Short-term impacts of operational fuel treatments on modelled fire behaviour and effects in seasonally dry forests of British Columbia, Canada

Kea H. Rutherford; Bianca N. I. Eskelson; Lori D. Daniels; Valerie LeMay; Gregory A. Greene; Robert W. Gray

doi:10.1071/WF24096

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Next Contents Vol 34(2)

Short-term impacts of operational fuel treatments on modelled fire behaviour and effects in seasonally dry forests of British Columbia, Canada

Kea H. Rutherford

^A ^B ^* , Bianca N. I. Eskelson ^A , Lori D. Daniels ^B , Valerie LeMay ^A , Gregory A. Greene ^B and Robert W. Gray ^C

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.

^B Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.

^C R. W. Gray Consulting Ltd., 6311 Silverthorne Road, Chilliwack, BC V2R 2N2, Canada.

^* Correspondence to: krutherford@berkeley.edu

International Journal of Wildland Fire 34, WF24096 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF24096

Submitted: 12 June 2024 Accepted: 8 January 2025 Published: 5 February 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Background

In response to increasing risk of extreme wildfire across western North America, forest managers are proactively implementing fuel treatments.

Aims

We assessed the efficacy of alternative combinations of thinning, pruning and residue fuel management to mitigate potential fire behaviour and effects in seasonally dry forests of interior British Columbia, Canada.

Methods

Across five community forests, we measured stand attributes before and after fuel treatments in 2021 and 2022, then modelled fire behaviour and effects using the Fire and Fuels Extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator.

Key results

For our study area, field measurements combined with fire behaviour modelling indicated: (1) low-intensity thinning from below reduced potential of passive crown fire, whereas high-intensity thinning reduced potential of passive and active crown fire; (2) pruning after thinning from below did not further reduce potential of passive crown fire; and (3) chipping or pile burning of residue fuel mitigated potential of passive crown fire, but fire effects associated with chipping remain a concern.

Conclusions and implications

There is limited prior research on the impacts of fuel treatments in western Canada. This research contributes to better understanding the potential impacts of fuel treatments in the fire-prone forests of interior British Columbia.

Keywords: ecosystems: temperate, Fire and Fuels Extension, fire behaviour: modelling, Forest Vegetation Simulator, fuel: chipping, FVS-FFE, mitigation, pile burning, pruning, thinning, treatments, wildfire management, wildland–urban interface.

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