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ANNOTATION: This paper provides results of modeling the effects of eight different fuel treatments on tree-based C storage and release over a century, with and without wildfire. Model runs show that, after a century of growth without wildfire, the control stored the most C. However, when wildfire was included in the model, the control had the largest total C emission and largest reduction in live-tree-based C stocks. In model runs including wildfire, the final amount of tree-based C sequestered was most affected by the stand structure initially produced by the different fuel treatments. In wildfire-prone forests, tree-based C stocks were best protected by fuel treatments that produced a low-density stand structure dominated by large, fire resistant pines. ABSTRACT: Forests are viewed as a potential sink for carbon (C) that might otherwise contribute to climate change. It is unclear, however, how to manage forests with frequent fire regimes to maximize C storage while reducing C emissions from prescribed burns or wildfire. We modeled the effects of eight different fuel treatments on tree-based C storage and release over a century, with and without wildfire. Model runs show that, after a century of growth without wildfire, the control stored the most C. However, when wildfire was included in the model, the control had the largest total C emission and largest reduction in live-tree-based C stocks. In model runs including wildfire, the final amount of tree-based C sequestered was most affected by the stand structure initially produced by the different fuel treatments. In wildfire-prone forests, tree-based C stocks were best protected by fuel treatments that produced a low-density stand structure dominated by large, fire-resistant pines.
Cataloging Information
- Abies concolor
- Abies magnifica
- air quality
- C - carbon
- Calocedrus decurrens
- carbon emissions
- carbon release
- carbon storage
- catastrophic fires
- climatology
- coniferous forests
- diameter classes
- fire exclusion
- fire frequency
- fire management
- fire regimes
- fire resistant plants
- flammability
- forest management
- fuel management
- fuel treatment effects
- Jeffrey pine
- pine
- Pinus jeffreyi
- Pinus lambertiana
- presettlement vegetation
- Sierra Nevada
- thinning
- wildfires
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