Modeling Juvenile Stand Development and Fire Risk of Post-Fire Planted Forests under Variations in Thinning and Fuel Treatments Using FVS–FFE

Abstract

In the past, the dry mixed conifer forests of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains experienced frequent low to mixed severity fires. However, due to fire suppression and past management, forest structure has changed, and the new fire regimes are characterized by large, high severity fires which kill a majority of the overstory trees. These new disturbance patterns require novel approaches to regenerate the forest as they are not adapted to large, high severity fires. We forecasted growth and fire behavior of young plantations for 100 years into the future using the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) and its Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE). In these simulations, we tested combinations of different fuel treatments (mastication only, mastication with prescribed burning, and no fuels treatments) with different overstory thinning intensities (residual densities of 370 SDI (stand density index), 495 SDI, 618 SDI (TPH), and no overstory thinning) on stand growth and potential fire behavior using analysis of variance. We compared growth and crowning index at the end of the simulation and the simulation age when the flame length, basal area mortality, and fire type reached low severity between fuel treatment, thinning intensity, and original management of stands (plantation with PCT [precommercial thinning], plantation without PCT, and natural regenerating stands). These comparisons are essential to identify which fuel treatment categories reduce fire risk. We found an overall pattern of decreasing crown fire occurrence and fire induced mortality across all simulations due to increasing canopy base height and decreasing canopy bulk density. In particular, stands with mastication and prescribed burning transitioned from crown fire types to surface fires 10 years earlier compared to mastication only or no fuel treatment. Furthermore, pre-commercially thinned stands transitioned from crown fire states to surface fires 10 years earlier in the simulations compared to un-thinned and naturally regenerating stands. Stands with mastication and burning went below 25% reference threshold of basal area mortality 11 and 17 years earlier before the mastication only and no fuel treatment, respectively. In addition, pre-commercially thinned stands went below 25% basal area mortality 9 and 5 years earlier in the simulation compared to un-thinned or naturally regenerated stands, respectively. Mastication with prescribed burning (MB) was the most effective treatment for quickly reducing fire behavior by consuming surface fuels, thus drastically lowing flame length (e.g., surface flame length of MB was 0.6 m compared to mastication only [1.3 m] and no treatment [1.4 m]). Furthermore, intensive thinning reduced risk of active crown fires spreading through the stand. Prioritizing prescribed burning, when possible, and thinning (both pre-commercially and from below) are the most effective ways to quickly improve fire resistance in mixed conifer plantations. Our results highlight the different stressors that post-fire planted forests experience and how different silvicultural treatments interact over time to reduce fire risk, which demonstrates the importance of treating stands early and the effectiveness of surface fuel treatments.