landscapes. As part of the review, we address common questions associated with climate adaptation and realig...

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Vydáno v:	Ecological applications Ročník 31; číslo 8; s. 1 - 30
Hlavní autoři:	Prichard, Susan J., Hessburg, Paul F., Hagmann, R. Keala, Povak, Nicholas A., Dobrowski, Solomon Z., Hurteau, Matthew D., Kane, Van R., Keane, Robert E., Kobziar, Leda N., Kolden, Crystal A., North, Malcolm, Parks, Sean A., Safford, Hugh D., Stevens, Jens T., Yocom, Larissa L., Churchill, Derek J., Gray, Robert W., Huffman, David W., Lake, Frank K., Khatri-Chhetri, Pratima
Médium:	Journal Article
Jazyk:	angličtina
Vydáno:	United States John Wiley and Sons, Inc 01.12.2021 Ecological Society of America John Wiley and Sons Inc
Témata:	Adaptation adaptive management Allocations Burning carbon climate Climate adaptation Climate Change Climate Change and Western Wildfires Climate change mitigation Controlled burning cultural burning ecological resilience Extreme weather Fire fighting Fire hazards fire suppression fire weather Fires Forest management Forests fuel treatments Fuels Heterogeneity INVITED FEATURE: CLIMATE CHANGE AND WESTERN WILDFIRES Land management managed wildfire mechanical thinning North America Prescribed fire Questions Realignment restoration Thinning Wildfires wildland fire wildland fire management Wildland-urban interface North America mechanical thinning prescribed fire wildland fire adaptive management forest management Climate Change and Western Wildfires cultural burning carbon ecological resilience managed wildfire fuel treatments restoration climate change
ISSN:	1051-0761, 1939-5582
On-line přístup:	Získat plný text
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Shrnutí:	We review science-based adaptation strategies for western North American (wNA) forests that include restoring active fire regimes and fostering resilient structure and composition of forested landscapes. As part of the review, we address common questions associated with climate adaptation and realignment treatments that run counter to a broad consensus in the literature. These include the following: (1) Are the effects of fire exclusion overstated? If so, are treatments unwarranted and even counterproductive? (2) Is forest thinning alone sufficient to mitigate wildfire hazard? (3) Can forest thinning and prescribed burning solve the problem? (4) Should active forest management, including forest thinning, be concentrated in the wildland urban interface (WUI)? (5) Can wildfires on their own do the work of fuel treatments? (6) Is the primary objective of fuel reduction treatments to assist in future firefighting response and containment? (7) Do fuel treatments work under extreme fire weather? (8) Is the scale of the problem too great? Can we ever catch up? (9) Will planting more trees mitigate climate change in wNA forests? And (10) is post-fire management needed or even ecologically justified? Based on our review of the scientific evidence, a range of proactive management actions are justified and necessary to keep pace with changing climatic and wildfire regimes and declining forest heterogeneity after severe wildfires. Science-based adaptation options include the use of managed wildfire, prescribed burning, and coupled mechanical thinning and prescribed burning as is consistent with land management allocations and forest conditions. Although some current models of fire management in wNA are averse to short-term risks and uncertainties, the long-term environmental, social, and cultural consequences of wildfire management primarily grounded in fire suppression are well documented, highlighting an urgency to invest in intentional forest management and restoration of active fire regimes.
Bibliografie:	Corresponding Editor: David S. Schimel. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 ObjectType-Review-3 content type line 23
ISSN:	1051-0761 1939-5582
DOI:	10.1002/eap.2433