Increased stressors, like a lack of active management (e.g., thinning), have left many forests – especially in the U.S. West – at risk of experiencing severe wildfire. Unnaturally high tree densities as well as tree mortality from these increased threats has resulted in many forests having too much flammable biomass on each acre.
Sustainable forest management (SFM), including logging, is a proven tool for mitigating the risk of severe wildfires before they even start. Practices to mitigate wildfire risk include:
- Proactively reduce fuel loads and risk by clearing excess fuels (dry vegetation) from the forest floor, conducting controlled burns, and creating firebreaks;
- Periodically reduce the number of trees present by thinning out smaller trees;
- Maintain forest access;
- Actively suppress a fire when it starts;
- Encourage collaboration between landowners and other key stakeholders; and
- Quickly replant forests burned by wildfire.
TIR is committed to collaboration, open communication, and resource sharing to fight every fire threatening our land.
In 2023, the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO), of which TIR is a member, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Forest Service to enhance coordination and collaboration for initial attack on wildfires in areas of adjacent ownership. In 2024, NAFO and the Forest Service announced a new partnership to enhance cross-boundary fuel breaks.
As fire seasons become longer and more severe, sustainable forest management and innovative public/private partnerships are more important than ever before.