Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Widespread Severe Wildfires Under Climate Change Lead To Increased Forest Homogeneity In Dry Mixed-Conifer Forests, Brooke Alyce Cassell, Robert M. Scheller, Melissa S. Lucash, Matthew Hurteau, E. Louise Loudermilk

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate warming in the western United States is causing changes to the wildfire regime in mixed-conifer forests. Rising temperatures, longer fire seasons, increased drought, as well as fire suppression and changes in land use, have led to greater and more severe wildfire activity, all contributing to altered forest composition over the past century. To understand future interactions among climate, wildfire, and vegetation in a fire-prone landscape in the southern Blue Mountains of central Oregon, we used a spatially explicit forest landscape model, LANDIS-II, to simulate forest and fire dynamics under current management practices and two projected climate scenarios. The results …