Study Finds Forest Fuel Treatments Cut Emissions and Damages in Western U.S.

According to a new study from the University of California, Davis. The study, published May 7 in the journal Science, also found that forest fuel treatments during a six-year span prevented more than 25,000 tons of fine particle pollution from entering the air. U.S. Forest Service and the University of California’s Giannini Foundation for Agricultural Economics.

U.S. The treatments included prescribed burns, mechanical thinning with chainsaws and machinery, and combinations of both approaches. 73 in expected benefits, the study calculated. The treatments reduced total burn area by about 152,000 acres compared with a scenario without preventive work.

Strabo, lead author and assistant professor at the University of Alberta who conducted the work as a postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis, said the research adds an economic dimension to existing ecological studies of fuels management. John Battles, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who reviewed the study but did not participate in it, said the methodology used strong statistics and that the aggregate findings align with place-based analyses of treatment benefits.

8 million acres nationwide, exceeding the 10-year average, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. U.S. Forest Service has set a goal of treating more than 50 million acres over the next decade under its 2022 Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Strabo outlined additional research questions needed to guide preparation for larger wildfire seasons, including the most effective preparation methods for different states and the amount of treatment required on a landscape scale.