Wildfires are accelerating at a pace so fast that the trees burned can’t be replaced fast enough. Now, experts are trying to move beyond their old methods of plant and pray. …The Forest Service typically requires trees that are being replanted to be the same species at the same elevations as before a fire. But with climate change complicating matters, that regulation might be changing. …That’s where groups like the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute come in. “Our goal is to understand how tree species are surviving outside of their current existing range. …”Our goal is to understand how tree species are surviving outside of their current existing range. …we wanted to push where a given species exists on a mountain to understand if they are able to go a little bit higher in elevation, or perhaps a little bit lower,” said Stevens-Rumann.

San Jose State wildfire researchers are studying the impact of the devastating CZU Lightning Complex Fire in the Santa Cruz mountains and the importance of forest management to keep forests safe from extreme wildfires. Nadia Hamey, Lead Forester and Property Manager at the San Vicente Redwoods remembers all too well when the CZU Lightning Complex Fire tore through the forest, calling it an intense time. …Hamey said, just six months before the CZU Lightning Complex Fire, they did a prescribed burn that ultimately protected that part of the forest. “So, it kind of skipped over the prescribed burn footprint, and the Crown Fire kept raging through the area that had not had a prescribed to burn,” said Hamey. The contrast is striking. There is a clear difference where the forest was untouched by wildfire and then just a few feet away where the trees are burnt and blackened.

With broad public support and the endorsement of Gov. Greg Gianforte, the Montana Land Board’s 3-2 vote gave conditional approval to a nearly 33,000-acre conservation easement on working forests between Kalispell and Libby. …The tentative approval is on the condition that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and its partners amend the terms of the easement to expressly guarantee a third-party owner’s subsurface mineral rights. As the board considered the project’s first phase, which would protect 32,981 acres in the Salish and Cabinet mountains, proponents described it as the culmination of a years-long effort by FWP, the nonprofit Trust for Public Land and landowner Green Diamond Resource Company. Despite the succession of private ownership, the land has been managed for de facto public access for more than a quarter century, in large part because the timber companies have been invested in long-term forest management.

LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Forest health is a top priority of the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program (EIP), a landscape-scale collaboration and partnership between nearly 80 public and private organizations to achieve the environmental goals of the region. To date, partners have treated nearly 95,000 acres in Lake Tahoe Basin forests to reduce hazardous fuels. After decades of fire suppression, Tahoe Basin’s forests are overstocked and highly vulnerable to insects, disease, and catastrophic wildfire. …Land managers use different methods during forest thinning treatments that include mechanical and hand thinning. …Short-term effects of forest thinning projects include temporary impacts to recreational areas and changes to the appearance of Lake Tahoe Basin forests. …These areas recover quickly and improve ecologically as new vegetation growth occurs within a few years.