Description

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is offering a cooperative agreement funding opportunity to a partner affiliated with the Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). The project focuses on research examining the influence of repeated wildfire reburns on the pace and pattern of forest recovery in the western Cascades of Oregon. Special emphasis is placed on understanding vegetation transitions resulting from these reburn events.

Historically, fire activity in the western Cascades has varied along a north-south bioclimatic gradient, ranging from infrequent and severe fires in the cooler, wetter northern forests to more frequent, mixed-severity fires in the warmer, drier southern forests. Severe fires were historically limited by fuel flammability, especially in cooler, wetter areas. However, anthropogenic global warming is increasing fuel aridity, making these biomass-rich forests more susceptible to intense fire spread due to sufficient horizontal and vertical fuel continuity.

In recent decades, post-fire tree recruitment has generally been successful over 1 to 4 decades. However, climate change is projected to slow forest recovery while simultaneously increasing future fire activity in the region. The recovery dynamics following repeated fires and the effectiveness of management strategies to facilitate recovery remain uncertain, making this research critical for informing future forest management and conservation efforts.