Forest-atmosphere interactions in an era of fire and drought
Drought and wildfire caused by changing precipitation patterns, increased temperatures, increased fuel loads, and decades of fire suppression are reducing forest carbon uptake from local to continental scales. This trend is especially widespread in Idaho and the intermountain west and has important implications for climate change and forest management options. Given the key role of forests in climate regulation, understanding forest response to disturbance and the feedbacks to the atmosphere is a key research and policy-relevant priority globally. As temperature, fire, and precipitation regimes continue to change and there is increased risk of forest mortality, there is the potential that this forest mortality can be alleviated through management efforts such as thinning. This research will evaluate the climate impacts of restoration thinning, a forest management activity, to reduce drought and fire related mortality by combining new experimental plot data and earth system modeling.