As wildfires burn more and more acres, what happens to those lands after the fires are extinguished has become increasingly important.
In 2018, researchers with the U.S. Forest Service assessed the long-term effects of post-fire logging in 255 coniferous forest stands that burned with high fire severity in 68 wildfires between 1970 and 2007 in eastern Washington and Oregon. They found that postfire logging significantly reduced available wildfire fuel in forests as they regenerated after a fire.
Without logging, dead trees accumulated, intensifying soil heating during future fires. The accumulation peaked 10 to 20 years after fire, on average, as most snags fell or developed broken tops during this time. Large, rotten woody fuels became increasingly dominant over time, increasing the potential for smoke in subsequent wildfires. Properly managed logging reduced future fuel loads and had minimal long-term effects on understory vegetation.
The researchers also looked at how post-fire logging impacted the forest understory long-term, comparing two applications: one with just salvage logging and one with salvage logging and additional fuel reduction logging in northeastern Oregon.
They found that postfire logging produced minimal persistent impacts on understory vegetation, suggesting that understory vegetation can be resilient to postfire logging, particularly when best management practices are used to limit damage to soils and understory vegetation.