Oregon State University researchers say “topographic templates” can help forest conservation managers develop strategies for protecting and restoring the most fire-resistant parts of vulnerable forests across a range of ecosystems.
Oregon State University researchers say “topographic templates” can help forest conservation managers develop strategies for protecting and restoring the most fire-resistant parts of vulnerable forests across a range of ecosystems.
That’s important because changing wildfire regimes are affecting forests around the globe, the scientists note, and areas that burn over and over in relatively quick succession may not be able to recover between fires.
“Fire refugia” – areas that burn less frequently and/or less severely than the landscape around them – are crucial for supporting post-blaze ecosystem recovery, including the persistence of species under pressure.
Findings of the study, led by faculty research assistant Will Downing, were published in Global Change Biology.
Read more at Oregon State University
Image: Red Buttes Wilderness, southern Oregon (Credit: Will Downing, OSU)
