"It's Complex" Fire Ecology & Recovery 2015 Conservation Course - Class #1 Notes

Summary of Jan 26, 2015 class by volunteer Nick Thorp

Exactly six months after the Carlton Complex fires raged throughout the Methow Valley, the 11th Annual Methow Conservancy Conservation Course kicked off to delve into the complexities of forest fire in our region.  Although cold temperatures, a blanket of snow on the ground, and the winter calm have replaced smoke filled skies and evacuation notices, the fires remain front and center on the minds of Methow residents.   The 6-week course aims to provide attendees with answers to questions on how and why the fires of 2014 happened and what the future holds both in terms of recovery and future fire potential.

Understanding the history of fire and its relationship with the land provides the building blocks to answer these important questions.  Dr. Paul Hessburg, a Research Landscape Ecologist with 30 years experience at the US Forest Service, was the feature presenter for the first evening of the course. Paul’s presentation gave the audience a view into the historical role of fires in Eastern Washington and the changes that have taken place. 

Many of the changes in the forests and surrounding landscape have occurred just in the past 100 years.  Before this time, the nature of fire in the Methow Valley was one of frequent small, but generally low intensity fires, where fire itself managed healthy forests.  The fires were started from both natural ignition and intentional burning by Native Americans.  Paul painted a picture of watersheds and forests as a mosaic made up of patches of forest of varying age, size, and species.  This patchwork allowed fire to be both present and a healthy occurrence in the forest, burning some patches, while others were left untouched.  The diversity of the forest contained fires and prevented them from creating large and widespread damage. 

Fast-forward to the present day and the diverse mosaic and patchwork of these watersheds and forests has been largely replaced by dense, continuous (as opposed to patchy) forest cover ripe for high severity, high intensity fire.  What caused these changes? How did these changes happen so quickly?  According to Paul, the main catalyst for these changes can be found in fire suppression activities (which have been conducted extensively on the landscape since the 1930s) and other human interventions (e.g., elimination of Native American burning, development of extensive road and railroad system, urban development, agriculture, timber harvest).

What can be done?   Paul mentioned that the key is to restore the natural fire regimes.  How do we do this?  We restore the characteristic patterns and patch sizes of fuels and vegetation successional conditions.  And, how do we do this likely through a combination of using wildfire ignitions under the right conditions (e.g., allowing the “good” wildfires to burn), creating other surface and crown fires in strategic locations through intentional ignitions, and also through the combination of thinning and prescribed burning treatments.

Watch the entire class in a video on the Conservancy webpage.

Paul's presentation was followed by a full hour of engaging questions from the attendees.