2020 Synthesis
Description
Given the changing disturbance regimes and climate, there is a critical need to take decisive and extensive actions in the next 1-2 decades to conserve Sierra Nevada forests. This synthesis provides a summary of how climate change and fire are impacting our Sierra Nevada Mixed Conifer forests and how active management can help mitigate some of these impacts.
Contact
For more information, contact sstephens@berkeley.edu and ssfrederick@bekeley.edu
Additional Information
Abatzoglou, J.T., Williams, A.P., & Barbero, R. 2019. Global emergence of anthropogenic climate change in fire weather indices. Geophysical Research Letters, 46:326–336.
Boisramé G., Thompson S., Collins B., & Stephens S. 2017. Managed Wildfire Effects on Forest Resilience and Water in the Sierra Nevada. Ecosystems 20:717–732.
Collins, B., Das, A., Battles, J., Fry, D., Krasnow, K., & Stephens, S. 2014. Beyond reducing fire hazard: Fuel treatment impacts on overstory tree survival. Ecological Applications. 24. 1879-1886. 10.1890/14-0971.1.
Collins, B.M., Omi, P.N. and Chapman, P.L., 2006. Regional relationships between climate and wildfire-burned area in the Interior West, USA. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 36(3): 699-709.
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Evans A.M., Everett R.G., Stephens S.L., & Youlz J.A. 2011. Comprehensive Fuels Treatment Practices Guide for Mixed Conifer Forests: California, Central and Southern Rockies, and the Southwest. JFSP Synthesis Reports, 12.
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Low, K.E., Collins, B.M., Bernal, A., Sanders, J.E., Pastor, D., Manley, P., White, A.M. & Stephens, S.L., 2021. Longer-term impacts of fuel reduction treatments on forest structure, fuels, and drought resistance in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Forest Ecology and Management, 479: 118609.
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