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Conservation Policy Initiative
POST-FIRE "SALVAGE" LOGGING
Post-disturbance management, much like fire itself, has been the subject of intense debate and widespread misunderstanding regarding how and whether to treat regenerating landscapes following large disturbance events.
The Biscuit fire of 2002, the largest in the nation at the time and in Oregon in the past 100 years, has been used to justify post-fire logging under the guise that such activities are beneficial to fire risk reduction and ecosystem recovery.
However, for the past 4 years scientists at the National Center have conducted field studies and literature reviews on the effects of post-fire logging on fish and wildlife species. Of the 40 publications and government reports published to date, not a single peer-reviewed study demonstrates ecosystem benefits from post-disturbance logging. See Post-Fire Logging Summary of Key Studies and Findings.
A scientific consensus has emerged on the significant and chronic impacts caused by logging and road building after a disturbance; impacts that can exceed the impact of the initial disturbance itself (see attached letter from 590 scientists). In general, logging after a fire or other natural disturbance can compact soils, introduce invasive species, remove large dead and live trees essential to ecosystem recovery, increase fuel hazard through creation of slash (small branches and needles) left behind after a logging operation, and deliver significantly increased sediments to streams. Such effects are cumulative and can set back regenerative properties of ecosystems for decades.
The National Center has been a leader in presenting scientific
studies to decision makers on the consequences to recovering ecosystems of post-disturbance logging during the land's most vulnerable state after a natural disturbance. We are working with members of congress and scientists to bring greater awareness to the need for increased fire risk reduction, such as thinning overly stocked tree plantations and reducing fuels near homes, as an alternative to logging sensitive areas recovering from disturbances. In August of 2004, we organized a special feature on fire management published in the journal Conservation Biology that was authored by over 38 fire scientists and ecologists covering a broad range of fire management and fire risk reduction topics.
We also are working with conservation groups to introduce legitimate restoration legislation aimed at increased thinning of small trees in fire prone areas, reduction of road impacts, and restoration of the resilient properties of forests to better withstand future fires.
Forests regenerating after the Biscuit fire of 2002, southwest, Oregon
Top and Middle photos by Kevin Schafer; Bottom photo by Ken Crocker.
