Article
 

Basic principles of forest fuel reduction treatments

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/6682x7765

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • Successful fire exclusion in the 20th century has created severe fire problems across the West. Not every forest is at risk of uncharacteristically severe wildfire, but drier forests are in need of active management to mitigate fire hazard. We summarize a set of simple principles important to address in fuel reduction treatments: reduction of surface fuels, increasing the height to live crown, decreasing crown density, and retaining large trees of fire-resistant species. Thinning and prescribed fire can be useful tools to achieve these objectives. Low thinning will be more effective than crown or selection thinning, and management of surface fuels will increase the likelihood that the stand will survive a wildfire. Five empirical examples of such treatment are discussed: Hayfork fires, California, 1987; Tyee fire,Washington, 1994; Megram fire, California, 1999; Hayman fire, Colorado, 2002; and the Cone fire, California, 2002. Applying treatments at an appropriate landscape scale will be critical to the success of fuel reduction treatments in reducing wildfire losses in Western forests.
  • Keywords: Prescribed fire, Western United States, Thinning, Fire ecology, Fuel treatment
Resource Type
DOI
Date Available
Date Issued
Citation
  • Agee, J. K., & Skinner, C. N. (2005). Basic principles of forest fuel reduction treatments. Forest Ecology and Management, 211, 83-96.
Journal Title
Journal Volume
  • 211
Rights Statement
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

Items

Thumbnail Title Date Uploaded Visibility Actions
file details Basic_principles_of_forest_fuel_reduction.pdf 2017-09-26 Public Download