Reintroduction of fire is the most important action to restore K-S forests because fire keys certain ecological processes, like soil nutrient cycling. Most plant and animal communities in the region are adapted to, if not dependent on, fire disturbances.

The need to use fire in restoration depends on the natural role of fire in specific places. Fire history, the scale and intensity of past activities (logging, grazing, fire suppression), fuel conditions and vegetation types vary widely across the landscape. In general, dry forests, oak woodlands and savannah ecosystems at low elevations are adapted to more frequent fires and could benefit from more frequent burning than could areas at higher elevations or those with more moisture. Restoration strategies must recognize these differences and target efforts in areas that are most likely to benefit.

The short period of effective fire suppression in K-S forests (~50 years) and the similarity of fire severity patterns experienced in recent wildfire events to historic conditions argue for wider use of naturally-ignited wildfires in less-than-extreme weather conditions to accomplish forest restoration. The 1994 Dillon Fire, the 1999 Big Bar Fire and the 2002 Biscuit Fire burned in mature and old-growth forests and left them as functional habitat. This suggests that, in addition to using prescribed fires, permitting wildfires to burn under specific conditions is compatible with conservation of biological diversity.

Resources:

Baker, W.L. 1994. Restoration of landscape structure altered by fire suppression. Conservation Biology 8(3): 763-769.

Baker, W.L. and D.S. Ehle. 2002. Uncertainty in fire history and restoration of ponderosa pine forests in the western United States. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 31: 1205-1226

Hardy, C.C. and S.F. Arno (eds). 1996. The Use of Fire in Forest Restoration. USDA Forest Service General Technical Report INT-GTR-341. Ogden, UT.

McIver, J. and L. Starr. 2001. Restoration of degraded lands in the interior Columbia River basin: passive vs. active approaches. Forest Ecology and Management 153: 15-28.

Taylor, A.H. and C.N. Skinner. 1998. Fire history and landscape dynamics in a late-successional reserve, Klamath Mountains, California, USA. Forest Ecology and Management 111: 285-301.