Forests, Fire, and Water
Pacific Rivers Council works for an ecologically sound approach to managing forest fires and their impacts, both before and after they occur, that also recognizes the need to protect the growing wildlands-urban interface. We focus on appropriate watershed restoration after fires and ensuring that efforts to manage forest fires to do create damaging aquatic impacts that will outweigh any ecological benefits of these efforts.
Every summer, controversy swirls around management of forest fires in the West. Pacific Rivers Council has long worked for an ecologically sound approach to managing forest fires and their impacts, both before and after they occur, that also recognizes the need to protect the growing wildland-urban interface.
Wildfires are a natural part of the disturbance and recovery pattern of western watersheds. The landscape is naturally adapted to the changes produced by fire. Nevertheless, a natural wildfire can produce increased risk of erosion, soil loss, loss of natural water storage, increased flooding, increased sedimentation, and degradation of instream habitats for fish and other stream dwelling species.
In undisturbed landscapes, recovery from fire occurs naturally, and over time, the sediment and flood regimes will return to natural conditions. In previously managed watersheds, fire disturbance necessarily overlays an already disturbed landscape, and well-conceived watershed restoration may be appropriate in these watersheds.
The two issues that generate the most controversy around forest fires are 1) What should we do to control or manage forest fires; and 2) What should we do to recover the ecosystem after a forest fire?
Managing the extent and severity of forest fires:
In recent years, many public land managers and public officials have pushed for increased thinning or other fuel reduction treatments on federal forests as a means of limiting wildfires. Unfortunately, the watershed impacts of this approach have been minimized, dismissed, and often ignored by many of those responsible for policy and on-the-ground decisions. Intensive thinning and fuels reduction practices typically require repeated entries into the forest and depend upon a high-density road network. Not only can the thinning practices themselves cause significant harm to aquatic ecosystems, but also the necessary road system causes continued aquatic degradation. Read more about thinning and fuels management practices and their impacts on rivers and aquatic species. Read about PRC efforts to provide advice on proposed legislation that promotes large-scale thinning projects. Learn more about the negative effects of forest roads on rivers and aquatic species. Read a recent publication co-authored by PRC's Chris Frissell regarding current proposals to replace the Northwest Forest Plan with a plan focused on intensive thinning.
Ecosystem recovery after a forest fire:
Certain forest management activities after a fire, particularly logging and road building, cause long-term damage to forest landscapes and their associated aquatic systems. Although these activities are often referred to as salvage sales, they do not promote the recovery of aquatic ecosystems, water quality, or native aquatic species. Watershed restoration should be undertaken in an already managed forest landscape, but this restoration should concentrate on the reversible and preventable causes of watershed degradation (primarily the road system). Post-fire logging, on the other hand, hinders watershed recovery and restoration. Learn more about PRC's work to promote ecosystem recovery after wildfires.
