If you visit the Ochoco, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests, it doesn’t take long to find areas where forest conditions are dominated by dense stands with thick ladder fuels. The problem with these overcrowded forest conditions, which have also experienced drought conditions in recent years, is large areas of the landscape are left vulnerable to the effects of a changing climate, including large and severe wildfires, and insect and disease outbreaks.
Why do we have these overcrowded conditions? For more than a century, we have suppressed wildfires so effectively that dry forests have become overcrowded with close-canopied forest stands dominated by smaller diameter, young trees. Fire suppression has also led to conifers spreading into aspen stands and historically non-forested areas.
Additionally, timber management practices have evolved over the years and project planning under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) takes forest managers years to complete. The result? The forests are growing faster than we can manage them. If we want to change this, we must do something to reduce fuels in order to move forests toward healthier and more sustainable conditions.
Forest restoration is critical to achieving a resilient landscape and is one of the three focus areas for the Forest Resiliency Project, along with wildfire management and climate change.
The Blue Mountains Restoration Strategy Team analyzed forest conditions across the entire Blue Mountains ecoregion as part of the development of the Proposed Action for the Forest Resiliency Project. The information gathered in the analysis helped the planning team compare current conditions on the landscape to the desired conditions of the national forests. The analysis showed that we need to create forest patterns more resilient to wildfire, insects and diseases. The analysis also identified priority areas that are in the greatest need of active restoration management.
From Sustainable Northwest: https://www.sustainablenorthwest.org/blog/posts/a-focus-on-the-forest-restoration-need