Pyrosilviculture Needed for Landscape Resilience of Dry Western United States Forests

A significant increase in treatment pace and scale is needed to restore dry western US forest resilience owing to increasingly frequent and severe wildfire and drought. We propose a pyrosilviculture approach to directly increase large-scale fire use and modify current thinning treatments to optimize...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of forestry 2021-09, Vol.119 (5), p.520-544
Main Authors: North, M P, York, R A, Collins, B M, Hurteau, M D, Jones, G M, Knapp, E E, Kobziar, L, McCann, H, Meyer, M D, Stephens, S L, Tompkins, R E, Tubbesing, C L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climate change
Controlled burning
Density
Disturbance
Drought
Ecosystem resilience
Ecosystems
Environmental regulations
Financing
Forest management
Forests
Heterogeneity
Phenotypes
Plant species
Prescribed fire
Resilience
Thinning
Trees
Wildfires
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Summary:A significant increase in treatment pace and scale is needed to restore dry western US forest resilience owing to increasingly frequent and severe wildfire and drought. We propose a pyrosilviculture approach to directly increase large-scale fire use and modify current thinning treatments to optimize future fire incorporation. Recommendations include leveraging wildfire’s “treatment” in areas burned at low and moderate severity with subsequent pyrosilviculture management, identifying managed wildfire zones, and facilitating and financing prescribed fire with “anchor,” “ecosystem asset,” and “revenue” focused thinning treatments. Pyrosilviculture would also expand prescribed-burn and managed-wildfire objectives to include reducing stand density, increasing forest heterogeneity, and selecting for tree species and phenotypes better adapted to changing climate and disturbance regimes. The potential benefits and limitations of this approach are discussed. Fire is inevitable in dry western US forests and pyrosilviculture focuses on proactively shifting more of that fire into managed large-scale burns needed to restore ecosystem resilience.
ISSN:0022-1201
1938-3746
DOI:10.1093/jofore/fvab026