Identifying opportunity hot spots for reducing the risk of wildfire-caused carbon loss in western US conifer forests

The escalating climate and wildfire crises have generated worldwide interest in using proactive forest management (e.g. forest thinning, prescribed fire, cultural burning) to mitigate the risk of wildfire-caused carbon loss in forests. To estimate the risk of wildfire-caused carbon loss in western United States (US) conifer forests, we used a generalizable framework to evaluate interactions among wildfire hazard and carbon exposure and vulnerability. By evaluating where high social adaptive capacity for proactive forest management overlaps with carbon most vulnerable to wildfire-caused carbon loss, we identified opportunity hot spots for reducing the risk of wildfire-caused carbon loss. We found that relative to their total forest area, California, New Mexico, and Arizona contained the greatest proportion of carbon highly vulnerable to wildfire-caused loss. We also observed widespread opportunities in the western US for using proactive forest management to reduce the risk of wildfire-caused carbon loss, with many areas containing opportunities for simultaneously mitigating the greatest risk from wildfire to carbon and human communities. Finally, we highlighted collaborative and equitable processes that provide pathways to achieving timely climate- and wildfire-mitigation goals at opportunity hot spots.

Automated summary

The increasing climate and wildfire crises have sparked global interest in employing proactive forest management to reduce the risk of carbon loss caused by wildfires. By evaluating the interactions between wildfire hazard and carbon exposure and vulnerability, we identified areas with high potential for reducing the risk of carbon loss. California, New Mexico, and Arizona have the highest proportion of carbon highly vulnerable to wildfire-caused loss relative to their total forest area. Furthermore, there are widespread opportunities in the western US to use proactive forest management to mitigate wildfire-caused carbon loss and protect human communities.