Dr. Garrett Meigs, Washington State Department of Natural Resources, will share new research on contemporary versus historical fire effects, specific impacts on large trees within closed versus open canopies, and the role of fuel reduction treatments. Focusing on the 2021 Schneider Springs Fire, which encompassed 113,689 acres in the eastern Cascade Range of Washington and burned during a period of severe drought, this study addresses three interrelated questions:

1) Are burn severity distributions consistent with historical fire regimes in dry, moist, and cold forest types?

2) How does burn severity vary among forest structure classes, particularly large trees with open versus closed canopies? 3) How do fuel reduction treatments influence forest structure and burn severity inside and outside of treated areas?

The results highlight the susceptibility of dense, late-successional forests to contemporary fires, even in events with widespread potentially beneficial effects consistent with historical fire regimes. The findings also illustrate the effectiveness of treatments that shift large-closed to large-open structures and suggest that treatments may help mitigate fire effects in adjacent large-closed forests. The full scientific paper is available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70360