|
Forest Health Trends in a Changing Fire Re.gime
<br />is from DNR 's 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan for Ea stern Washington (2017 )
<br />•. . "I . ·, -;t,: . i '
<br />. he Scale of the FoL~sr~-~~I\ , . . . t .· ,. s~~r:~ ~~!!f~1,1 a e , n g
<br />.... ..,,.. ,. ·. ' , '. t ' ... .
<br />. . ,' .. ~-1 l ··~.,.:.,,I /· ,'.· '' . . >,. .·J ~_-'"",·'
<br />,, . Washington State, fo'rest health has been in dediQe,for:severa'I decades. At a broad scale ,
<br />'
<br />" /~ ~;• 'i {,,,'< : •
<br />• . ( :. ~< •' r .
<br />• I r_. • • • :' 1 ' w ~ • I f the decline can be attributed ~o _.,pasn m~nag'ement practices , including past fire
<br />. , 1,//''•'. ; .. '/'
<br />i I f I management practices, t~s:it :.~aVe (resulted in uncharacteristically overstocked forests; and .. . -
<br />... ~. ~ . . ~· .... ~'.
<br />• . , t . , .:/! . <,_i :_1••1!I . ,. ,£;,; episodic . droughts that have increased the competition among trees for .av~i.l~l;i}e ·
<br />moisture-stressed forests have become less resistant to wildfi~es 'nd in~ects and disease -~· . , .
<br />' . ' /. 6" ., •'
<br />outbreaks. Combined with record-setti n g summer dro'u-ghts /forest fires often burn.\vith ,: . ~ . ·. ,..:.• .. ' •· . ' .
<br />\ ,. i ~--. . ..
<br />uncharacteri ~~ic severi i/ and duration, ··in }~Jrt , bkcause of dense a~d continuous fuel
<br />'. _:·_· ~.. :'\ . '\. . . ':. . ·:, ' .
<br />accumulatio~s. Tree mortality rates associated with bark beetles and other inse~~s and
<br />. ,;~i '
<br />' '"'-·•' .
<br />· diseases have also increased substantially over large areas. Much of the 10 milli~l1 -a'c:res
<br />.. ,· .•.•. -. '
<br />of foresti'and in eastern Washington faces serious threats to forest health. Deca_des of fire i,·
<br />suppression and past management practices have put these f(?rests at higher risk of
<br />damage by disease; insects and wildfire arid reduced ecosystem resilience jn th!=! face of
<br />climate change. An analysis by The Nature Conservancy _ and the U.S. Forest Service
<br />•~"':'
<br />of active management or disturbance to create forest stru.cture s°'.more .resilient against , .
<br />insects, diseases: and wildfires (H~ugo.-et al. 2015). The acr~s of tre~sthafhave been ki:lled
<br />·., . /·." . : :_· .:··-l:;.,:·: ... : · .· . ·
<br />or damaged in the first decade of the 2000s.was-150 percent greater .than the .1990s and
<br />' • _;:( . • ••• . • . • I • • • .;• :,··-l .... '\
<br />~ _,.'. t ,,. .•
<br />• -!,, .•
<br />I -~' •~ '
<br />:~_ ..... -;-.· ~-.J" -~,.. ,.
<br />", \.. , ..
<br />',,,,:·· ..
|