Utah’s policy leaders have long wanted to see a robust timber industry return to the state to support rural economies and fight fire.
But new research led by the University of Utah shows some types of logging could increase wildfire severity, particularly as the West experiences more extreme weather.
Studies have shown that privately owned forests with regular logging are more prone to severe fires — blazes that kill more than 95% of the canopy trees — than surrounding public forests with more logging protections. Jacob Levine, postdoctoral researcher at the U.’s Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, wanted to understand why, and whether climate played a role.
Utah’s policy leaders have long wanted to see a robust timber industry return to the state to support rural economies and fight fire.
But new research led by the University of Utah shows some types of logging could increase wildfire severity, particularly as the West experiences more extreme weather.
Studies have shown that privately owned forests with regular logging are more prone to severe fires — blazes that kill more than 95% of the canopy trees — than surrounding public forests with more logging protections. Jacob Levine, postdoctoral researcher at the U.’s Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, wanted to understand why, and whether climate played a role.
Those dense conditions make a forest more conducive to megafires, particularly during extreme heat and weather. The private industrial forests were 1.45 times more likely to burn at high severity than the surrounding public forest.
Read more at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.