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Fuel treatments alter conditions in forested stands at the time of the treatment and subsequently. Fuel treatments reduce on-site carbon and also change the fire potential and expected outcome of future wildfires, including their carbon emissions. We simulated effects of fuel treatments on 140 stands representing seven major habitat type groups of the northern Rocky Mountains using the Fire and Fuels Extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS). Changes in forest carbon due to mechanical fuel treatment (thinning from below to reduce ladder fuels) and prescribed fire were explored, as well as changes in expected fire behavior and effects of subsequent wildfire. Results indicated that fuel treatments decreased fire severity and crown fire occurrence and reduced subsequent wildfire emissions, but did not increase post-wildfire carbon stored on-site. Conversely, untreated stands had greater wildfire emissions but stored more carbon.
Cataloging Information
- air quality
- carbon
- coniferous forests
- crown fires
- Douglas-fir
- Engelmann spruce
- FIA - Forest Inventory and Analysis
- fire hazard reduction
- fire intensity
- fire management
- flame length
- forest management
- fuel management
- fuel treatment effects
- fuel types
- ladder fuels
- Larix occidentalis
- lodgepole pine
- Montana
- mortality
- mountains
- Picea engelmannii
- Pinus contorta
- Pinus monticola
- Pinus ponderosa
- ponderosa pine
- Pseudotsuga menziesii
- snags
- stand characteristics
- subalpine forests
- thinning
- Tsuga heterophylla
- Tsuga mertensiana
- western hemlock
- western larch
- western white pine
- wildfire
- woody fuels
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