Evidence for widespread changes in the structure, composition, and fire regimes of western North American forests

• Published in: Ecological applications Vol. 31; no. 8; pp. e02431 - n/a
• Main Authors: Hagmann, R. K., Hessburg, P. F., Prichard, S. J., Povak, N. A., Brown, P. M., Fulé, P. Z., Keane, R. E., Knapp, E. E., Lydersen, J. M., Metlen, K. L., Reilly, M. J., Sánchez Meador, A. J., Stephens, S. L., Stevens, J. T., Taylor, A. H., Yocom, L. L., Battaglia, M. A., Churchill, D. J., Daniels, L. D., Falk, D. A., Henson, P., Johnston, J. D., Krawchuk, M. A., Levine, C. R., Meigs, G. W., Merschel, A. G., North, M. P., Safford, H. D., Swetnam, T. W., Waltz, A. E. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.12.2021
• Subjects: climate adaptation; Climate Change and Western Wildfires; Ecosystem; ecosystem management; fire exclusion; Fires; forested landscapes; Forests; frequent fire; high‐severity fire; Humans; landscape restoration; multi‐dimensional fire regimes; multi‐scale spatial patterns; North America; reference conditions; wildfire adaptation; Wildfires; North America; Climate Change and Western Wildfires; multi-dimensional fire regimes; reference conditions; wildfire adaptation; ecosystem management; high-severity fire; forested landscapes; multi-scale spatial patterns; fire exclusion; climate adaptation; frequent fire; landscape restoration

Implementation of wildfire‐ and climate‐adaptation strategies in seasonally dry forests of western North America is impeded by numerous constraints and uncertainties. After more than a century of resource and land use change, some question the need for proactive management, particularly given novel...