Fresh research from the University of New Mexico’s biology department suggests that forest managers should waste no time replanting vast swaths of trees lost after major wildfires – like the historic Calf Canyon/Hermit’s Peak blaze.
The ideal time frame for replanting trees after a wildfire varies from a year to a whole decade, depending on the scale of damage.
Now, with overall temperatures warming up year-by-year, scientists with the University of New Mexico have evidence that shows we simply do not have time to burn anymore.
“If we wait too long, for example, 10 years, 15 years, 20, we start moving into periods where it becomes a lot hotter and a lot drier in those burned areas,” said Joseph Crockett, one of the researchers.
He and co-researcher and UNM Biology professor Matthew Hurteau made this discovery after they took seedlings of five common Southwestern US tree species – including ponderosa pine and piñon – and subjected them to high temperatures and drought in growth chambers.
On the surface, Crockett concedes some of their findings can be quite obvious, as wildfires naturally take away shady, overhead vegetation and the dry, scorched soil has very little nutritional value.
However, he argues that we can avoid the impacts of future higher temperatures and tree mortality rates by relying on fast-growing, natural vegetation like grasses or shrubs to regenerate the post-fire landscape.
“It can actually affect the microclimate – or the local temperature and humidity – to the point where it can have a positive impact on the survival of seedlings,” Crockett said.
This research will help guide the New Mexico Reforestation Center’s efforts to revive the state’s damaged forests and watersheds.
