Forest Management in a Hot and Fiery Future: Lessons from the 2024 Park Fire
Thursday, February 20, 2025
7:00 – 8:00 PM (Via Zoom)
By Eric Knapp
Research Ecologist with the US Forest Service,
Pacific Southwest Research Station
Register here to join us on Zoom!
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
The 2024 Park Fire started in Chico’s Upper Bidwell Park following a record-setting July heatwave. Among areas burned was the Ishi Wilderness, including the Beaver Creek Pinery – a remote plateau with a unique old-growth ponderosa pine and black oak forest. This forest was shaped by frequent fire, the last in 1994, and in many ways looked like forests of the past, prior to removal of Tribal management and prior to implementation of fire suppression policies. Previous wildfires did not kill the mature trees in this stand even when nearby areas suffered substantial losses. What characteristics protected the forest from loss, or was it just luck? This question led to a study, initiated in the mid 1990’s, with plots established and monitored over time. The data provide a rare contemporary reference for managers wishing to restore fire-resilient structures to forests elsewhere. But will such stands hold up to a wildfire burning under some of the most severe conditions possible? And how long can a forest be without lower-intensity fire in this landscape, before it loses that desired resilience? This talk will discuss the outcomes of the Park Fire and implications for maintaining forests, like those of the Beaver Creek Pinery, under today’s fire climate.
Eric Knapp is a Research Ecologist with the US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, based in Redding, CA. He has been studying the fire ecology of ecosystems native to the north-state for over two decades.
