Loss of Old-growth Forest to Fire
University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Prescribed Fire for Forest Management Webinar Series
Wednesday, February 4 at 1:30pm ET
Fire suppression and past selective logging of large trees have fundamentally changed frequent-fire-adapted forests in California. The culmination of these changes produced forests that are vulnerable to catastrophic change by wildfire, drought, and bark beetles, with climate change exacerbating this vulnerability. Management options available to address this problem include mechanical treatments (Mech), prescribed fire (Fire), or combinations of these treatments (Mech + Fire). All three active treatments (Fire, Mech, Mech + Fire) produced forest conditions that were much more resistant to wildfire than the untreated control and Mech + Fire improved forest resilience the most. There are multiple pathways for achieving success in Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forests.
Presenter: Scott L Stephens, Ph.D., Professor, Environmental Science, Policy & Management, Rausser College of Natural Resources, University of California Berkeley
Scott Stephens is interested in the interactions of wildland fire and ecosystems. This includes how prehistoric fires once interacted with ecosystems, how current wildland fires are affecting ecosystems, and how future fires and management will influence people and ecosystems. He is also interested in wildland fire and forest policy and how it can be improved to meet the challenges of the coming decades, both nationally and internationally. Working with Indigenous partners to learn how to steward ecosystems into the future with climate change is a key area of research.
Stephens has given testimony on fire and forest policy at the US House of Representatives, the White House, California Assembly and Senate, California Governor’s office, and severed on the 2024 US Wildfire Commission. He is on the Board of Directors of the Climate Wildfire Institute and is one of the leaders of The Stewardship Project which is a partnership of Indigenous people and western science to improve federal fire policy. He was selected in the Top 1% of Researchers Worldwide in 2024 and 2025.
