Cumulative Tree Mortality from Commercial Thinning and a Large Wildfire in the Sierra Nevada, California

Debate remains about the effectiveness of commercial thinning as a wildfire management strategy, with some studies reporting somewhat lower severity in thinned forests, and some reporting higher severity, during wildfires. However, while vegetation severity is a measure of basal area tree mortality, research on this question generally omits tree mortality from thinning itself. We investigated whether cumulative tree mortality, or cumulative severity, from commercial thinning and wildfire was different between thinned and unthinned forests in the Caldor Fire of 2021 in the northern Sierra Nevada mountains of California, USA. We found significantly higher cumulative severity in commercial thinning areas compared to unthinned forests. More research is needed to determine whether cumulative severity is higher in commercially thinned forests in other large western US wildfires.

Automated summary

There is debate about the effectiveness of commercial thinning as a wildfire management strategy, with conflicting studies on the severity of thinned forests during wildfires. Our study in the Caldor Fire of 2021 found significantly higher cumulative severity in commercially thinned areas compared to unthinned forests. Further research is needed to determine if this pattern holds true for other large wildfires in the western US.