USA: Research results on fuel treatments and fire: National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study
Scientists compared the effectiveness of fire fuel reduction methods under the U.S. National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study. Four articles examine the effects of prescribed burns, mechanical treatment (usually thinning of the smallest trees) and a combination of both with control plots at 12 study sites in forests across the United States.
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More specifically, they report that to quickly restore forests with few, large-diameter trees, a combination of prescribed burns and mechanical fuel removal achieved the best results. The authors note, however, that this combination treatment also favored nonnative species invasions at some sites. In addition, a combination of prescribed burns and mechanical thinning increased the incidence of tree death from bark beetles and wood borers.
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