CSERC helps to craft a consensus-based pilot project plan for increasing prescribed burning, thinning logging, and restoration treatments

For many years CSERC’s staff has networked with forest scientists who have studied historical data about forests of our region. Prior to most logging, roads, and fire suppression, our region’s mixed conifer forests had far fewer trees than the relatively dense stands of trees that dominate the majority of lower and middle elevation areas today.

Due to frequent, low intensity fires caused by lightning or fires lit by the Me-Wuk people, historic forests were often similar to the forest at right – with randomly spaced conifers and hardwoods in a diverse, mosaic pattern mixed with many small openings and random patches with clumps of trees.

John Muir described Sierra Nevada forests as park-like and open enough to ride a horse through easily. Due to intensive logging of most large, fire-resistant old growth trees and the conversion of many areas to even-age tree plantations, forests today are often dense, crowded forest stands. The closely packed trees allow flames to carry crown fires through the forest — one major reason for the high severity of the gigantic Rim Fire. Below, CSERC biologist Meg Layhee stands beside an old growth pine that survived the Rim Fire by being in a more open area compared to the denser forest behind it, where most large trees were killed.

Scientists have strongly supported an “increased pace and scale” of forest treatments to help restore public forest lands to more natural, fire-resilient conditions. But limited progress has been made to do the needed work. Accordingly, despite the uncertain state of the bark beetle irruption and the potential for another wave of tree die-off to occur this year, CSERC put forward support for a pilot-project plan under the banner of the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions (YSS) forest collaborative group.