A new article co-written by UMN Forest Resources Associate Professor Forrest Fleischman and Colorado State University faculty members Courtney Schultz and Tony Cheng addresses how the federal government can best reduce fire risk. Rather than simply boosting timber harvests in national forests, "the answer starts with investing in forest management and projects that can reduce fire risk," they write. "While cutting trees can help reduce the severity of future fires, it has to include thinning in the right places to make a difference. Without oversight and public involvement, increasing logging could skip areas with low-value trees that need thinning and miss opportunities for more effective fire risk-reduction work."
Read the full article in The Conversation: "Boosting timber harvesting in national forests while cutting public oversight won’t solve America’s wildfire problem"