The Carbon Implications of Western Forest Health and Wildfire Conditions

The United States is caught in a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions dilemma as well as an ecological and financial disaster in the western wildfire situation. This region, composed of almost 308 million hectares in 11 States, is almost half (143 mha) managed by the Federal government (USDA-NRCS 1999). The region is largely rural, with some 104 million acres (42 mha) of forest in the National Forest System (Powell et al. 1993). Over one-third (39 million acres, 16 mha) of those NFS forests have been identified as being seriously outside historical ranges of ecological conditions, indicating that when they burn, they risk losing significant ecosystem components or processes (Hardy and Bunnell 1999). In plain terms, these forests have fuel conditions that can support a fire so severe that the ecosystems may be damaged in long-term or permanent ways if a wildfire is allowed to burn. And, unless they are treated to reduce fuels and improve forest health, wildfire is a near-certainty at some future date.